abstamaria wrote:I think all Ecca is saying is that the "flatwounds" (a US term, I think) became "tapewounds" as soon as the guitar crossed the pond.
Andy
Exactly.
As the sixties wore on, tapewound strings - like medium gauge strings in general - fell out of fashion and tapes almost disappeared from the shelves in favour of wirewound, though specialist shops like Ivor Mairant's were always a source of supply for the jazz guitar market, and even Rotosound kept a cheap tapewound set "Top Tape" on catalogue. I bet they didn't sell many, though.
In the later sixties, some makers (Guild were an example) started to supply "groundwound" or "anglewound" strings - made with a wire wrap the outermost edge of which was then ground off during the manufacturing process, leaving a much reduced "hill and dale" effect in the wrap.. They made less contact noise than wirewound strings, almost as little as tapewound, but retained more of the metallic richness you'd expect from wirewound.
The terms "flatwound" and "roundwound" were not heard until the seventies, I'd say.
"Groundwound" and "anglewound" were then known as "half-flats". They've never really caught on.
