Flatwounds on electric?

[Perry]

Has anybody experimented with flatwounds on their electric to tone down some of the shrillness without cutting the tone? Thoughts?

[Verne Andru]

I tried some on my Fender 5-string but didn't get them to work to my satisfaction. I had intonation issues and found the tone somewhat flat. I've heard others have had better experiences so YMMV.

I ended up putting a hot set of humbuckers in the mando and strung it with roundwounds. Have been very happy with the results.

[Bill Stokes]

I use Chromes on e-mando and guitar. I like the sound and they're easy on the fingers.

p.s. There are a bunch of older threads on this topic.

[Rob Norton]

Yes. I use Thomastik lights on my two solid body four-strings -- a heavily modified Blue Star Mandoblaster and a Kentucky KM-400E -- for just that reason. They also have a wound "A" string. They're expensive, but they last forever, and with four strings, you get twice as much use per set.

Another trick for taming the brightness is at the bridge. On the Blue Star, which has a Fender style bridge, I installed graphite saddles, which are available in many different styles from guitar supply shops. One the Kentucky, which came with a rather heavy brass bridge, I had Cumberland Acoustics modify one of their Gibson style ebony bridges to fit its flat top. I've been pleased with the mellower sound quality on each of them.

[Ron McMillan]

I use D'Addario Chromes for the wound strings on my mandocaster. I like them a lot, as much for the ease with which slides are made. Regular wound strings I find impossible to slide on. Also, the Chromes are available singly at reasonable cost.

[Finger Stylish]

I just purchased a Fender Mando-Strat 8, and I plan on putting D'Addario Flat Wound, .011 - .036, EFW74 as soon as I can figure out how to attach them to the tailpiece.
I will play it a week or so with the bronzies that come on it so I can do some comparison listening and recording.
I will report back in a couple of weeks.

[ricomando]

i use flatwounds on everything electric or acoustic

[lenf12]

I bought a Morgan Monroe tele-type 8 string electric here on the Café classifieds a few months ago. It came with some light gauge bronze round wound strings which sounded pretty bad plugged into a Fender tube amp. I put a set of the D'Addario EFW-74s on it and now it sounds killer due for the most part to the strings having more ferrous content which generates a stronger signal for the magnetic pickups.

As an aside, I also put a set on my 1916 F-4 and it too sounds and plays great. I had been using FT-74s prior to the change which I really like but the F-4 sounded a lot like my F-12 f holed mandolin. Since the change, there are many more differences than similarities between the 2 mandolins and EFWs are very easy on the fingertips. I highly recommend them for your electric. Try them, you'll like them.

Len B.
Clearwater, FL

[spufman]

Light flats on my Mandobird are the way to go.

[Polecat]

I used Thomastik Heavies on my emando for years, and was always very happy with them. As regards the "shrillness" the OP mentions, however, I don't believe that flat-wounds will help much - the tone controls on the amp will do a better job of dealing with them (I've played more or less exclusively through valve amps, I don't know if the following applies to solid states). Although it is counter-intuitive, because the frequencies it affects are not even produced by a mandolin, turning up the bass control does a lot to mellow the tone, and even with the amp distorting, does not produce the mushy sound you would get with a guitar plugged in. If the amp has a presence knob, that can be turned up fairly high, it helps give a clearer sound without lobotomizing the listener. It is the upper mids which cause the most headache, and if the amp has a fender/marshall style tone section where the individual controls interact, it's worth setting the mid at, say 4 and playing with the treble control to see what happens, then either increase or decrease the mid setting and play with the treble knob again until you find a setting you like. I generally have the mid way down, the bass and treble much higher than one would want with a guitar.

[mandroid]

I put FW 74s on my FM61. pickup picks up their Vibrations OK.

Want things less shrill?.. Mandola CGDA

Or Re-EQ the out put down the signal chain a Ways ...

[foldedpath]

I used Thomastik flatwounds on a 4 string Breedlove mandola (which I no longer own). It was a hollowbody archtop with a magnetic pickup. I liked the tone better than roundwound nickel, but then with a mandola I was aiming for the darker end of the spectrum anyway.

I agree with Polecat that they're probably not a cure for "shrillness." That sounds like a different issue. Maybe try different pickups, or a hollow/semihollow body if you're using a solidbody E--mando?

Maybe you just need a mandola instead?

[Jim Nollman]

I always used jazzmando flat wounds on my Godin A8. That string company is now defunct. I sold the Godin last fall plus another mandolin to buy a Bussman electric mandola. That one has been converted to an octave mandolin simply by re-stringing it with heavy thomastick flat wounds.