Originally posted by Flatwound.....
There are four basic flavors, though each has its variations: Flatwound, Roundwound, Tapewound, and Half-round.
Roundwounds are probably the most common strings in general use. These come in a fairly bewildering variety including stainless steel, nickel-plated, pure nickel wrapped, alloy 52, gold-plated, chrome-plated, and I'm sure others. Further confusing the matter is that some have hex cores, and some have round cores, which affects both flexibility and sound. Also, some are taper-wound, meaning that the outer winding tapers down to a single wrap, or even the exposed core at the bridge end. Some examples are as follows:
stainless:
Rotosound 77
DR Hi-Beams, Lo-Riders, and Fat Beams
Dean Markley Blue Steel and Superbass
Fender 7350
GHS Super Steels
La Bella Hard Rockin' Steels
Ernie Ball Stainless Slinkys
D'Addario Prism
Stainless, in my experience, tend to be the brightest of the rounds, with maybe less of a low-mid emphasis.
Nickel:
GHS Boomers
Ernie Ball Slinkys
Webstrings
D'Addario XL and Slowound
Fender 7150 (pure nickel) 7250 (Nickel Plated)
DR Sunbeams and Nickel Lo-Riders
La Bella Slappers
TI Powerbass
Danelectro Vintage Bass
D'Aquisto Rock Bottoms
Ken Smith Burners
Everly Rockers
Nickels, again IME, tend to be a good compromise between warmth and brightness, with good midrange punch. They definitely don't all sound the same.
Alloy 52
GHS Progressives
Everly B-52 Rockers
I like Alloy 52. I feel that I get a bright, clean sound, but still with the punch of nickel.
Other:
Maxima Gold which are really gold plated
Maxima Chrome, the only chrome-plated roundwound I'm aware of.
D'Addario XL Reds - these are out of production, AFAIK. Copper wound. I have heard that they turned black fairly quickly, and turned your fingers black.
Then, of course, there are the coated strings, like Elixir and the D'Addario EXP which are nickel-wound strings with a synthetic coating to make them last longer.
The examples are just that, examples. I couldn't possibly list every string made (or every brand sold), so there's a lot left out.
Flatwounds tend to have a darker sound with a stronger attack. Again there are lots of variations. GHS, Fender, D'Aquisto, and Labella flats, for instance, have a final wrap of flat stainless steel. Ernie Ball flats and D'Addario Chromes have a chrome-plated steel outer wrap. Pyramid Gold and Thomastik-Infeld Jazz flats have a pure nickel outer wrap. Rotosound 77's use monel (a corrosion resistant metal consisting of mostly nickel and copper) for the final wrap. I've tried the Fenders, GHS, Ernies, Chromes, TI's and Rotos. IME, the Fenders, GHS, and Ernies are pretty thumpy with that lo-mid bump happening. TI's are just... different. I like them, but I don't know what to compare them to. They have a silk underlay wrap inside that changes the sound somewhat. They still sound like flats to me, but not like any others I've tried. The Roto 77's are much brighter than most flats, without the strong attack of, say, Fenders.
Then there are Tapewounds. The only ones I know of are GHS, LaBella, Rotosound, Fender, and Status. Maybe Picato, I'm not sure; you don't see Picato strings much here in the States. I have only tried the LaBellas (760N) and the Rotosounds (88). The LaBellas are deep and thumpy like flats, IME, but have quite a bit of brightness available, too. They don't sound like flatwounds. Roto 88's, on the other hand, are very dark and thuddy in comparison.
Some folks love half-rounds, some folks hate 'em. I've used D'Addario Half-Rounds somewhat, and I think they live up to their ad copy. Bright, almost like roundwounds, but with less finger noise, and good punch. Easy on frets. Others of this type are GHS Brite Flats, Dean Markley Ground Roundwound, Status Halfwound, and others, I'm sure. I think SIT Power Flats fit in this category, but I don't really know.
