Anyone try flatwounds for that jazz sound?

Modern Saint

Modern Saint

Starve your Fear, Feed your Dream!
I am used to using roundwounds. Going to my neck pickup and reducing the tone control to a minimum to get that jazz tone that it makes me wonder if flatwounds might improve that sound....

:hmm:
 
Where did the whole 'jazz tone' thing come from anyways? I don't mind a reduced top end for that kind of playing, but a lot of the tones I hear from some of the jazz greats are so devoid of treble that they sound like a muddy mess (to my ears). Honestly, it is one of the reasons I cannot listen to too much traditional jazz electric guitar.
 
Denverdave said:
Where did the whole 'jazz tone' thing come from anyways? I don't mind a reduced top end for that kind of playing, but a lot of the tones I hear from some of the jazz greats are so devoid of treble that they sound like a muddy mess (to my ears). Honestly, it is one of the reasons I cannot listen to too much traditional jazz electric guitar.
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There are two influences that caused that tone to emerge: First, guitars, amps, and especially building wiring used to be a lot noisier back then, so dialing back the treble a lot was necessary to quiet the guitar. Secondly, the guitar primarily served as a support instrument to horns in many ensembles, so a darker tone was helpful for blending and not sticking out in front of the lead instruments.
 
Poparad said:
There are two influences that caused that tone to emerge: First, guitars, amps, and especially building wiring used to be a lot noisier back then, so dialing back the treble a lot was necessary to quiet the guitar. Secondly, the guitar primarily served as a support instrument to horns in many ensembles, so a darker tone was helpful for blending and not sticking out in front of the lead instruments.
Click to expand...

That makes sense....thanks.
 
Denverdave said:
Where did the whole 'jazz tone' thing come from anyways? I don't mind a reduced top end for that kind of playing, but a lot of the tones I hear from some of the jazz greats are so devoid of treble that they sound like a muddy mess (to my ears). Honestly, it is one of the reasons I cannot listen to too much traditional jazz electric guitar.
Click to expand...

Jazz tones have always been around but not many discuss this idiom unless you are playing this style all the time. As for muddyness, my ears are in disagreement - but that is me. What I hear are sweet warm tones that are no obusive and free of the edge normally associated with rock tones or the brittleness of a classic country sound.
 
I had some flatwounds on my epi dot for a while. I didn't dig them, but it was mainly because I didn't like the gauge.
 
i've got flats on my ES-175D, and i like them on it. and they're not "muffled" when they're new. yea, not as bright as rounds, but still not dull.
when yer doing a lot of moving chords, they sure cut out all the "scraping" sounds that rounds have.
 
I have a Guild Jazzbox that has a neck pickup only. I put Flatwound 12s or 13s on it and really like them. The guitar is useless for playing at any louder volume, but really feels and plays great with those strings at low volume.
 
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