Flatwounds that don’t suck?

[mcbrandt]

The TI Jazz Swing flats showed up today. I’m loving them on my hollowbody! They have plenty of zing, I can bend on them, and the silk wraps and bronze plain strings are oh, so classy! I think I’ve found a new go-to!

Yup, those are my go-to as well. Expensive but worth it. I only swap them out maybe once a year or so.

[Larry Mal]

I'll only but flatwound guitar strings, but I've never used them with bass - I need to.

They are totally different on there. I'm not a flat wound fan at all, but they came on my G&L SB guitar (basically a P-bass) and since they vibrate around less, you can get the action a lot lower than you can with round-wound. That surprised me.

So now I have them on my fretless, where it's kind of a no-brainer, and the sound is different to the round wounds but every bit as good. I've been kind of wondering about putting them on other basses, it can give you a sound with a lot more fundamentals and less overtones and can be good for recording.

[wproffitt]

Again, the EB Cobalt flats surprised me on the bass. They are so effortless to play and give a bit more zing than you’d imagine from a flat. They are a joy.

These TI flats on my Yamaha are giving me exactly the same thing. They don’t sound dull at all like my last set of flats on a guitar. They sound a bit like a nice played in set of rounds, but I think I like the feel of them way better than any set of rounds I’ve ever played. Yesterday was my 44th birthday. I suppose you can always learn something new, right?

[JVG]

Thomastiks are definitely very special. The high end ‘zing’ backs off after a few days, but then they open up a really rich midrange character that i haven’t found in any other flatwound strings.

I remember when i first tried them, i was hoping not to like them. I wanted to be able to say they were overpriced and overhyped. But they aren’t!

Pyramid flats are also pretty unique, but i found their sets to be pretty odd in terms of gauge. They’re also less smooth under the fingers, but that’s no biggie.

[HarlowTheFish]

The TIs are something I wanna put on a nice parlor acoustic or something -- that PRS parlor in the blue top is making some eyes at me.

On bass I'm a big fan of the Rotosound flats. I like the 110 set in Drop D, so you can go for the standard ones for a slightly brighter flats sound, or for the Steve Harris flats for a much brighter flats sound, but IMO they both feel really great under the fingers.

[garyfanclub]

Another +1 for Thomastik Flats - currently have Jazz Swing 12’s on my JM and love the tone. Super smooth, not too dull or thunky, just the right amount of definition to keep a warm and smooth clean tone from getting too muddy.

These strings through al the right amp (vintage, low wattage) really have me thinking that Leo wasn’t too off the money marketing this guitar to jazz guys in the late 50s. That tone is definitely there if you look for it - rhythm circuit, or neck with the tone rolled down.

Wound up needing to tighten the truss rod a bit to keep things nice and straight, so be ready to do that given the higher tension of 12s.