Flat wounds on my Jazzmaster: How have I missed this?!?

Verne Bunsen

Verne Bunsen

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For as long as I can remember I've been playing round wound Ernie Ball "Skinny Top/Heavy Bottoms" (10-52) on all of my electrics. They are a great set that I find very comfortable both under the fingers and in the ears. I decided to try a set of flat wounds on my Jazzmaster tonight and installed a set of Thomastik-Infeld "Jazz Swing" flat wounds (12-50). I feel like I've been missing what the Jazzmaster is all about all this time! The cleans are warm and smooth and the crunchy stuff is thick and wooly. That guitar was built for these strings! Can't say I'm going to go change all of my guitars over, but I think my Jazzmaster is officially a flat wound guitar for evah...
 
I use flat wounds on one of my slide guitars and it was exactly what the doctor ordered for that guitar. I tried them on my 1959 Gibson ES350T where you would think they should be and I did not like them at all. I've learned to trust the guitar to tell me what to do.
 
That’s great! I’ll say that I have them on my Gretsch Falcon and absolutely love them they sound and play great.

I tried them on my jag and it was just awful it just had this weird scooped +  reverby sort of sound, I switched to round wounds and it was great.

Go figure.
 
-VB- said:
...I decided to try a set of flat wounds on my Jazzmaster tonight and installed a set of Thomastik-Infeld "Jazz Swing" flat wounds (12-50). I feel like I've been missing what the Jazzmaster is all about all this time! The cleans are warm and smooth and the crunchy stuff is thick and wooly. That guitar was built for these strings!...
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Glad you found strings you like for your Jazzy!

AirCap said:
Sometimes the right set of strings just brings a guitar to life.
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True, that. Each of my guitars has slightly different string requirements. Took some time to find all the different sets I use now, and I still keep trying new ones just in case I missed something!
 
I've played flat wounds on other guitars with out really being moved one way or the other by the experience, this was my first "WOAH!" moment. Seems like I shouldn't be, but I'm surprised that it should be so particular to the individual instrument. Sure makes me wonder about of my other guitars all sporting the same set! Could get 'spensive......
 
I had a Yamaha SA-2000 for a few years that I could never get a satisfactory sound out of until I put on flat-wound .012's.  Turned it into a solid blues player.  Glad you've discovered the joy.  Also, finger noise will diminish as well!
 
Haven't thought about flat wounds in awhile. Years ago I tried a set on an Ibanez copy of a 335 I had at the time and it was very, very interesting. Wonder what one of my strats would be like........  :sign13:
 
I tried a set of flatwounds on a 335 copy about 100 years ago - I don't think I was a minute over 14 at the time - and hated them. Put them on solely to get rid of finger noise, which they did for the most part. But, I didn't care for what they did to the sound/feel of the thing. Never used them again. Maybe someday I'll get over it, but I don't know. I tend to carry string grudges for a long time  :laughing7:
 
Cagey said:
I tried a set of flatwounds on a 335 copy about 100 years ago - I don't think I was a minute over 14 at the time - and hated them. Put them on solely to get rid of finger noise, which they did for the most part. But, I didn't care for what they did to the sound/feel of the thing. Never used them again. Maybe someday I'll get over it, but I don't know. I tend to carry string grudges for a long time  :laughing7:
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You know, if I only had one guitar at my disposal I think I might feel differently about the whole thing. As much as I like what they do on this guitar, I wouldn't necessarily want it to be the only sound I could make. They don't really do punch-you-in-the-face cleans, they don't lend themselves to a focused overdriven tone. Fortunately I am at present blessed with more guitars than I can shake a string winder at, so I feel a bit more at ease with giving a little to get a little.
 
Good point. I have a Nashville-tuned Tele here, but if it were my only guitar, it wouldn't be strung/tuned that way.
 
I had a customer who used a set of flatwound cobalts on his bass, and surprisingly, I thought it fit well.  It wasn't necessarily warmer, but the feel was quite noticeable.
 
Is it flatwounds or tapewound that have a lifespan of 3 chords? I remember being very discouraged as an impoverished teenager about buying flat/tape strings because they had such a limited life before giving up the rock and roll ghost.
 
I don't think they have any "rock 'n' roll ghost" to give up. It's one of the things I hated about the set I had. They're kinda dull right out of the package.
 
Flatwounds are wound with metal. Tapewounds are wound with a tape (think plumbers teflon tape). I love the tapes on my basses, but I'm thinking about trying flats if the mortgage officer approves the loan. (Dang they're pricey).

I've never heard of tapewounds for guitar. I reckon I should try flats on a guitar too some day.
 
I had this same experience with my bass; an Ibanez GSR-200. Even after a pickup swap it played great but just didn't have much depth. Put on a set of D'Addario flatwounds and the thing came alive. Really warmed and smoothed the tone. I was surprised at what a dramatic difference it made, tbh.
 
swarfrat said:
Flatwounds are wound with metal. Tapewounds are wound with a tape (think plumbers teflon tape). I love the tapes on my basses, but I'm thinking about trying flats if the mortgage officer approves the loan. (Dang they're pricey).

I've never heard of tapewounds for guitar. I reckon I should try flats on a guitar too some day.
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I finally got around to trying Chromes on guitar. Put em on my strat (GFS rails neck and a Memphis bridge). Holy smokes. I'm definitely digging. At first I was like this is very cool but I don't know that I'd out em on everything...But definitely one guitar will be wearing flats. they absolutely rock on JTM45 patches. They're not dull, just controlled.

What I didn't expect was how they work in high gain. (Meaning Tube screamer/2204 territory not modern stuff though I see even less reason they wouldn't work there). The string noise reduction is very nice - the fuzzier/crunchier the tone they more they shine.

I kind of expected pinch harmonics to be iffy or maybe even just thunk. But no, they do suppress the iffy plink plonk near miss harmonics, but instead they laser focus on the lower ordered harmonics you were probably aiming for.

Chromes only go down to 10's but Cobalts are available in 9's and I'm going to try them on the shredder next
 
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