Flta wound vs. Round wound

[bobzilla]

I always use round wound brass strings on acoustic and round wound .009's on electric.

Question?:

Do the round wounds dig into the neck and cause damage more than a flat wound string would cause damage toi the fretboard?

Something tells me that, eventually, the rounders would be diggin' in a bit more to the board, thuis causing some "damage" even if minor.
Now I've only played the above mentioned strings my whole life and haven't really noticed but that's mainly because...
I never thought about this before.

any insight gentlemen?

I'd probably still go with the same I've been using all these years, even if the rounds dig in but...
I may change my view for the more valuable axes I own.

We've all certainly seen necks that have been played alot and it's obvious the contact between string and fretboard causes friction/damage, however you want to put it so, I wonder if it was the rounds that contributed to some of the more significant wear I've seen on necks, some of it is extraordinary and obviously, the amount of time you play the axe is gonna increase the effect of friction. Still, maybe the flats would help on an axe that really gets played alot, regardless of value of that axe.

[bobzilla]

Nice typo (again) in the subject line... ay? That's "FLAT" not "FLTA"

[Mongo]

Bob,

I have never used flat wounds for any length of time (other than on a fretless bass) to see any comparable wear patterns, but I believe your assessment will be correct. I've had guitars that actually had the string grooves cut into the frets.

The challenge I think, will not be stringing up flat wounds for saving your frets, but will be the loss of brightness you're used to. Flats should be much 'jazzier'.

[peterdryan]

Ask the bass boys.

They should know if anyone does.

[bobzilla]

I only use brass rounds on acoustic (D'Addario) and Ernie ball Super Slinky .009's on electric. They ain't brass though and it's the "grooves" in the rounds I am concerned about ripping into the wood of the fretboard actually, more than the damage to the frets tehmselves. Frets are more easily salvaged or replaced, the wood in the fretboard is quite another story and that's what I am real concerned about.

[Roland_G303]

Bob,

I think if you rotate your guitars enough, then you'll never wear the frets down in this lifetime .  I think you'll notice a huge difference in your tone if you switch to flatwounds. 

But seriously, roundwounds do put more wear on the frets, hence why fretless bass players use flatwounds.  If you've ever seen a fretless that used roundwoulds, then you'll see the grooves in the fingerboard.  Jaco did that.

Patrick

[BCy2k]

Bob - are you pressing the string so hard that it makes contact with the fingerboard? I have massive divots in the frets on my PL1770 (it's in the "Cool Contemporary Electrics" in the ICW gallery - you can see them easily in the pic) around the 1st through 3rd frets on the first three strings. I think some of that was done by the previous owner but I'm sure I helped. I don't really have any guitars where I've seen the round wound strings be a factor anywhere other than the frets. I don't have any actual finger board damage from the strings.

The only guitars I've seen with either flat wounds or half wounds are f-hole type hollow jazz guitars. My local Music Go Round usually has at least a couple in stock and they always string then up this way. They told me it's "Sacrilege" to put anything other than flat wounds or half wounds on a jazz guitar. When I still had my GB-10 I had round wounds on it. I liked it - but I never tried flat wounds on it. I probably should have.

It seems to me if you went with flat wounds over round wounds you'd likely minimize the risk of causing actual fret board damage, but you'd sacrifice a lot in terms of the traditional brightness in tone that round wounds afford you.

 - BC

[bobzilla]

I've played both and, as previously stated...
only use the rounds because the sound was preferrable, measurably.

However,
and remember it's not the steel frets I am concerned about, just the wood of the fretboard itself...
on say the '81 ar5000 or the '83 ar1200 and yes even satan's guitar, I'd really wanna cause as little damage as possible to the wood, if I could.

"Does your finger actually touch the fretboard when playing?"

yes, certainly.
Why?
Is that wrong or whacky?

God, I hope not.

Listen, when you're doing vibrato crap or just really digging into a note, how would one even contemplate not having the finger meet the wood.
Granted it's so close behind the steel fret but still, to me, you touch wood.

And, even if this does turn out to be whacky or weird or wrong...
absolutely no way I can change at this point.
If I've embarrassed myself here by saying my fingers touch wood on the neck whilst playing...
so be it.
I'll be embarrassed then but...
I'm too old and set in my ways.

Seems like question becomes...
do you sacrifice sound quality to preserve the wood of the fretboard.
My Answer: certain guitars yes, certain guitars no.

I could alwyas keep flats on for whacking an axe at home and put the rounds on for a show.
Even that would make sense to me if the final consensus is that rounds dig into the wood (not the metal frets themselves) of the fretboard.

[Roland_G303]

My opinion would be just to play the guitar Bob.  I really think you would be ok just using roundwounds.  That digging into the fretboard is usually the result of someones agressive playing style in combination with playing one guitar heavily.  I personally don't think it's worth sacrificing your tone and pleasure you obtain from the guitar just to make it a better displayer. 

Also factor in if you do use flatwounds, then you'll most likely have to adjust your neck, action, & intonation every time you switch back to roundwounds as most flatwounds start at .11's.  Although they do make .10s, but I've never seen .09s.

Just my 2 cents ,

Patrick

[bobzilla]

hey there Patrick, nice to hear from you, hope all is well by you and thanx for the input.
Like I said, on most (98%) of guitars, I have no concerns about this subject but...
certain ones... I dunno, I may choose caution (flats) for home use anyways. Rounds for shows.

and this isn't for "display quality" reasons at all, not one bit.
It's really my conern about damaging ....


a) A rare guitar
b) if the neckwood gets trashed, it's an expensive proposition to address.
c) even in a sale situation, any axe with a rutted fingerboard would be a detraction (IMHO).

So, this ain't a "collectors" psychosis question.
it's a concern for the instrument itself as well as concerns of cost factors to come with a damaged fretboard.

[Roland_G303]

Hi Bob,

Things are going good.

I understand and I hope I didn't come across rude in any way...all I mean to say is based on the way I've seen you play I really don't think you would damage the wood on the fingerboard of your guitar...if you attacked the guitar like SRV, then I would be concerned.

How's everything going for you?

Patrick

[bobzilla]

P.S. -

if the aggressiveness of any given player on any given guitar is taken into account...
the original question here is still pertinent because... obviously...

you can beat the nonsense out of your favorite guitar, whether there's flats or rounds on it and the whole point is...
if you play aggressively on one guitar (or however many guitars) it's still a relevant question as to whether or not flats or rounds are gonna cause more/less significant damage to the wood (OK and the metal ffrets if you insist.)

[bobzilla]

I'm good Patrick and I've got good news to post on ICW but I can't right now, it's all legal crap.

By the way...
I played with my tail between my legs in front of you because your skills surpass my haphazard manglings of the strings... by a million miles or so.

Sometimes, I'll choke the neck pretty good.
(when no ones around.)
When no one's around...
I      AM SRV!

I didn't take offense to anything you said and I'm rather tough-skinned anyway so...
wail away at me if you like, I can take it.
(and give it back!)

Glad you're well Patrick, you are a good man, glad to call you my friend.

[Roland_G303]

You're a really good player too Bob and you're a true musician. 

I can tell you that the flatwounds will be less agressive on both the frets and the board than roundwouds.  I was just saying that I don't think you need to worry about damaging your board.

Patrick

[bobzilla]

gotcha.