Chrome flat wound strings

T

thewizardguy

Inspired
Has anyone tried these on electric guitars? I've tried them on nylon and bass guitars, but not electric. Just wondering if they sound flat and dull, or mellow and awesome. I feel like I would be missing out on that chimey awesomeness with some effects and top boost situations. Can anyone weigh in with personal experience? It would save me a lot of trouble =)
 
Flatwound strings are generally used for jazz. They're mellow, with a subdued top end. Whether you call that "flat and dull" or "mellow and awesome" depends on your perspective and what you like to play. Their big advantage is that they have almost no string noise when you glide your fingers across them.

Did you really use flatwounds on a classical ("nylon") guitar? You're lucky it wasn't destroyed. That's way too much tension for a classical.
 
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+1 to everything ^

I like flats for bass, and for the hollow body guitars. Really gives that mellow tone. All depends on your taste and style. If you're into metal, I won't recommend them for eg.
 
jon said:
+1 to everything ^

I like flats for bass, and for the hollow body guitars. Really gives that mellow tone. All depends on your taste and style. If you're into metal, I won't recommend them for eg.
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or funk
 
+1 on Rex & Jon's comments... I have FWs on 3 archtops (full hollow bodies)... I have heard about semi-flat wounds but have never tried them (likely use on semi-hollow ES-335/339s).. I'm very sure that a nylon guitar would be very unhappy(damage neck, bridge/top) with FW strings. They are much higher tension than regular steel strings (larger diameter/guage). I would not do this (I have a Godin ACS-SA Nylon).

I'm not sure what happens when a chrome plated string wears (vs nickle)... chrome is very hard and can flake off (bad for fingers) as well as perhaps trash frets... I do use some of the coated FW strings but I don't need to change mine often (especially the FWs... they don't get dull sounding like RWs...they start off dull?). I am lucky to not have acidic fingers I guess.. I get a few months out of normal strings (except acoustic phospher bronze...).

I think I would suggest trying the coated FWs prior to chrome..

my 2c
 
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I use D'Addario Chromes on a couple of my lap steels and really like the sound and the feel; they work well for a variety of cleanish sounds and they last.

BTW, they are not chrome-plated, just flatwound polished nickel on hex cores.
 
I've never seen flatwound classical strings before. How did you like them?

If you like chime, steel flatwounds may not be for you. If you like mellow, they might be. The only way to know is to try a set.
 
If you want less string noise, With normal electric strings, try an elixir set, they are quieter
Other than that, it is a technique thing too, if I'm recording I'll take extra care to not slide to the next position
 
Don from D'Addario here - We make the "Chromes" line of guitar strings. Pat Metheny is probably the most visible player who uses Chromes. The strings are wound with a ribbon-stainless steel that is highly polished. Very warm and percussive - Jazzers are big proponents to say the least. I use Chromes on my MM bass for a blues gig i play in - kinda looking for that James Jamerson tone (i wish). We also make a Pro Arte Classical Guitar String J51) that has polished basses to help eliminate finger squeak. They feel just like a flat wound string but they're polished flat, unlike ribbon SS mentioned above. They're a little more expensive but they're great for near field mic'ing when recording.

Don Dawson
Marketing Specialist
D'Addario / Planet Waves
 
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ddawson2012 said:
Don from D'Addario here - We make the "Chromes" line of guitar strings. Pat Metheny is probably the most visible player who uses Chromes. The strings are wound with a ribbon-stainless steel that is highly polished. Very warm and percussive - Jazzers are big proponents to say the least. I use Chromes on my MM bass for a blues gig i play in - kinda looking for that James Jamerson tone (i wish). We also make a Pro Arte Classical Guitar String J51) that has polished basses to help eliminate finger squeak. They feel just like a flat wound string but they're polished flat, unlike ribbon SS mentioned above. They're a little more expensive but they're great for near field mic'ing when recording.

Don Dawson
Marketing Specialist
D'Addario / Planet Waves
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Thanks for posting here Don!

BTW.. I have about a million empty string packs saved up to mail in to exchange for swag.. hows the swag inventory? Last time I sent in, I got a letter in return, instead of my swag order. Sorry for the OT.
 
Robboman said:
Thanks for posting here Don!

BTW.. I have about a million empty string packs saved up to mail in to exchange for swag.. hows the swag inventory? Last time I sent in, I got a letter in return, instead of my swag order. Sorry for the OT.
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Well....we got some good news and some bad. The Players Points program is going away. When we started the program back in 1993 or so, the idea was that we were going to recycle all the string packs and reward our players for sending them back. Much has changed since then. The good news is that if you still have points, we're going to honor them. You'll be able to redeem your points for D'Addario and Planet Waves product. We'll have a list up on the site in early February that has all the conversions you'll need. If you have a few items you'd like to send in for now - send me an email, don.dawson2@daddario.com - tell me what items you're interested in and i'll tell you how many points it will take.
 
I once put them on a cheap heavy solidbody when I was totally into Pat Metheny many years ago and it sounded real good for that!
(he now uses normal strings)
Wouldn't use it for any other style.
 
vAmp said:
I once put them on a cheap heavy solidbody when I was totally into Pat Metheny many years ago and it sounded real good for that!
(he now uses normal strings)
Wouldn't use it for any other style.
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yeah i was surprised by that (normal roundwounds)! when i play that guitar it has that early metheny sound that i love to try and channel.
 
ddawson2012 said:
The strings are wound with a ribbon-stainless steel that is highly polished.
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Don, thanks for posting here. Looking again I see that the packages I have do say "nickel-plated steel under windings" with no mention of the actual winding material. In any case, they are very popular with lap steel players.

ddawson2012 said:
You'll be able to redeem your points for D'Addario and Planet Waves product...
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Bummer, I recycled 220+ packages just a few weeks ago after seeing what swag was left on the list. Mostly I was too lazy to package and ship them... ;)
 
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