Sourcing flatwound string sets?

[Andrew Friedman]

Hello forum, i'm hoping some of you might share your sources for flatwound lapsteel strings, particularly 6 string C6. I've been stumped in my searches... Thanks in advance!

[Noah Miller]

Your best bet is probably to buy a bunch of single strings.

[Tim Whitlock]

Many years ago I experimented with flatwounds on my Stringmaster. As I recall they sounded really good and played exceptionally smooth and quiet under the bar. I don't believe there are any pre-gauged sets for lap steel. You will have to order the gauges you want individually from JustStrings or a similar vendor.

You might want to consider semi-flats. They are round wound strings with the surface ground down to smooth them out a bit. I use SIT Silencers, which can be ordered in sets for a few common lap steel tunings. Not as quiet as flats but a nice compromise. You can get them from the forum store by clicking the link at the top of the page. Available from other vendors as well.

[Glenn Wilde]

Gimme some strings sells single Thomastik Infield flats, you can build your set there. TI's are expensive but I feel they are the best, I've had the same set on my Fender for at least five years and they are still perfect.
Depending on the tuning you may only need a few too, any plain strings will work.

[Ken Dangerfield]

Pyramid, not cheap but excellent strings and will do custom gauges:

[url][https://pyramid-saiten.de/de/products/e ... nd.php/url]

[Paul Seager]

Hi Andrew, I tried flatwounds as an experiment during the COVID era. You can read my research, purchase and feedback here: viewtopic.php?t=362310
Contrary to my last post, I didn't pursue it further but had no problems with the quality of the strings from Optima.

https://optima-strings.com/shop/en/guit ... /lap-steel

and I may give them another try!

I can also vouch for the quality of Thomastik and Pyramid strings. My T8 is strung with Pyramid roundwounds and my resonators with their bronzes. My jazz guitar and basses have Thomastik flats.

[Matthew Walton]

FWIW, D'Addario has just introduced custom string sets, and Chromes are included in the options. You're paying a premium if you buy fewer than 10 sets, but it's probably still cheaper than buying individual strings.

[Glenn Wilde]

FWIW, D'Addario has just introduced custom string sets, and Chromes are included in the options. You're paying a premium if you buy fewer than 10 sets, but it's probably still cheaper than buying individual strings.

This would be most economical, or buy a set of chromes with most of the strings you need and build from there

[Andrew Friedman]

Thanks all!