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Round core Flatwounds quest. Who makes them?

#61
Phaidrus said:
Current DR Legend flatwound strings are with absolute certainty round core - DR have confirmed that when they replied to my inquiry per email a month ago. The confusion, as far as I'm concerned, was due to the fact that on the pack I bought some ten years ago it says "Polished Stainless Steel Bass Strings Wound With Hexagonal Cores" but also "HI-BEAM stainless steel strings are round wound and constructed upon a round core ...". Given that I have not used these strings (in general and also this particular pack of strings), I emailed DR like a month ago to ask what the case is with their core. They kindly replied that some initial runs (I suppose when they were first introduced - when was that?) of DR Legend strings were indeed hex core but since then they are round core and that the pack I have, where the info printed on it is somewhat contradictory, could be one of those early hex ones. Upon this email correspondence I took the strings out of the packaging and inspected their ends with a 25x magnifying glass and determined that they are, in fact, round core. As mentioned above, regardless of what my particular set of DR Legend are - or could have been - current production is definitely round core. I attach pics of the pack in question, which however is irrelevant as regards what can one currently buy.

View attachment 4054825
View attachment 4054826
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot ! It seems they changed the front of the package after they moved to round core. I suppose I should be good to go if I ask the vendor to confirm that it says Stainless Steel/Round Core on the front.

I also found the blurb on the package rather confusing. Apart from HI BEAM, in the bit thereafter there are multiple mentions of "Tite Fit", which is the name of one of their electric guitar strings. I've also seen Hi Beam Flats on GC or MF to further my confusion. Anyhow...

If this won't be hijacking the topic, can anyone comment on how Dunlop flats (light gauge in particular) compare to DR Legends, tension and sound-wise?
 
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#62
bararan said:
Thanks a lot ! It seems they changed the front of the package after they moved to round core. I suppose I should be good to go if I ask the vendor to confirm that it says Stainless Steel/Round Core on the front.

I also found the blurb on the package rather confusing. Apart from HI BEAM, in the bit thereafter there are multiple mentions of "Tite Fit", which is the name of one of their electric guitar strings. I've also seen Hi Beam Flats on GC or MF to further my confusion. Anyhow...

If this won't be hijacking the topic, can anyone comment on how Dunlop flats (light gauge in particular) compare to DR Legends, tension and sound-wise?
Click to expand...

Have a look here:
Dunlop Flatwounds premiering at NAMM

People with relevant experience say that Dunlop flats are lower tension and more pliable/flexible than the DR Legend and also have a typical flatwound tone right from the gun. DR Legend have higher but still normal tension and take some time to settle in; they are also somewhat longer than the Dunlops. I have the impression, based on numerous video clips, that the DR Legend have a tighter fundamental while the Dunlop flatwounds are more loose in that respect. Have no personal experience with any of the two though.
 
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#63
Phaidrus said:
Have a look here:
Dunlop Flatwounds premiering at NAMM

People with relevant experience say that Dunlop flats are lower tension and more pliable/flexible than the DR Legend and also have a typical flatwound tone right from the gun. DR Legend have higher but still normal tension and take some time to settle in; they are also somewhat longer than the Dunlops. I have the impression, based on numerous video clips, that the DR Legend have a tighter fundamental while the Dunlop flatwounds are more loose in that respect. Have no personal experience with any of the two though.
Click to expand...
Thanks, that's really helpful. It sounds like Dunlops might actually be the better choice for me based on what you wrote and what I read in the thread you linked. Lower tension and less traditional tone sounds more befitting for what I have in mind.

So far I've had flats (Galli) only on my fretless, and that bass has been sitting in my brother in law's storage space in The Netherlands for five years (I didn't intend to stay this long on this side of the Atlantic) so I hardly remember what I thought of them. Lately I startes to have an itch for putting flats on my jazz to sightly mellow the tone. I guess it's time I do a bit of flatwound rolling.
 
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#64
bararan said:
Thanks, that's really helpful. It sounds like Dunlops might actually be the better choice for me based on what you wrote and what I read in the thread you linked. Lower tension and less traditional tone sounds more befitting for what I have in mind.

So far I've had flats (Galli) only on my fretless, and that bass has been sitting in my brother in law's storage space in The Netherlands for five years (I didn't intend to stay this long on this side of the Atlantic) so I hardly remember what I thought of them. Lately I startes to have an itch for putting flats on my jazz to sightly mellow the tone. I guess it's time I do a bit of flatwound rolling.
Click to expand...

You could also consider the Fender 9050L. Quite special strings, have them on my Pbass currently: medium-low tension, smooth, fat tone with a modern bounce, classy green silks, very well made. A number of TBers say they suit the character of the Jbass well.
 
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#65
Phaidrus said:
You could also consider the Fender 9050L. Quite special strings, have them on my Pbass currently: medium-low tension, smooth, fat tone with a modern bounce, classy green silks, very well made. A number of TBers say they suit the character of the Jbass well.
Click to expand...

