So are all flatwounds... roundwound underneath? Were they always made this way?

[rzero]

Tonight I decided to dissect some old flatwounds I had that I wasn't planning on using again. I cut open some Chromes, which I had heard were roundwound underneath the external wrap, and confirmed this was true. I also cut apart some La Bella Deep Talkin', and found them to have one or more layers of round-winding as well. Looking online, I can find pics of Rotosounds, DRs, and Pyramids showing a roundwound interior:

Flatwounds aneb hlazené struny alias hlazenky (Stránka 1) - Efekty, krabičky, kabely, struny, ... - Baskytara.com
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So does anyone know of any flats that are NOT roundwound underneath? Were flatwounds always made this way, at least for electric bass? It is a little surprising it took as long as it did for bass roundwounds to come about if in fact they were already there, hiding beneath a thin layer of ribbon-wire.

 

[two fingers]

They would be too skinny without the other layer.

And I imagine two layers of flat ribbon would be so stiff you would have to ship them in a straight tube. They wouldn't bend enough to ship them curled up in a circle.

But I have no idea what I'm talking about. I'm just spitballing here.

Is this just a curiosity or is there a reason you don't like "rounds under flats"?

@SLaPiNFuNK you got anything in this?

 

[michael_t]

They would be too skinny without the other layer.

And I imagine two layers of flat ribbon would be so stiff you would have to ship them in a straight tube. They wouldn't bend enough to ship them curled up in a circle.

I think you have the right idea.

 

[rzero]

Looking at the description of the new Optima RB Flats (old Maxima reproductions), I see they have a round wound interior. If these do, I assume the other strings from that era do as well. Just wanted to make sure all these strings marketed as "traditional" flatwounds weren't some more recent "improved" design.

 

[michael_t]

Looking at the description of the new Optima RB Flats (old Maxima reproductions), I see they have a round wound interior. If these do, I assume the other strings from that era do as well. Just wanted to make sure all these strings marketed as "traditional" flatwounds weren't some more recent "improved" design.

Just make sure you don't confuse "roundwound underwrap" with "round core".
The majority of today's strings, whether rounds or flats, are wound on a "hex core", while some have a "round core".

 

[Thuddy Waters]

This is an interesting topic. It makes me wonder, if flatwound electric bass strings have always been made with inner roundwound wraps then why were roundwound strings (with outer roundwound wraps) not available on the market until the late 1960s? Was it just because there was no demand for roundwound bass strings until then?

 

[lz4005]

And I imagine two layers of flat ribbon would be so stiff you would have to ship them in a straight tube. They wouldn't bend enough to ship them curled up in a circle.

Sort of off topic, but there were a couple of attempts at doing that with guitar strings back in the day. Total BS marketing, of course, and they went away quickly because they took up too much room on the shelf in stores.

This one was in 1976.

There was another I remember seeing that came in a plastic case that had a little channel for each string, rather than a cardboard box like that one. Can't remember the name, though. My dad had a set he got just because they were so ridiculous, as an example of wasteful packaging for a class he taught.