Gibson SG tuning stability tips?

[Embenny]

LOL not remotely the same thing or applicable. Electric guitars didn’t get round wound strings until the early 1970s. Nobody made them until then. Prior to that Ernie Ball would sell his “slinky set” that would get a banjo string thrown in to replace the flat wound 3rd.

So when the golden era Gibsons and Fenders were invented it was expected that one would play flats, they even included an extra set of flat wounds in the case.

LOL.

I think you're getting a few things confused.

Roundwound strings were the original guitar strings. Flatwounds were a jazz-era invention. Both were available during the electrification of the instrument and the "golden era" of Fender and Gibson.

Roundwound electric bass strings were the last of the permutations to be made available, in 1962.

Flatwounds were indeed more popular for the first couple of decades of the electric guitar's history, but they were not an invention of the 1970's by any stretch.

[JSett]

Yep. And a lot of the flatwounds sold were just ground-down roundwounds at that.

I think Danelectro/Silvertone basses shipped with rounds in the 50s though. I could be wrong on that however, but I have read it somewhere in the past.

[Embenny]

Yep. And a lot of the flatwounds sold were just ground-down roundwounds at that.

I think Danelectro/Silvertone basses shipped with rounds in the 50s though. I could be wrong on that however, but I have read it somewhere in the past.

I hadn't heard that about the Danelectro basses. I wonder who made those strings - the earliest recorded roundwound bass strings I knew of were made by a British company called Orchestral and Jazz Strings in 1962. That's not to say that there couldn't have been an earlier example, I just haven't seen evidence of it.

[JSett]

Yep. And a lot of the flatwounds sold were just ground-down roundwounds at that.

I think Danelectro/Silvertone basses shipped with rounds in the 50s though. I could be wrong on that however, but I have read it somewhere in the past.

I hadn't heard that about the Danelectro basses. I wonder who made those strings - the earliest recorded roundwound bass strings I knew of were made by a British company called Orchestral and Jazz Strings in 1962. That's not to say that there couldn't have been an earlier example, I just haven't seen evidence of it.

I can't remember where I read it but a quick google has thrown up a couple of things. Firstly this about the 1956 Danelectro UB-2 (a six string bass):

In a 1983 interview, Daniel said he felt he had given bass players “two extra strings for free” and thought the instrument was a natural for bassists and guitarists. While he may have initially thought it could rival Fender’s Precision, what he really created was a specialty instrument, more appealing to guitarists. The UB-2 shipped with light-gauge “Polished” roundwound strings (rather like today’s “half-rounds”), which offered a much softer feel and thinner, twangier sound than the Fender, which at the time had heavy flat-wound strings muted by a foam pad under the bridge cover.

There's a couple of people here on talkbass saying their first basses were Danos and came with rounds too:

https://www.talkbass.com/threads/when-w ... ed.406824/

That's obviously just people's personal memories though, so a pinch of salt required.

[Jonesie]

Yep. And a lot of the flatwounds sold were just ground-down roundwounds at that.

I think Danelectro/Silvertone basses shipped with rounds in the 50s though. I could be wrong on that however, but I have read it somewhere in the past.

I hadn't heard that about the Danelectro basses. I wonder who made those strings - the earliest recorded roundwound bass strings I knew of were made by a British company called Orchestral and Jazz Strings in 1962. That's not to say that there couldn't have been an earlier example, I just haven't seen evidence of it.

I can't remember where I read it but a quick google has thrown up a couple of things. Firstly this about the 1956 Danelectro UB-2 (a six string bass):

In a 1983 interview, Daniel said he felt he had given bass players “two extra strings for free” and thought the instrument was a natural for bassists and guitarists. While he may have initially thought it could rival Fender’s Precision, what he really created was a specialty instrument, more appealing to guitarists. The UB-2 shipped with light-gauge “Polished” roundwound strings (rather like today’s “half-rounds”), which offered a much softer feel and thinner, twangier sound than the Fender, which at the time had heavy flat-wound strings muted by a foam pad under the bridge cover.

There's a couple of people here on talkbass saying their first basses were Danos and came with rounds too:

https://www.talkbass.com/threads/when-w ... ed.406824/

That's obviously just people's personal memories though, so a pinch of salt required.

There's also the old story of John Entwistle recording some early Who bass parts on a Dano bass, and he'd have to go buy a new one every time he'd break a string because he couldn't find another way to get Roundwound strings.