[OaklandA]

I've seen some discussion of this but had a couple of questions to throw out there.

First, have any of you tried flatwounds for slide? I'm wondering if there are any benefits or drawbacks.

Also, have any of you tried using lap steel or hawaiian electric string sets. Through juststrings.com com you can get an John Pearse Hawaiian Am6 tuning nickel wound set .16 - .46. I would think these would also work for standard, Drop-D, or even open-G.

They also offer a SIT set - .15 - .38, semi-flt nickel wound for non-pedal lap steel.

Have any of you large gauge users tried these?

[Kirk Lorange]

Hi OaklandA ...

Many years ago I used flatwounds, thinking it would be better for slide. I found that they were dull sounding and lost the ribbon winding very quickly, so I stopped. Then I used 'flat ground' strings, chrome ... they were great. They were normal round wound strings but had been ground flat so that the humps of the winding were removed. I forget the company (D'Addario?) that made them, but they were discontinued, at least down here in Australia. So I reverted to plain old round wound strings and still use them. The slight noise of the slide working over the winding doesn't really bother me much anymore. I think using the heavy brass slide aleviates some of that noise, anyway.

The John Pearse strings sound ideal ... just a little light on the bottom end for my taste. I'll be interested in your review if you decide to try them out.

[OaklandA]

Hey Kirk,

Actually I'm inclined to give them (Pearse) a try since the heaviest I've gone on strings ever was a .12 set. I think there was a set on the site that had slightly heavier bottom strings...I'd have to look again.

Re: flatwounds - Yeah I haven't used them in years because they do tend get dark and dull, but was curious of how hey worked with slide. Sounds like it may not really make much of a difference.

GHS makes some "rollerwound" sets where the roundwounds are ground to a close to flat surface. I believe the "Nickel Rockers" and the Chrome Brites are that type. I think the D'Addario's you are talking about are called the Half Rounds or something to that effect. I haven't seen them in the stores for a long time but Juststrings.com probably has them.

I'll let you know if I get some in the near future.

[OaklandA]

Quick look at Juststrings and yes, they have the D'Addario Half Rounds as well as the others mentioned. I've been told the Pyramid flatwounds are brighter and last forever....and the same about Thomastik-Infeld. TI has a .14 - .55 set in both flat and round.

Disclosure: I just came across the Juststrings site a couple of weeks ago and I got excited about the selection they have. I'm not affiliated with them in any way and I'm sure there are other sites that have these strings as well.