D'Addario ECG23 XL Chromes Flatwound Electric Guitar Strings - .010-.048 Extra Light Reviews

Geesh, I've played on dozens upon dozens of different strings, both round and flat-wound. I stumbled upon these quite by accident. I had them in my string drawer and forgot about them for several years. I just put them on two guitars, an Epiphone with their ProBucker pickups, and a Gibson Midtown Custom with Burstbucker pickups. The Midtown Custom is semi-hollow 15" and of course the Les Paul is a solid-body. I have NEVER heard them sound better. I also have Les Trem tremolos and roller bridges on both guitars. These strings are perfect for bending pitch, but slightly more difficult to bend actual notes on the fingerboard. The "G" string is wound. I'm most impressed with the balance of these flatwounds. They are both warm and bright at the same time. Don't forget, the "E" and "B" strings are plain wire. D'Addario matched the gauges and composition perfectly to blend with the wound strings. My fingers just glide up and down the neck. If you are a player of a hollow or semi-hollow bodied guitar in particular, try these out. They don't give them away at over 18 bucks a pop, but I'm buying another three sets right after I post this message. I have never played on strings I liked better.

I've been using D'Addario Chromes for well over a decade now. Absolutely love the smooth tone and feel.

Decided to try these on my casino as I was currently playing the extra light D'Addario round wound strings. The difference was just unreal as they are so warm and make every chord pop.. etc. I found myself unable to put my guitar down as I just couldn't get enough of how amazing my casino now sounded. Extremely happy with my purchase and will absolutely be putting them on my other guitar.

Before buying these strings, I read these reviews very carefully. And even then, I had doubts of the reviews.
But, not all reviews can't be wrong. So, I decided to buy two sets. I Have a Schecter Omen 6 strings. I changed the frets to stainless steel frets. The problem was that I would get fret buzz on 6 & 5 strings. Tried very hard to correct it but it was useless. Bought these strings in hope that it wouldn't buzz. Boy, am I glad I did bought them. The guitar sounds amazing now. Crystal clear. Now, I have a PRS which I also changed the frets to stainless steel. It sounds good but it will sound even better with these awesome strings. Thanks, Sweetwater for prompt delivery and the candies. Love BitOHoney one.

Now my Jazzmaster plays like heaven. The flat wounds made my chord changing non-sqeaky. I might try the 11s next time, and see.

Just purchased a beautiful Epiphone Joe Pass Emperor ll archtop. The guitar came with regular wound strings, 10s. Since I haven't used flat wound strings since the 1960's I wasn't sure if I would like them after these many years. I purchased a set of these D'Addario Flat Wound strings and WOW. The Jazz tone was incredible and the beauty and rich sound of the guitar really started to shine. I don't like heavy strings and that is why I went with the Extra Light. Couldn't be more pleased. These strings were far better than I had imagined. They are absolutely perfect for my Joe Pass Emperor.

Great for all music types . Sounds great for Jazz , Rockabilly , Rock .
It has just the perfect amount of smoothness , not too smooth like some flat wounds I've played . Just the right amount for all music types . I did not have to make any adjustments to my Epiphone Les Pauls neck or action . Went from .009 to these with 10s with no problems or adjustments . They play and sound like a dream , highly recommended .

Was looking for better strings than the ones that came on my JTV-59; although those weren't bad, they were round wounds. These flats are the same gauge, but much easier on these old fingers, and they sound better on the (rare) occasions I use a bottleneck.

If you're having troubles with round wounds, try these. You won't go back.

D'Addario, always, these stirngs are unmatchable imo. Amazing playability and sound.

I switched to these flatwound 10 gauge strings for my Gretsch Electromatic (from "regular" wound 11 gauge). The flatwound feel is smooth and silky, the tone is great (smoother...but you can still get some bite by playing aggressively) and "light" 10 gauge is nice because you can "twang" and bend a little more than the usual 11 or 12 gauge flatwounds. I like these strings for rockabilly stuff and some jazzy-chordy stuff. The only important thing you may want to know is that you're not going to bend these strings as much as other sets of 10 gauge strings...so no EVH-style shredding...but perfect if you want to fly around the neck like Brian Setzer.

I own 3 PRS SE solid bodies and a Tele. I wanted to get into a jazzier tone domain. So....
My new Sweetwater Ibanez AM93QM semi hollow body came with fat round wound strings and high action. I fiddled with the action but the heavy round wounds were like playing squeaky barbed wire. I put on a set of the D'Addario XL10-48 Flatwounds and BAM! The sound was so sweet and the action so low. D'Addario Chrome XL 10-48 Flatwounds are all that will ever go on this axe. Awesome strings, awesome tone, awesome action. I Tried some lighter XL Half Rounds but put the Flatwounds back on after barely one day. The Ibanez AM93 and D'Addario XL Flatwounds (with a wound G string!!!) through my little Sweetwater VOX VT40X Clean Channel 40 Watt amp. Smooth, balanced, articulate, pleasing. It has satisfied "All of Me", because I "Ain't' Misbehavin'" and I "Don't Get Around Much Anymore". ...just a play-at-home dad with over 50 years of guitar and band experience. And now I have my own band with my Sweetwater Boss RC-3 looper. Sweet, it is.!.

I use these strings the 1959 model Gretsch Country Gentleman. The strings sound full and warm, they stay in tune and they last well. As always, I got great help from Mike Conyers at Sweetwater.

I put these on my acoustic/elec Alvarez ad 60 and the sound is pretty good ,it makes the tone slightly darker, but strings still ring out and no mo string noise. Try it out I was surprized.

Well, the scratch from wound strings is gone. It's nice and smooth when sliding up and down the strings.
However, I had problems with the 3rd (G) string. It did not want to properly pitch on bends. I had to push extra hard to get a full step up. I ended up replacing the 3rd string with an EB Regular Slinky.

I got these for a 24 3/4 scale guitar I have, and they feel & sound great. But the #4 (G) string will NOT bend a full step like an unwound G string. So, I'll have to find an unwound G string the same gauge (.020") to replace the wound one.

So, if you're looking for an extra light flatwound set, and you don't need to do alot of bending on the #4 string, these are the strings for you. But if you need that extra flexibility, be prepared to replace the G string.

Extremely muddy sound.

I suspect this report is an anomaly and not indicative of most people's experience. But the G string unraveled and snapped at the tuning key when I put it on. I'm not a rookie (playing for 50 years) -- I'm sure I installed correctly. The other 5 strings were fine and sounded full and loud.