PlayJazzGuitar.com Forum

[Tung]

First, let me just say this is jazz guitar heaven forum here. you guys are a great knowledgable bunch.
I've been playing flats (Fender Stainless 13-54) since about 1994, with my faithful blond ES-175, it is a jazz machine, the thing just makes you think ol'school Wes/Burrell/Benson.
Due to a lot different work i've been doing lately, especially playing in playing fusion and other styles, I've switched to a Gibson Les Paul as my main axe in recent years. On that I'm using a mix set, 11s on top and 30-52 set on the bottom (HEAVY for solid body).
I've always missed my 175 and the big assed jazz tone one can only get from those barbed wire flats. I been thinking of switching to round wound so it'll be a little closer to my Les Paul action and feel, which is a lot easier to play. I know for sure that'll not be the same as the big, tough tension feel of the 13s flats.
What do y'all think of Flats vs. Round?
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[cadence]

Flats for me. I tried roundwounds (13 guage, Thomastik) for a while,and I definately liked them more than any other roundwound string I have played. I think with a naturally dark sounding guitar, maybe even your ES, those strings would be great. On mine (Eastman 805CE) it was just a little too edgy for my tastes. So I'm back to flats now.

I also prefer flats for my picking - if I want to turnthe pick a little to darken the tone occasionally it sounds better on flats.

If you still want the tension of roundwounds get a heavier guage set of Bebop Thomastik strings. They feel like they have less tension than other brands too, so you'll probably feel less tension than the ender strings you are used to.
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Paul

[dewey decibel]

I can't tell if you're trying to compare flats to wounds or heavy gauge strings to light gauge. I have an ES-175 I use flats on, and on my solidbodies I use rounds. Using the same gauge flats or wounds will not have any effect on your action and I'm not sure what you mean by feel but I've always liked flats as it's easier to glide across the strings, but otherwise they should feel the same.

If you're trying to get the two guitars set up the same the best bet is to lessen the difference between the two string gauges. Both guitars have the same scale length and nut width, so they should feel pretty similar. Maybe try Thomastic .012s? BTW, I agree with Cadence that the Thomastik roundwounds sound better than the flats on a guitar like the ES-175. I use the flats as I'm going for a specific sound which they work better for, but generally I think the wounds sound better on that type of guitar.

[jazzerchick]

I vote for rounds.

A friend of mine has a blonde 175 that I love. I've tried to talk him out of it for years.

[JeremyA]

For someone who's only used roundwounds, what are the pros and cons of using one versus the other?

[Jazzy]

I used flats 0,12 before ( gibson ), but now I only use TI roundwounds, I think they`re called bebop. 0,13, and sometimes with a ,14 on the top.

The best strings in my opinion

[mr. beaumont]

.11 gauge flats here...i still like to bend a little.

i like the way flats feel and the way they don't squeak.
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“For the guitar is the most unpredictable and least reliable musical instrument in existence...and also the sweetest, the warmest, the most delicate, whose melancholic voice awakes in our soul exquisite reveries.”

Andres Segovia

[The Laughing Buddha]

On my jazz guitar, I play flats (medium). I experinece not nearly the string noise as on my roundwound acoustic, but I do hit frequent wolf notes.

Any tips?
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[Gorecki]

[Viper]

FLAT for jass.

Its unusual for the Irish Independence movement to be cited in a jass context.

see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfe_Tone

[Jake Hanlon]

Rounds.

Purpose being when I did try flats I didn't like them, the feel of them or the tone of them. I was playing more bebop back then as well. Now I don't consider myself to be a bop player, I play a semi-hollow body guitar and I don't even want to try flats on it because I think it would just kill the tone at this point.

I'm half interested in half rounds.

But I'm digging the TI rounds (13's) and don't feel the need to change anything other then put new strings on that sucker in about a week.
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[ingeneri]

[Viper]

[JakeJew]

I made a post a while ago about a solid body Ibanez artist that basicaly fell out of the sky and onto my lap.

I don't own a jazz guitar at the moment, so I strung the Ibanez with 12 flat wounds. Real smooth, real jazzy. I like it. But that was a switch from 11 gauge roundwounds. So I wonder how "jazzy" this guitar would sound with 12+ roundwounds.

But I haven't played this guitar in a group context yet.

I remember I was playing a strat for jazz before this (11 roundwound), and by myself I could get some passable tones out of it, but when I did a session with a bassist and a drummer (I don't play with others often), I sounded very thin and it was hard to cut through. I may have just needed to play with the amp settings more, but it was definitely a significant observation.

I wonder how the ibanez, which has humbuckers and now thicker flats, will sound in a group.
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"Inspiration may be a form of superconsciousness, or perhaps of subconciousness - I wouldn't know. But I am sure that it is the antithesis of self-consciousness." - Aaron Copland

[JakeJew]