The Steel Guitar Forum

whatis the difference between flat wound, and round
wound strings, and where would you use them.and why
matthew

Matt,
I haven't used "flat wound" since the 60's but they are much duller than roundwound but pretty easy on the fingers.

in a pedalsteel world there isn't much finger-on-the-string action, sooo......

There are semi-round strings also. I understand they are run through a roller that takes the sharp edge off.

I know a fella that still uses flat wounds on his bass, but other than that I don't believe many people are using them. I recommend you don't ESPECIALLY on pedal steel. You need that brightness.

And Chris, "Duh"

I used flatwound strings on my old Richenbacher.. kept bar noise to a minimum and sounded bluesy..

Jazz folks tend to use them for their "warmer" tone.. round wounds are considerably brighter.. which most steel guitar folks want.

I was thinking of trying the "burnished" Irv referred to where they run a roundwound string through a machine to flatten the coils a bit.. they retain the brightness but reduce string noise.

John Booth wrote: And Chris, "Duh"

exactly! this is a steel guitar forum.

Flatwounds are very popular with Jazz Guitarists.

Round wounds will ultimately go flat.

Just on one side, though.

chris ivey wrote:

John Booth wrote: And Chris, "Duh"

exactly! this is a steel guitar forum.

Ivey, it is not necessary to be an a$$ all the time.
Take a break every other day, will ya?

Bless his heart.

john, i thought it was you that needed a break from spewing worthless blather continuosly. everyone should back off and let the forum breath a little, rather than constant congestion from the nothing posters.
jmho iirc lmbh lol

back in the 60's I used Guild EA610 strings, light gauge, on a couple of fender jazzmasters that I had.
I always thought they were the best flat wound strings for that guitar and for any guitar for that matter I dont think Flat wounds would not be good for a pedal steel. I had a Trini Lopez cherry red gibson ES335 TD with a bigsby arm on it and that stupid head stock that copied fender the Guild no.one string was thre only string that could make that streach.Tennessee Lee

Double post?

Flats are still really popular with bass players and guitarists who play jazz, surf, rockabilly, etc.

I bought a Fender Precision bass back in 1955 and the first thing I did was put flat wounds on it. Those round wound bass strings were hard on the fingers.
BTW: I just sold that bass to Redd Volkert in Austin, TX.

Erv Niehaus wrote:I bought a Fender Precision bass back in 1955 and the first thing I did was put flat wounds on it. Those round wound bass strings were hard on the fingers.
BTW: I just sold that bass to Redd Volkert in Austin, TX.

Depending on what you're doing flats can be hard on fingers too. Significantly more friction with flats on your fingertips.

Easy on the changer fingers, right?