0:00

on today's ask Zack we're going to

0:03

compare flat wound strings half round or

0:06

ground wound strings and pure nickel

0:08

strings we're going to explore the

0:11

Mellow side of guitar

0:14

[Music]

0:23

strings well hello friends and welcome

0:25

to ask Zack hope you're doing well today

0:28

yes we are going to compare round you

0:31

know pure nickel round wound strings uh

0:34

half round or ground wound strings and

0:36

flat wound strings so the reason this

0:39

came up was I started looking on the

0:43

back of a set of didario strings and you

0:47

know it it has this kind of line you

0:50

know kind of a tone line showing you

0:52

know mellow to super bright with you

0:56

know flat wound or their chromes on one

0:58

end and their Pro Steels on the far

1:01

other side as far as super bright and so

1:04

I thought it'd be fun to of course use

1:07

the same guitar and uh kind of cover the

1:11

Mellow side of things which are going

1:14

from mellowest to less mellow the most

1:17

mellow would be the flat wounds or

1:19

chromes then next up would be the pure

1:21

nickel and then the half round so we're

1:24

going to cover those and talk about them

1:26

and uh you know see if it's you know

1:29

something that that you want to check

1:31

out or mess with so yeah before we dive

1:35

in I want to thank all my patreon

1:37

members and everyone that watches the

1:38

show everyone that's bought a t-shirt

1:41

everyone that's uh put some money in the

1:43

tip jar I really appreciate it and uh if

1:45

you want to find out more about patreon

1:47

or or want to do tip jar or merch it's

1:50

uh all in the all in the description all

1:53

right let's dive in all right so of

1:56

course I've got the uh Dario chromes on

2:00

here are flat wounds right now and uh

2:04

this is the lightest set they make

2:06

because I do not like heavy gauge

2:07

strings at all and so the lightest flat

2:10

wounds that Dario makes are uh are 10

2:14

through 48 and it starts with a 10 then

2:16

a 14 then the G string is a 20 wound

2:20

then it goes 28 38 48 and uh again these

2:25

are flat wound or you know tape wound or

2:28

whatever you want to call it

2:30

one of the really funny things

2:33

about flat wound strings is that

2:36

everyone has this misconception that you

2:39

know everything you know from the ' 50s

2:41

came with flat wounds on it and that's

2:43

really not true um it's not completely

2:48

conclusive but it's pretty conclusive

2:49

that Fender you know used uh round wound

2:53

strings from VC Squire I mean I we

2:56

haven't been able to find any uh

2:58

evidence otherwise but it looks like

3:00

they used 12 through 53 with a wound

3:03

third and they were round wound of

3:05

course they were pure nickel with a

3:06

round core but they were not flat wound

3:10

and so but it's just funny how that you

3:16

know that kind of that myth keeps

3:19

getting perpetuated where you know old

3:21

guitars had flat wounds on them well no

3:23

they had pure nickel strings on them

3:26

that you know according to you know

3:28

Dario's uh you know tone chart are

3:31

actually pretty close to each other

3:32

they're right next to each other so it

3:34

would make sense that uh you know there

3:38

would be that comparison but it's it's

3:39

really not the case so I put these flat

3:43

LS on here and the first thing off the

3:46

off the bat is I pretty much hate them

3:50

uh reason being is that one it has a

3:52

wound

3:53

third uh which I think is just terrible

3:57

you know so if you're like me and you

3:58

like to do chicken picking country bends

4:00

well a wound third is your enemy and

4:04

this one it's like the most you're going

4:06

to get is about a half you know u a half

4:09

tone

4:10

[Music]

4:13

Bend oh and today just as a a side note

4:17

I'm using my little uh my Little King by

4:20

headstrong amp and I have the Reverb

4:22

turn all the way off and I have no

4:24

effects at all no no compression no

4:27

anything and the reason I'm doing that

4:29

is just so you can he as much as

4:30

possible the guitar and the strings and

4:32

what they're doing and not any other

4:34

kind of overtones because you know if

4:36

you have Reverb on or Reverb if you

4:38

prefer uh you're really going to hear

4:41

other artifacts going on and I don't

4:42

want you to hear that so you know this

4:45

again is the you know Telly uh straight

4:48

into a headstrong little King amp and uh

4:51

you know with these uh flat wounds you

4:53

get this kind of sound

4:57

[Music]

