I've used Thomastik for years now, usually 12s but am trying lighter gauges nowadays.

As usual these are fantastic sounding, long lasting, and I can't explain why but sound crispier and clearer than other flats. I've tried a majority of them.

I understand these are expensive strings, I do argue that they last significantly longer and sound better than chromes in my personal opinion.

Silk wrap is designed to not hurt your finish when stringing it on an arch top or tuno-o-matic. Not to look cool on your pegs.

I paid a lot of money for these strings. When I put them on my ES-175, the low E string simply unravelled

These strings have a special end to them on the wound strings. This special end is what is supposed to wrap around the tuning shaft. This is good. Unless the string is too long and the special end extends beyond the shaft. I that case the wound part of the string wraps around the shaft and when you try to tighten it the string unwinds.

I bought three sets and tried one. I'm not taking any more chances. I am returning them.

TLDR: These strings are very expensive, and they suck.

I was very excited about these strings. "Made in Austria" must be great right? Not so much.
First... not very flat wound. Come on feel the noise. Run your fingernail (or a pick) down the neck and they sound almost as loud as round wound.
Second... Brittle. While wrapping around the low E string around the tuning post I gave it a wee bit of a tug and it top 8 inches of the string snapped off. No pliers used, just a pinch between my index finger and thumb. My shock registered a 7 on the Richter Scale.
Third... Expensive. I didn't see a single packet of strings, so I went ahead and bought a three pack of these Austrian disasters for $. I labored under the unfortunate misperception that anything this expensive would surely be high quality. Wrong.

A better choice = D'Addario Chromes which are: Flat wound for real, smooth (no pick/finger scrape), and $ less per set.

I hope my experience saves you time and money.

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