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Flat Wound Strings
chazz
New
I am going to try flat wound strings on my 14 fret Altamira Manoche Drom.
I have recorded it and the high frequency string shriek and sounds are more cutting than any guitar I have owned.
The body and action is very alive.
I think its the loudest acoustic guitar I have.owned.
And I have had full jumbo F Hole archtops.
I assume the construction and set up with the bridge and strings contributes to this dominant treble string noise.
I play solo guitar so there are no instruments to cover up these round wound shrieks.
So, I am forced to tone it down.
I have to get flat wound strings and hope it does two things: mellow the high treble down a bit and cut down or eliminate the round wound string noise.
Any thoughts on flats?
I have recorded it and the high frequency string shriek and sounds are more cutting than any guitar I have owned.
The body and action is very alive.
I think its the loudest acoustic guitar I have.owned.
And I have had full jumbo F Hole archtops.
I assume the construction and set up with the bridge and strings contributes to this dominant treble string noise.
I play solo guitar so there are no instruments to cover up these round wound shrieks.
So, I am forced to tone it down.
I have to get flat wound strings and hope it does two things: mellow the high treble down a bit and cut down or eliminate the round wound string noise.
Any thoughts on flats?
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Comments
I have a few different arch top f hole guitars: Epiphone Blackstone, Harmony Patrician, etc., I'm totally sold on Thomastik-Infeld Jazz Swing, currently have them on all, all wearing different gauges.
I have JS110 10-44 on the Harmony and it plays great with plenty of volume.
The 10's are the lowest tension as you go up in gauge you go up in tension.
TI also have a Jazz BeBop string, (round wound) 11's are the lightest they come in. On a regular arch top I don't get too much string noise as they're not total cheese grater, also being 11's there's a bit more tension.
GJ guitars are much more resonate so you'll probably get more sizzle with any round wound string.
New bridge
Of course I sidestep tension, I have the lightest flat wounds and tune it to
One whole step lower to D G C F A d
Try the thomastik plectrum strings - they are bronze flat wound strings.
They are not cheap but they will last quite a while. Tension is low by design, the only problem may be length it depends on your guitar.
What kind of pickup are you using?
Once I mounted my Ischell pickup inside the body (under the bridge between the A and D strings) it was remarkable how much of that screechy finger noise was eliminated... the pickup is so overwhelmed with all the rich vibrations it gets from the bridge that it can’t “hear” much else...
Good luck!
Will
Edgar Degas: "Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things.... To draw, you must close your eyes and sing."
Georges Braque: "In art there is only one thing that counts: the bit that can’t be explained."
Attached is a live recording from last week of me singing and playing "Little Coquette" with the group I play with, "Dr. Jazz & the Jazzbugs" in Buffalo, NY.
As you can hear for yourself, my internally mounted Ischell pickup works great for both rhythm and lead, it doesn't feed back and it doesn't pick up any of that annoying swooshy finger noise.
As I've mentioned in another thread, I am one of those guitarists who likes to fatten the acoustic guitar sound with as much reverb as I can get away with, which may not be to everybody's liking, especially if you are trying for the "dry" sound... plus my guitar is naturally "reverb-y" anyway...
But as my father used to say, "If this is the kind of thing you like, then you will really like it."
Will
Edgar Degas: "Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things.... To draw, you must close your eyes and sing."
Georges Braque: "In art there is only one thing that counts: the bit that can’t be explained."
My guess is the flatwounds wont tone anything down...they'll increase tension and likely be harsher and more metallic...
Some players use silk/steel...
Will, nice work! What guitar is that?
Thanks, Mike. That’s my Michael Dunn custom-built guitar which has a Gibson L-4-sized body and a gypsy guitar-braced top.
Edgar Degas: "Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things.... To draw, you must close your eyes and sing."
Georges Braque: "In art there is only one thing that counts: the bit that can’t be explained."