5:00

the

5:04

[Music]

5:41

[Music]

5:48

so they're super stiff very very stiff

5:53

strings immediately my guitar had more

5:55

relief on it and you know they are

5:59

heavier but also they're you know not a

6:01

lot heavier but they're they're just

6:05

stiffer and uh you know you can

6:07

absolutely the guitar has more relief

6:10

here and you know I wasn't going to

6:11

adjust it just for these

6:13

strings also you know besides the

6:15

bending thing I mean it really really

6:17

makes you play differently the positive

6:20

thing about these strings is because of

6:22

their stiffness there's a bounce that

6:24

you get with your pick that where when

6:26

you hit the string it really gives you

6:29

fight back and so the the pick kind of

6:31

bounces off the string and so I keep

6:34

playing some of these kind of Luther

6:36

Perkins Johnny Cash things and I don't

6:39

know whether Luther Perkins used uh flat

6:42

wounds or not I mean it it's not likely

6:46

but it's possible uh he probably used

6:48

pure nickel and you know whatever came

6:50

on the guitar which would be 12 through

6:52

53 uh but there's something about the

6:55

bounciness of these strings also these

6:59

strings don't have a lot of other

7:01

artifacts going on you hear just mainly

7:04

the fundamental

7:08

[Music]

7:11

note it's very in yourr face it's very

7:15

clear there's not again there's not

7:17

these other harmonic stuff going on that

7:19

you would get especially with like

7:21

nickel-plated steel like modern guitar

7:23

strings where you'd have all this other

7:25

kind of brassiness or other harmonic

7:27

Airy stuff going on these are just just

7:29

kind of like here's the note here's the

7:31

note here's the note and uh you know

7:35

I've said this before you know I I have

7:37

friends like JD Simo that really like

7:40

you know pure nickel or flat WS because

7:43

he says they sound like records because

7:44

they don't have all that other stuff

7:46

going on it just sounds like the note

7:48

that it's supposed to sound like so uh

7:51

yeah so there is a neat aspect to these

7:53

strings to these you know to these Flats

7:56

uh

7:58

[Music]

