flatwound, roundwound? heavy, lights?

[visa]

i've been playing the guitar for over a year now and i still don't know what these terms mean.

i'm mostly confused by flatwound, roundwound strings.

what the hell does all this mean?

and most importantly, what effect do these things have on my sound?

another quick question:

is it true that some people use electric guitar strings on their acoustic to get a certain sound when they're recording?

 

[64Firebird]

Faltwound strings are just what the name implies. The winding on the low strings is flat like a ribbon. Round wound is the norm and that's what players use most of the time.

As for as sound goes... Flat wounds sound dead to my ears. Very dark and dull. Almost like old, used round wounds. But, I've met some Jazz guys that won't use anything else. Strings are cheap and you'll have to replace them soon anyway, so why not give them a try.

Something else to conceder (although you didn't bring it up) is the material you strings are made of. I'm a big fan of nickle strings.

I have used electric strings on my acoustic guitar from time to time. I did it to get a very bright, tinny sound. Trying to sound more like a resonator guitar. I've called it wire on a trashcan.

At any rate, you should try anything that looks interesting. Read what some of you fav players use and see how you like that.

 

[64Firebird]

I just noticed that you're also asking about heavy vs. light. Heavy strings have more metal vibrating over the pups, so there's a stronger signal. They sound fatter. But, they are also tighter when you tune them up. That means that string bending is harder to do. You may also need to bring up the action to avoid fret buzz.

 

[Dakota]

Some guitars can even be damaged by heavy strings. Be careful if you are puting anything more than Medium on.

The purpose of flatwound strings is to give less noise when sliding the fingers from one fret to another. IMHO the only time flatwounds should be necessary is if you are close micing an acoustic guitar part that has a lot of position changes where this type of noise would come up.

Otherwise, use roundwound because as 64Firebird said, they sound better. They have more harmonic complexity.

 

[schenkerguy]

flatwounds

Hi! I actually just posted a thread called "vintage guitar vibe" (I think) where I was talking about using flatwounds...

I tried a set cause I'm getting into a more "rootsy" sound now, if you listen to the guitar track I posted, you can hear a brand new set of D'addario 10-48 flatwounds on a 1985 Jackson guitar...

I really liked the sound of them myself. I actually bought them because they're the identical ones Brian Setzer uses. I think they're used for Jazz/rockabilly/country etc. a lot, and especially on hollowbody guitars.