Flatwound electric guitar recommendation

[iamjethro]

No, not a misprint. I bought some flatwounds cobalts to try. My question is I can install on a Guild Starfire III or a variety of solid body electric guitars.
Where shuld I begin? Which style of guitar is the definitive flatwound sound?

 

[DrKev]

My experience: Cobalt Flats don’t really sound like traditional flats, they’re really quite close to rounds. Roundwound sound with flat wound feel is why I wanted to try them, and I liked the feel a lot. They don’t have quite the same upper high end as rounds, just a little less sparkle. Personally, having tried them once I would put them on a guitar with a neck humbucker. Why? Because part of the single coils sound I like comes from the round wound strings, neck pickup, low or medium OD sound, and pick close to the bridge and that's the one thing Cobalt flats just couldn't quite do for me. If I try them again, I might even go up and gauge and use them in D standard or drop C tuning.

The first steel guitar strings were roundwound for acoustics. Flat wounds were developed mid-20th century and through the 40s and 50s were most of what was available. Most people think of them as part of the definitive jazz archtop sound. Rounds for electric didn't really jump in popularity until the 60s.

 

[iamjethro]

Thanks.