8:25

if you can't tell I'm you know

8:27

struggling a bit on these strings just

8:28

again because of the uh the

8:32

feel yeah the the stiffness of them they

8:36

are of course super

8:38

slick you know I mean

8:42

it's you and you certainly can't do pick

8:44

slides on it you know if you're wan to

8:46

do your Van Halen thing um but yeah

8:49

they're they're really really cool

8:51

strings and they certainly would make

8:52

you play differently and again they have

8:55

that very fundamental sound you know

8:59

that

9:01

that's

9:05

just that just you know kind of says you

9:08

know old school and uh and that's again

9:11

why people will say a lot that uh you

9:14

know these these strings are uh you know

9:17

that that's what was on you know all the

9:20

old guitars in the 50s because you know

9:22

a lot of old recordings kind of have

9:23

that sound so but we're going to get the

9:26

pure nickels out and you're going to

9:27

hear that they kind of do a very similar

9:30

thing and then of course we're also

9:31

going to hear the uh half round or

9:34

ground wound so all right

9:40

next all right guys and our next stop on

9:43

the Mellow train express are pure nickel

9:46

strings so of course this is kind of the

9:50

original you know kind of vintage guitar

9:53

string that you know most guitars came

9:56

with of course there might be some

9:57

exceptions where they came with flat

9:59

round I think maybe certain Gibsons were

10:01

but you know originally you know guitar

10:04

strings were were you know plain Steel

10:06

on the high e and B strings and the rest

10:09

were a round steel core then with pure

10:13

nickel

10:14

windings now starting with the early 70s

10:19

or actually in the 60s people started

10:22

using uh hex core like darkode Dario

10:25

kind of you know pushed that and then

10:28

you started getting uh nickel plated

10:30

steel which has more output and it has

10:33

more other stuff going on um artifacts

10:38

harmonics whatever you want to call it

10:40

so this is Dario's uh pure nickel which

10:43

is on a hex core and of course it has

10:46

pure nickel windings around the hex core

10:50

and then of course the plain strings are

10:52

the same you know the 10 13 17 this is a

10:54

set of tens and uh yeah so and again

10:58

this is on Dario's you know kind of tone

11:01

train you know we started off with the

11:03

mellowest which was the flat wounds and

11:05

so this is the next stop so this is the

11:08

pure nickel which you still have

11:11

actually what I would think a very

11:13

similar tone you know you know that you

11:17

know on the back

11:23

pck because it it still is very

11:26

fundamental it's very kind of in your

11:28

face the

11:34

[Music]

12:00

uh you know even going to the you know

12:02

neck

12:02

[Music]

12:21

pickup

12:23

so these strings are much more

12:25

comfortable for me to play on even

12:27

though they're tins which I'm fine with

12:28

ens uh but they you know they have a

12:31

similar tension to other strings uh

12:34

they're not so stiff you don't have the

12:38

uh the feel thing you cuz obviously as

12:42

you slide up and down the fretboard you

12:45

get more

12:46

noise but tonally you still have that

12:49

real fundamental kind of sound

12:53

[Music]

12:59

that

13:05

[Music]

13:30

and it still has snap on the bottom but

13:32

not

13:33

the not the amount of snap that you

13:35

would get with nickel-plated steel so

13:38

this is kind of you know your uh your

13:40

really great middle ground and really

13:43

this is making me seriously think about

13:45

you know pure nickel strings so cuz they

13:48

are you know they feel really good they

13:51

have a good

13:52

tension um they're a gigantic

13:56

improvement over the flat loundes for me

13:59

I know a lot of you guys you know do

14:00

like flat bounds but yeah but I really

14:03

like these strings and I like the way

14:05

they sound and I like the evenness of

14:07

them you

14:08

[Music]

