To flatwound or not to flatwound...

[thewizardofaz]

I use flatwound 12s from Thomastik-Infiled (spelling). They are bright on the highs and boom on the lows. They don't feel like 12s, maybe more like 10s too. Bending isn't much of a problem

[StevenO]

I still like them. I love playing this guitar now.

[FireAarro]

I still like them. I love playing this guitar now.

Yeah, they do sound great. I put the AVRI flat set on my Jag when my E string broke again and I didn't have any replacements and wanted to try something new. I love em, but I'm gonna try rounds again to compare... I liked the extra bottom and tightness to the sound moving up from 11-49s. I'm trying 11-52s rounds next though (the E string broke again, hate that, probably need to file it)

[mezcalhead]

Do they sound good with a really wet reverb? 

Well, that combination (JM, flats, dripping wet reverb) describes every other surf track from the 60s, so .. hell yeah!

I've always used rounds but put flats on one of my JMs a while ago just to try them and I like them. They're D'Addarios which most flatwound fans don't like much, but they were the only thing in the store and cheap enough for a try-out, and they've inspired me to try one of the more well-respected brands when that guitar needs new strings.

One thing I was surprised about is how excellent they sound through heavy distortion and even all-out fuzz. I was expecting them to sound really muddy but they give a chunkiness to the sound which vaguely reminds me of what happens when you run an acoustic through distortion.