Flatwound strings?

[Sacco_Belmonte]

A gypsy guitar with medium Argentines (scale length 26.3):
E, .011" PL == 20.87# ( 0.0048gm/cm 329.6hz )
B, .015" PL == 21.78# ( 0.0089gm/cm 246.9hz )
G, .023" XS == 27.3# ( 0.0177gm/cm 196.0hz )
D, .029" XS == 24.32# ( 0.0281gm/cm 146.8hz )
A, .037" XS == 21.46# ( 0.0442gm/cm 110.0hz )
E, .046" XS == 18.23# ( 0.0669gm/cm 82.4hz )
total == 133.95 pounds

If this info is correct then a Gitane would take a set of Flatwound Pyramid Nickel 11s which overall tension is 132.3lbs according to this list:

w-w-w thestringguy.com/tension . h-t-m-l (sorry for the link edit, the site doesn't allow URLs cause I'm new here)

I put them on my DG-300 (Jorgenson) and I really like the sound, it's got more "jazz/vintage" on it, and playing quiet passages like "forever blowing bubbles" from Sweet and Lowdown is a pleasure now with all the fret buzz out which was my main reason.

The guitar feels like it can really take the tension, got no surprises while restringing, the only difference I see is that the top is a bit flatter than with the Argentine 11s but did absolutely no change to the neck whatsoever.

- Playing with the thumb gives you a duller tone, yes, of course, no round wounds adding "air" to the strings.

- Playing with your nails sounds real cool. Fingerstyle Jazz sounds really interesting on this guitar, specially while also amplifying. (Shadow piezos system here, plus amp, EQ to enhance low/high, verb)

- Playing La Pompe sounds fine as well, much clearer than the thumb. Yes, duller compared to roundwound, but nothing to really worry about. It sounds vintage to me and most importantly, useful and interesting in color.

- Playing with the pick sounds also real cool, specially the bass strings, you'll find they sound better than roundwounds when picking like 5-7cm away from the hole center towards the bridge. They go brighter (naturally, we know that) and you can compensate for the lack of brightness of the roundwound but instead of getting "chimpumky" the color is still pleasant. Also you can play with more or less brightness by going to the neck/bridge and the difference sounds more prominent than with roundwounds I think.

[Sacco_Belmonte]

After playing for some weeks with the flat strings I still love them.

I've also experimented with 10's (was on 11's)

I decided to try the 10's cause I was a bit paranoid about the tension. It turns out the 10's sound brighter, either because of the gauge/tension, or material on the Pyramid 10s (Light). But better than Argentine 10's which are so twangy to me.

I love them, 10's sound closer to Argentine 11's but without all that fret noise. I tell you, is butter for the Jazz players...I don't think I'm going back to roundwounds on this one ever.

The sound is not "dead" at all, is just different and to be honest I think Django's old recordings were played with flats. The low strings sound a lot like they're flats more than round.

[Sacco_Belmonte]

Ok, more results.

I went back to argies for a while cause the flats were a bit too dull.

Now, after playing for some weeks I thought, yes the argies are brighter but gosh, they squeak so much.

Then decided to try Daddario EHR370 11-49 Half Round strings.

wow! is like having rounds but the squeak is gone, still feels grippy which is something I like on the rounds too.

I would say is a very nice compromise between squeak and brightness. I don't feel they sound dull at all.

Their tension and gauges are almost identical. A tad less tension which helps with the 11s.

The G string is plain on these, and was worried about it sounding too different but I'm here playing over the sweet and lowdown sound track and the color of the strings and overall guitar is spot on.

Very very nice.

Now I have a whole bunch of Argies I would probably never use.

[Sacco_Belmonte]

More on the subject.

The half round were great, but the lack of wound G made me crazy each time a chord went out of tune, especially those maj7 with root on the 6th string.

Daddario has half round 12s with wound G but the total tension is simply too much for an acoustic guitar.

Bottom line, back to the argies...nothing better than that just yet.

Well, there you have it