D'Addario Flat Tops?

[llew]

Need a little education...whats the difference in D'Addario's "Flat Tops" and regular EJ-16/17's? Thanks!

[DaveG]

Originally Posted by llew

Need a little education...whats the difference in D'Addario's "Flat Tops" and regular EJ-16/17's? Thanks!

I use them on two of my guitars. Besides the lack of finger squeak they are more mellow. That's the main difference I've found.

[mr. beaumont]

Tried em, hated em.

They are "ground wound" or something. They felt very strange, not at all smooth like a flat wound, and actually rougher and more uncomfortable than a regular wound string. Maybe I had a bad batch, but I could not get them off my guitar fast enough.

[sdelsolray]

They are a niche string set. Some like them quite a bit. Most others don't. I enjoy them, although (i) their peak performance is from late early life through a rather short midlife (i.e., they go dead faster than many other strings) and (ii) IIRC, they have higher set tension than equivalently gauged D'Addario strings.

[Quickstep192]

I love the feel and the lack of finger squeak, but, they sound very dead to me.

[121]

The difference in D'Addario's "Flat Tops" and regular EJ-16/17's is
Flat Tops are round wound strings that are ground down then polished.
The ground and polished string surface is intended to lessen the chance of string squeak.
Some folks claim they have no string squeak with D'Addario Flat Tops.

I've tried D'Addario Flat Tops a couple of times, and I experienced string squeak every time I've tried them.
Maybe a little less string squeak than round wound strings, but that annoying string squeak was still there.

If you are interested in acoustic guitar strings that are ground and polished so smooth that you have no string squeak,
you should try Magma Phosphor Bronze Flat acoustic guitar strings..
I have been using Magma GA120PBF Flat Phosphor Bronze Acoustic Strings, Light 10-48.
These Magma strings have a much smoother and polished string surface than the D'Addario Flat Tops I've tried.
Unlike the D'Addario Flat Top strings I've tried, there is no string squeak with the Magma Phosphor Bronze Flat strings.

https://www.stringsbymail.com/magma-...-48-24466.html

[phcorrigan]

Originally Posted by 121

If you are interested in acoustic guitar strings that are ground and polished so smooth that you have no string squeak,
you should try Magma Phosphor Bronze Flat acoustic guitar strings.

I'll second that. I have 12-54s on my HD-28V, and they feel and sound great. I got nearly four months of daily playing out of my last set.

[Wade Hampton]

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

Tried em, hated em.

They are "ground wound" or something. They felt very strange, not at all smooth like a flat wound, and actually rougher and more uncomfortable than a regular wound string. Maybe I had a bad batch, but I could not get them off my guitar fast enough.

You didn’t get a bad batch, not unless I got a set from the same bad batch. Your experience is exactly the same as mine.


Wade Hampton Miller

[Wadcutter]

I tried a set on my HD-28 and they didn’t last the day before they were in the trash can. Recycle bin of course. 😂

[Ed66]

Originally Posted by Quickstep192

I love the feel and the lack of finger squeak, but, they sound very dead to me.

Exactly. Unfortunately I had to move on.

[GrandpaBucky]

Originally Posted by 121

The difference in D'Addario's "Flat Tops" and regular EJ-16/17's is
Flat Tops are round wound strings that are ground down then polished.
The ground and polished string surface is intended to lessen the chance of string squeak.
Some folks claim they have no string squeak with D'Addario Flat Tops.

I've tried D'Addario Flat Tops a couple of times, and I experienced string squeak every time I've tried them.
Maybe a little less string squeak than round wound strings, but that annoying string squeak was still there.

If you are interested in acoustic guitar strings that are ground and polished so smooth that you have no string squeak,
you should try Magma Phosphor Bronze Flat acoustic guitar strings..
I have been using Magma GA120PBF Flat Phosphor Bronze Acoustic Strings, Light 10-48.
These Magma strings have a much smoother and polished string surface than the D'Addario Flat Tops I've tried.
Unlike the D'Addario Flat Top strings I've tried, there is no string squeak with the Magma Phosphor Bronze Flat strings.

https://www.stringsbymail.com/magma-...-48-24466.html

This past week I have been doing a shootout between the D'Addario flat tops and the Magma Flats. I use 12's. The D'Addarios are round wound strings that are ground and polished. The Magma strings are actual phosphor bronze flat wound strings. There is zero string squeak with the Magmas. They have a surprisingly brighter tone than steel flatwounds, but are still mellow. There is less volume and sustain. Also, when you slide up to a note, then to another, the string squeak on normal strings will excite the string and keep it vibrating so there is not much drop off in volume. Do the same with Magmas and by the time you get to that third or fourth note, the volume drops significantly. One important thing about Magmas, the wound strings are thicker than other brands and as slick as they are, they will stick in a nut that has not been cut for them. Now for the D'Addario flat tops. I kind of liked them. There tone is much closer to what I get with Elixirs but they do squeak a bit, not nearly as much and the squeak is not as high-pitched, but it is there. The experiment came to a halt due to a defective D'Addario G string that sounded fine up to around the 12th fret. The 14th fret was a good quarter step flat. I replaced it with an Elixir G string and the problem went away, so bad string.

And for the real nerds, I have an analog dial caliper and checked the strings. D'Addario (as well as Elixirs) match the markings on the package exactly; 12,16, 24, 32, 42, 53. Magmas do not match their package which lists; 12, 16, 24, 34, 44, 54. The actual measurements were; 12, 16, 25, 34.5, 44, 53.5. Compare the actual Magma numbers to standard strings and you can see why they bind at the nut.

For some jazzy tunes I really like the Magmas, for rock and blues, I prefer Elixirs. This could get expensive because I'll either need to change strings and the nut, or I'll need an extra guitar. Those living with GAS rejoice!

[Racerbob]

I've tried about every string brand that claims to reduce or eliminate squeak, which I find annoyingly distracting from the pure sound of acoustic steel string playing. I do not find it a "natural part of steel string sound". It's just "static" that gets in the way, much like "quack" in pickups, that we have gotten so used to it as to come to believe it's an necessary ingredient part. There are some amazing players that I just can't listen to due to all the "noise" getting in the way of the music.

Until recently I had settled on EJ16-17 with a flattop on the 3rd string. As most of my sliding, in which I prefer the natural transitional sound of compared to "lift and place" movement in a lot of pieces, are on the first three strings. Combined with regular "smoothing" of the calluses on my fingers was the best solution I had found.

However I recently tried Magma Phosphor Bronze Flats and love them. Granted on a naturally mellow guitar they aren't as "bright" but on my spruce topped and especially on Adi topped guitar they are a delight to hear the notes as they are meant to be, not accompanied by the "scratching" noise as calluses slide over gaps.

Plus they don't have the gaps between winding to trap all the stuff off our fingers so for me they stay clean and more consistent. An added benefit.

[Sasquatchian]

When I finally got my 000-18 back from a new bridge repair, perhaps between the neck reset, new bridge and new bridge plate, the Nickel Bronze strings I had been using were just too bright so I tried Flat Tops, and I loved loved the way they sounded, the way they played and the way they felt. They took that edge off the tone and it now sounds like the seventy-five year old guitar again, that it is.