What are flatwounds?

[pica]

I'm a fairly new bass player so excuse my ignorance. I keep seeing the word flatwound strings pop up on threads from time to time. Can someone please tell me what flatwound strings are. Obviously their not flat, are they? Is there much difference in sound between flat and roundwound strings. Are they used for different styles of music, say country over rock.

[funkybassinator]

Have you ever seen the strings on an instrument from the viol family (cello, violin...)? The string's windings are of a ribbon-like piece instead of the round wire you see more popularly on guitar like instruments. Look at the stickies in the strings forum.

[mellowgerman]

[C.Linton]

+1 on the above drawings, and as to sound, in general -
Roundwounds have a tone similar to a piano when new, a nice bright punchy sound suitable for modern rock and slap bass.
Flatwounds are not as bright, more botome end with some thumpiness, they sound more like a upright bass, generally good for classic rock and old school R+B and Blues, especially after they've been played for a while and have dulled down a bit.
Ground wounds have a tone somewhere in between, depending on how broken in they are, they could be used in any number of styles.
To be honest though, any string type could be used in just about any genre, it's just that some types may be more suitable than others. A lot depends son your bass, your amp, and how you play and how you set your EQ.

[pica]

Thanks mellowgerman, that picture says it all.