14:16

know yeah I think they just kind of

14:18

sound more in tune somehow and more

14:22

together main maybe it's because it

14:23

doesn't have all the other artifacts

14:25

going on so yeah so there you have it

14:28

there are the

14:29

pure nickel strings so now we just have

14:33

one more stop on the Mellow train it's

14:36

the half round or ground

14:40

wound yeah you be the

14:42

judge all right guys so here we go this

14:45

is the last stop on the Mellow train

14:48

this is the uh the brightest of the

14:50

Mellow strings as far as what didario

14:53

says these are the ground wound strings

14:57

or they're also called a half round um

15:00

they go by a couple different names but

15:02

evidently uh didario developed these you

15:05

know decades ago as a uh yeah as kind of

15:09

an in between uh round wound and flat

15:13

wound and so the construction on it is

15:17

very interesting uh because you know

15:21

like a regular wound string you've got a

15:24

steel

15:25

core and the windings are are done like

15:30

normal except they're steel with no

15:33

nickel plating so it's not pure nickel

15:36

it's not nickel plated steel it's just

15:40

steel and the steel is wrapped around

15:43

and let's say you want to end up with a

15:44

46 low EAS string they might start with

15:47

a a 50 or 48 or something like that and

15:50

then they grind it down so think about

15:54

all these round you know kind of you

15:58

know winding

15:59

that go around and then they're they're

16:01

they're you know they're basically

16:03

ground down to where they're even to

16:04

where they're flat so you end up with

16:07

something that has you know Bridge

16:09

pickup all the way

16:11

up pretty you know much smoother than

16:15

round wound uh but but you can still

16:20

get you can still get a little bit of

16:22

pick scrape if you really you know kind

16:24

of dig your pick into it so yeah so this

16:28

is really a in between you know set as

16:32

far as um you know the the feel they do

16:36

not feel stiff they they feel much

16:39

better than flat wounds I mean again you

16:42

can see that I have kind of a bias

16:44

against flat wounds not that there

16:46

wouldn't be a situation where that was

16:47

the right string to put on a guitar but

16:50

on a Telecaster for sure um maybe a

16:53

Bigby Telly or something would be a good

16:55

choice but uh yeah I'm definitely going

16:57

to go with round wound being it nickel

17:00

plated or or or pure nickel but these

17:04

strings really have a thing to them

17:08

and it's the tonal aspect it's like they

17:11

don't you know they feel smooth they

17:14

feel they Bend well you know you don't

17:16

have the high tension thing going on

17:18

like the flatwound

17:20

strings but they have an interesting

17:23

tone because think about it if you have

17:27

nickel-plated Steel

17:30

um you know round W strings they have

17:33

more highend and more output than pure

17:36

nickel strings well these strings are

17:39

just steel there is no nickel used in

17:42

these strings at all these half rounds

17:46

so you get more output even though

17:49

they've been smoothed down you have more

17:51

output and also it tends to be more

17:53

output in a certain frequency range in

17:56

this kind of low mid thing and I you

17:59

know again to kind of play a similar

18:00

thing that I played uh with the pure

18:03

nickel set you know you have this kind

18:11

of I mean it's it's

18:13

really you know

18:18

[Music]

18:48

so there are some qualities about these

18:50

strings I really like I like that I mean

18:53

they just have a lot of lowend thump to

18:58

them

18:59

they don't have you know quite the pop

19:01

and tanginess of you know some other

19:03

strings but they definitely have you

19:06

know of course more pop and such than

19:08

than flat wounds but you

19:12

know you know they still kind of have

19:14

that kind of uh

19:16

again uh I I guess it's because of the

19:19

the grinding process they don't have as

19:21

much of the brassy artifacts and other

19:24

things going on so this is a a really

19:27

cool set and it's it's fun also with

19:30

this set because of how smooth the

19:31

strings are and how you know

19:34

[Music]

19:42

uh you know you can do uh slides on the

19:46

low string uh and they're and they're

19:48

very smooth I mean you don't I mean you

19:50

just you know

19:56

[Music]

20:01

yeah so now here's one of the things I

20:05

want to I want to make sure that you

20:07

guys understand and that's that

20:09

basically the high strings on all these

20:11

sets are basically the same except for

20:14

the the you know on the on the flat

20:16

wound set you had a wound third that was

20:19

flat wound and also it used like a 14

20:22

instead of a 13 for a b string but on

20:26

pretty but on the nickel on the p nickel

20:29

and this set the half round they're

20:31

identical Unwound strings and so you're

20:35

getting all this difference is coming

20:38

just from the low strings and so it's

20:40

it's really interesting how much cuz

20:43

really I mean when you think about it

20:44

there's not much you can do with these

20:46

plain strings so when you're making up

20:49

sets you know as far as not talking

20:52

about changing the gauge but it's like

20:54

the wound strings are where really you

20:56

get the difference between you know all

20:59

these different sets so and really you

21:01

just have to find which one uh you know

21:03

works for you I'll have to say of all of

21:06

these I really like the pure nickel a

21:09

lot and uh I really enjoy these these

21:12

half rounds a lot of course uh no

21:15

offense but I'm I'm not a big uh flat

21:18

guy or chromes as they they call them

21:21

but uh yeah so now probably what you're

21:26

thinking right now is like Why didn't

21:28

have you know edit together a clip of

21:32

all three of them you know all playing

21:34

on all three string sets you know

21:36

together well that's what we're going to

21:38

do now so since you made it all the way

21:40

to the end you get to see a clip where I

21:43

play the flat rounds first the pure

21:46

nickel second and these half rounds last

21:51

so here we're going to end with with the

21:54

clips so I'm going to go ahead and say

21:56

goodbye and thank you for watching and I

21:58

hope you enjoy the clips bye-bye