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Being a Pyramid fan I had to give the fusion flats a go. Strings have always be a bit of a compromise for me. I definitely favor a pure nickel string with a round core as they seem to be the most musicale to me. I've used Thomastik infeld both flat and round wound pretty extensively and have never been totally satisfied with either. Never been a fan of their gauging, as they seem a bit "thin" to me. The flats I liked quite a bit when I first put them on but felt they went too dead for my taste to quickly for the money. I know some guys like that, but I favor a string that responds better. The round wounds have alway been to "brassy" and although they last forever it really takes a long time for them too mellow out to the point they are ok to my ears. In a perfect world I would find a string like a flat wound that had no finger noise, low tension, but were alive and remained that way. I've been using the Nickel Classic hand polished and have found them to be a decent compromise. Warmer sounding round wound, low tension with a little less finger noise than most round wounds. I have preferred them on "most" guitars with a few exceptions.
This brings me to the Fusion Flats. Could they be a better choice? I put them on a guitar that had the Classics on it that were a few months old but still were sounding pretty good. As I changed them one at a time I noticed the flats were not as loud with a similar sound perhaps a bit warmer. Right off the bat the fusion flats had quite a bit more tension. I could see it in the relief on the guitar. Never been a big tension fan. The fusion flats have more finger noise than the classics as much as most any round wound. Oddly enough as I began to play them I noticed they were as loud on the guitar and even louder when you attacked a bit. They kept the guitar vibrating to the point that I could feel it. Very Fat sounding. I like that.The extra tension kept the string vibrating in a smaller pattern keeping that round wound "zing" out of the equation. They are super well balanced with probably the best sounding g string I've experienced. They are a really good sounding string and despite some of the negatives, I have enjoy playing them. I have a feeling the they would sound good on all archtops unlike the Classics. So who are these for. If you're a player that wants his strings to be flat and smooth with no finger noise these would not be for you. They really are a marriage of flats and rounds in terms of sound, they are a little more tense, probably along the lines of Thomastik flats if the gauges were equal. I have probably 10 hours in to these and no negative change at all they still respond. As long as they hold up I feel like they would be worth the extra cash. If Pyramid found a way to kill the finger noise for me this would be the perfect string that no one would touch. So if you are a inbetweener like me give them a shot they might just get it done for you.
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06-14-2022 04:47 PM
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Tending towards higher tension - ok, as initially a 022 G would appear on the light side
Similar finger noise to rounds - bummer. One of the reasons I changed from standard rounds to Elixir Nanowebs in the past
Responsive and fat-sounding - nice
So Jim*, these are flatwounds, but not as we know them. (*Edited because I originally wrote Scotty. Not a Trekkie)
Would be great to hear a clip, squeaks an' all.
Thanks for the post!Last edited by Peter C; 06-19-2022 at 07:53 AM.
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One of the reasons I wrote such a "wordy" review is like you I wanted the least amount of finger noise possible. Hearing the higher tension along with finger noise would normally turn me right off. These have a sound that lets me accept those things. They kill the Nanowebs in my opinion. The G string is loud for a wound string which at times can be a problem. I really struggled with the flatwound title because I think it's expected that they be flat. The sound is a mix though and it's difficult to put into words. I've been promising myself to do some recordings. Somehow I never seem to get to it.
Originally Posted by Peter C
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.022 G is not what I call light
What guitar do you have them on? Scale, pickups?
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I put these on a Borys Jimmy Wyble model. 25 scale single set pickup made by Armstrong. Originally Posted by docsteve
.022 G is not what I call light
What guitar do you have them on? Scale, pickups?
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Thanks for this review, Skiboyny. Originally Posted by skiboyny
I just want to confirm which set of Fusion Flats you installed. I see the mention of a 22W G but not from you. So was it the DF Special set? TIA
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Should have mentioned that 12-52 thank for bringing it up. Originally Posted by chasranney
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Thanks; that was quick! You must be, as I am, working from home!
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Well they certainly seem worth a try, but that will have to wait for the moment as the the sole (?) European vendor charges 15€ just to send them to Spain. Pretty wild considering that they're made in the EU.
I find a 22w gauge G in general lacks output and body. A 24 works better and a 26 is probably a bit too much in the long run. YMMV, and I'm sure there are exceptions....
PS Just did a comparison and buying them in the US works out about 5$ less! This is for strings made in Germany, shipped to Spain. Great way to piss customers off, I'd say.
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Go figure on the price. The G string is surprisingly loud very balanced set. That's pretty hefty I'd probably stick with the nickel classics at that price. Maybe if they catch on the price will drop a bit as they take on different vendors. Originally Posted by Peter C
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Is that with tax and import duties (TID) levied up-front through the carrier? If not, expect those to be added (unless Spain has been lax in applying the EU directive putting an official end to no-TID threshold values)! Originally Posted by Peter C
Check with Pyramid, send them an email if these strings aren't yet listed in their own online store. I found their prices for the few custom sets I had made + shipping to France very reasonable.
My (Dutch) string vendor told me they don't carry Pyramid strings because they have to buy them at a price that is too close (if not identical) to the price for which Pyramid sell them to users. That may be at play here.
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To clarify, in my post I said "buying them in the US", not (importing) from the US.
I already contacted Pyramid specifically enquiring about availability "here in Europe" and they replied "I guess you're in the USA", with a link to 2 US vendors.
Prepositions and adverbs play a key role in semantics!
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Care to enlighten me how you can ship them to Spain without importing them, maybe that'd work in France too? (being strong in semantics I assume you wouldn't have written shipped to Spain bit if you meant smuggled into Spain
)
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Well, I'm certainly not in a position to enlighten anyone. It's true that "buying them in the US" is an impersonal form and, as such, could be construed as "if I were to buy them in the US". However, I can't buy them in the US because I'm in Europe. So, I meant "anyone buying them in the US", where "anyone" would be a US-based consumer. Je n’ai rien d’autre à dire, pour être franc.
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If you want german strings, you can buy them from a german on line shop
Maybe you have heard of Thomann ?
Cordes de Guitares Electriques Flatwound / Polies – Thomann France
I'll probably give them a try with my next order
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It's hard not to have heard of Thomann if one lives in Europe.
thomann.de:
Fra. Supplément de 4,80 € pour l´envoi
Esp. 15 € de gastos de envío adicionales
schneidermusik.de shipping costs:
Fra. €5.95
Spain €5.80
I think you have to add 20/21% VAT to that.
The even more curious thing is that schneidermusik seems to stock all things Pyramid except the Fusion Flats and those hand polished Nickel Classics. I have placed orders with them in the past sans problème.
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PYRAMID maximum performance strings - Electric, Pure Nickel, PYRAMID Superior Quality, PYRAMID Nickel Classics, PYRAMID The Rod Strings, PYRAMID Herman Frank Signature Strings, PYRAMID Vito C Signature Strings, PYRAMID Guitar Slinger Strings, Testberichte, Drop C, Drop D, Tuning
Handpolished Nickel Classics are known as Studio Masters.
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They (Schneider Music) will most likely have them on their Pyramid list pretty soon I’d think. The Fusion Flats are doing very well and a lot of people really love them. FYI, if you lighten up your touch a little, the FFs will sound more like classic PURE NICKEL flat-wounds do.
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Thanks for the review on the Fusion Flats, skiboyny! CR Guitars in Rheinbeck, NY has the Fusion Flats in stock. John Monteleone happens to really dig them too, so that happens to speak volumes about how they work on arch-top instruments.
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