Many years ago,I lived by this older gentleman who had a 1951 Esquire.It was blond with a maple neck.The neck had black finger marks from extended use.He also used medium flatwounds on his.I didn't like the feel of the heavy strings.At that time I was still learning and I had .008's on my Fender Bronco,I was still trying to learn to bend.Thirty years later,I've been toying with the idea of putting medium flatwounds on my Squire Telecaster.It's hardly been played and I always used it as a back up.Now I would like to use as a fingerstyle jazz sound for a piano guitar duo.I'm too poor to buy a good or even jazz archtop,so I have to use what I have.The old man played his with his fingers and tremolo on his amp,and I'm going to try the same.What good flatwounds would you all recomend?
I also have a Strat,so I won't deprive myself by having one sound in a electric.I have have light gauge rounds on it.
I think Ed Bickert uses flatwounds and his tone is awesome and very similar to an archtop. He uses a humbucker in the neck position but there are some recordings with a single coil and his tone was almost the same.
I just put flats on a Gretsch and love 'em. I would not have done so if I had not already put them on my cheap Ibanez solid body starter (GAX-70) and loved that tone just as much. I used the .011s, D'Addarrio XL Chromes. It also says "Jazz Light" on the package. I could get Jazz tones on the Ibanez just fine before, but putting the flats on there just made it too easy.
If you do decide to roll the dice and try a set, posting a before and after would be most cool. 8)
Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin
Strings don't cost that much. Put a set on and try it. Then you'll KNOW.
Playing guitar and never playing for others is like studying medicine and never working in a clinic.