They sound interesting indeed, but I need a five string set and as far as I can see they come only as four string sets.
 
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#69
@michael_t, I asked the mods to delete the post you quoted because I was WRONG. :-(
They didn't delete that one yet, but they did delete the one it linked to.

EDIT: It is possible that the core of Cobalt flats has rounded edges or something, because we were unable to see it and *almost* unable to feel it.
Maybe this rounding has some effect, or maybe all hex cores are rounded. I don't know.
But they are not round.
 
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#73
e-flat said:
I spoke to a Pyramid rep via email, and they clarified the Pyramid Gold “round core or hex core?” question:
“
We produce our bass strings on hexagonal steel core - only the low E from set chrome nickel flatwoun comes on round core.
“

so there we have it! I thought I should update this old post for accuracy’s sake!
Click to expand...

Very interesting, thanks for posting this!

This explains why the low E string sounds/feels so different from the rest of the set and maybe also why a lot of people complain about dead low E strings with Pyramid Golds, although the low E has a kinda "dead" thumpy tone when installed correctly too (crimp/bend 90 degrees, like all round core strings should be installed).

It would be insteresting to know which exact gauges are round core. Pyramid Golds are available as singles (short and long scale) .020 .025 .030 .040 .045 .050 .055 .060 .065 .070 .075 .080 .085 .095 .100 .105. .110 .120 .126

I expect the low B gauges are also round core? I guess anything from .095 or maybe even .090 and upwards could be round core?

The Pyramid catalog isn't much help as they don't actually list any gauges specifically as E strings. They list .090 .095 .100 .105 .110 as A/E and .115 .120 .124 .126 as low B. Which is kinda weird when they also say their E-strings are round core...

I always wondered about these strings. I've seen them listed everywhere as hex core but they've always felt kinda like round cores to me.

I know the guitar sets are available as both hex core and round core but I believe one of them needs to be custom ordered directly from Pyramid. Pyramid have always been amazing with custom orders so I wouldn't be surprised if they could make a full set of either round core or hex core for bass as well.

I guess this must be the only bass string sets that mix hex core and round core strings? The only other strings I can think of that mixes round/hex core are the wonderful Thomastik Plectrum acoustic guitar strings.
 
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#74
Deleted member 271037 said:
Very interesting, thanks for posting this!

This explains why the low E string sounds/feels so different from the rest of the set and maybe also why a lot of people complain about dead low E strings with Pyramid Golds, although the low E has a kinda "dead" thumpy tone when installed correctly too (crimp/bend 90 degrees, like all round core strings should be installed).

It would be insteresting to know which exact gauges are round core. Pyramid Golds are available as singles (short and long scale) .020 .025 .030 .040 .045 .050 .055 .060 .065 .070 .075 .080 .085 .095 .100 .105. .110 .120 .126

I expect the low B gauges are also round core? I guess anything from .095 or maybe even .090 and upwards could be round core?

The Pyramid catalog isn't much help as they don't actually list any gauges specifically as E strings. They list .090 .095 .100 .105 .110 as A/E and .115 .120 .124 .126 as low B. Which is kinda weird when they also say their E-strings are round core...

I always wondered about these strings. I've seen them listed everywhere as hex core but they've always felt kinda like round cores to me.

I know the guitar sets are available as both hex core and round core but I believe one of them needs to be custom ordered directly from Pyramid. Pyramid have always been amazing with custom orders so I wouldn't be surprised if they could make a full set of either round core or hex core for bass as well.

I guess this must be the only bass string sets that mix hex core and round core strings? The only other strings I can think of that mixes round/hex core are the wonderful Thomastik Plectrum acoustic guitar strings.
Click to expand...

A full set of round core Pyramid flats sounds good! I wonder what exactly the "chrome nickel" alloy their flats are made of is.
 
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#78
I need to correct my last post (too late to edit). I mistakenly said that Thomastik Plectrum acoustic guitar strings mixes round core and hex core strings. This is incorrect. They mix roundwound and flatwound strings, which is a completely different matter of course. Sorry, it was early morning and I hadn't had my coffee yet.:D They're still wonderful strings though and their low tension is great for old, fragile parlour guitars.
 
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#80
e-flat said:
I spoke to a Pyramid rep via email, and they clarified the Pyramid Gold “round core or hex core?” question:
“
We produce our bass strings on hexagonal steel core - only the low E from set chrome nickel flatwoun comes on round core.
“

so there we have it! I thought I should update this old post for accuracy’s sake!
Click to expand...

e-flat said:
From the same email:
“
If you like the bass strings on round core steel, we can make this for you - no problem
“
:thumbsup:
Click to expand...

My absolute favorite strings! First time I got a set I thought I made a mistake by buying them, the low E was so dull and thumpy.... It seemed to settle in after a couple week and pure perfection after that.

I wonder what a set of the specialty round cores will cost... I may have to find out.....
 
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