by abstamaria » 27 Feb 2011, 07:09
Many thanks to all. That was very informatve and new to me. It seems roundwounds and thinner gausges were more easily available in the UK tnan the US?
I asked my cousin, who as a teenager played in a Ventures/Shadows cover band here in Manila in the very early 1960s (he plays jazz professionally in Monterey, California, now), if he recalled whether he used flatwounds or roundwounds then. He said he couldn't remember! He did say he bought Pyramid strings locally. Those are very expensive strings now.
My conclusion from the comments here and elsewhere is that the first version of "Walk Don't Run," "Blue Moon," and the early Ventures hits were probably played on flatwounds, and they do sound like they were. I'm going to switch my Jazzmaster to flatwounds and see how that sounds. I have to decide whether to use .011-.048 or the probably more correct .013-.053.
The book "Walk Don't Run" says Nokie Edwards used very thin strings to allow those bends that later populated the Ventures repertoire. Like James Burton and the others in this thread, he might have used banjo strings too, but the book WDR does say he later had light-gauge string sets that he gave away to fans in Japan (they didn't have them there). So maybe Nokie first used flatwounds, too, with banjo strings perhaps, and probably later on moved to roundwound as did most every one in the mid-60s.
The puzzle for me is "Bulldog," a very early Ventures piece popular here. This has a few "deep" bends that I find difficult with medium gausge strings. It does sound like it was played on flatwound strings, but I wonder what gauge. Did Bob Bogle played lead on this?
In his interview on the DVD "Final Tour," Hank Marvin says they were surprised to look at the strings on the Stratocaster Cliff had just imported and were amazed at the size of the strings (probably flatwound!). They attributed the ability of U.S. guitarists to bend them to their diet of steak, milk, and eggs. Trying to play Bulldog on .012-.052 strings, I'm beginning to come to the same conclusion.
The other puzzle is the Shadows' "Apache." It does not sound right to my ears except on hefty roundwounds. Obviously, Hank must have played the Stratocaster on flatwounds initially. Did he move so soon to roundwounds? Would they have been available in the UK then?
Best regards,
Andres