software

So the flatwounds on my Jag were going strong for more than a year now with no sign of dying... I've always recommended flatwounds on jags and jazzes, but I have to slightly rescind...

I got tired of the stuffy tone that I got with the bridge pickup... really brittle and with no brightness characteristic of the fender sound. I was also getting tired of how ridiculously hard it was to bend strings with flatwound 12s...

Though I'll admit the tone with flatwounds and the neck pickup, especially in the upper frets, was heaven and I'll miss it. Thick and creamy

I wanted a more open, bright tone from the bridge. Broke out my screwdriver for the truss rod and switched to Ernie Ball Regular Slinkies.

I think my problem was I more wanted my Jag to sound like it sounds in the actual recordings that made me want to buy a Jag (RHCP, John Frusciante, Sonic Youth), and few people who use the Jag still use the flatwounds with it in recordings so I was getting a different sound. I'm satisfied and I officially change my string recommendation for the jag to quot;use whatever the **** you likequot;. In case anyone takes my word as god. The Jag sounds nice and open like I wanted it to, with a slightly more grindy, notchy sound, chimey and almost like a rick, and a bit of strat thrown in if that makes sense.

Now I have to buy another one and load it with flatwounds for when i want to use the neck pickup Maybe an MIA... I admire how long the flatwounds held out though. but (though this seems counterintuitive) they also seemed to wear my frets a bit prematurely. And bending was just way too much of a chore even on short scale

Also, why is it that flatwound strings are slightly thicker than roundwounds of equivalent guage?

slade

I'm ignorant...exactly what's the difference between round and flat wounds? Are the strings actually square, or what?

flatwounds... wound with flat tape around a central core on the wrapped strings. In effect the string is completely smooth.

Unlike roundwounds, which are round wire around the core. Normal strings. They got them ridges. Hence you can do pick scrape.

Flatwounds are also harder to bend, have a mellow, less sustaining tone.

slade