Galli Flatwound 80/20 "Jazz Flat"

[Hammertone]

I received a few sets of Galli flatwound 80/20 "Jazz Flat" strings to test out on acoustic carved archtop guitars. Does anyone here have direct experience with these, both as acoustic strings as well as amplified with vintage/modern floating pickups?

[ThatRhythmMan]

I never tried them electrically, but tried them in a few acoustic archtops, and didn’t care for them. They were just as harsh sound to my ear as any other 80/20.

[TOMMO]

Phosphor Bronze will not work with a magnetic pickup...

[LtKojak]

Phosphor Bronze will not work with a magnetic pickup...

... except that it actually does work, due to the fact that ALL bronze 80/20 strings' CORE is made of steel, which as you all know IS magnet... at least it was the last time I've checked.

Generally speaking, Galli strings are top-notch, hand-made with the best possible materials money can buy and wound in machines that are man-attended, not the full automatic, robot-like D'Addario uses in their factory, although they too produce hand-made strings, wound in man-attended machines.

Home

Another high-end Italian string maker is Dogal. The products both brands produce are worth every penny they ask for and then some, if you ask me.

Home - Dogal

HTH,

[TOMMO]

... except that it actually does work, due to the fact that ALL bronze 80/20 strings' CORE is made of steel, which as you all know IS magnet.

Yes, but since the winding is not magnetic they will have serious lack of volume compared to nickel or steel wound strings ...

[mr. beaumont]

Bronze flatwounds...the solution to a non existing problem?

I have only tried one set of Galli's, a gypsy jazz set. Some of the worst strings I ever bought. Felt rough, went dead super fast. Maybe just a bad set? People really like their Galli's.

[dhd]

Have not tried the Galli Jazz Flat strings on an arch top, nor have I tried them with a pickup.
I have tried them on flat top acoustic guitars.
I prefer flat wound strings because I dislike string squeak.
I use to use D'Addario Chromes on my acoustic flat tops,
then started using the Galli Jazz Flat 80/20 Bronze.
I like the Galli better than the D'Addario Chromes because my acoustics now had a brighter tone,
but the string surface of the Galli flat wound strings are not as smooth as the Chromes.
Coupled with the less smooth feel of Chromes, the flat wound G string has a less smooth feel than the other flat wound strings in the Galli string sets.
I noticed this in all 3 string sets (AJF1047, AJF1150 and AJF1252)
although there was a less noticeable smoothness difference with the flat wound G string in the AJF1047 string set.

I've also tried the Dogal Nightclub V25 flat wound 80/20 bronze strings.
The flat wound string surface of the Dogal are smoother than the Galli, but not quite as smooth as D'Addario Chromes.
I really like the Dogal Nightclub V25 string I tried.
I like them better than the Galli because of the smoother feeling string surface,
and the Dogal strings seem to last longer.
The Dogal strings are notably more costly than the Galli, so I tend to use the Galli AJF1047 more often than the Dogal Nightclub V25.

I wish there were more choices for flat wound acoustic guitar strings.

[medblues]

Yes, but since the winding is not magnetic they will have serious lack of volume compared to nickel or steel wound strings ...

Sometimes this is desirable in situations where the bass strings are too loud and or boomy and the pickup is not adjustable (mechanically or electrically) and the magnetic pickup output is blended with another signal (piezo or microphone).

[Hammertone]

Bronze flatwounds...the solution to a non existing problem ...

Jeff: I've used 80/20 and PB strings on various acoustic carved archtops over the years. I think they sound great on some guitars. I figured that the Galli 80/20 flats might mellow out some of the fizz that I associated with both 80/20 and PB rounds, but still retain the tonal characteristics that I like. I use all sorts of other strings as well, most pure nickel and Monel, in both round and flat formats. I also use stainless steel flats (GHS and Chromes) on a few guitars. It's one of the benefits of having more than, uh, a couple of carved-top archtops to play.

I've also tried 80/20 as well as PB strings with a Dearmond FHC-C floating pickup and was surprised at how good they sounded. I'll report back on my impressions of the Galli jazz flat strings, and maybe dig up some Dogal Nightclub V25 strings to try as well.

[pcjazz]

Jeff: I've used 80/20 PB strings on various acoustic carved archtops over the years. I think they sound great on some guitars. I figured that PB flats might mellow out some of the fizz that I associated with PB rounds, but still retain the tonal characteristics of PB that I like. I use all sorts of other strings as well, most nickel and Monel, in but round and flat formats.

I've also tried them with a Dearmond FHC-C floating pickup and was surprised at how good they sounded. I'll report back on my impressions of the Galli Jazz strings, and maybe dig up some Dogal Nightclub V25 strings to try as well.

The strings in the photo seem to be 80/20 (“brass”) not phosphor bronze. I have used 80/20s with a Dearmond pickup and also with a KA single coil, and so long as the pole pieces are adjusted correctly they have a good vintage archtop sound, although a bit bright for some tastes. I’d like to try the flatwound version sometime.

[Hammertone]

The strings in the photo seem to be 80/20 (“brass”) not phosphor bronze. I have used 80/20s with a Dearmond pickup and also with a KA single coil, and so long as the pole pieces are adjusted correctly they have a good vintage archtop sound, although a bit bright for some tastes. I’d like to try the flatwound version sometime.

Whoops - my bad - thanks for catching that. I've used both and was incorrect in my usage - fixed it...

[dhd]

The Galli AJF1252 and Dogal Nightclub V25 are quite different in gauge size, but there are
two other flat wound 80/20 bronze Nightclub string sets that might be a closer comparison.
Also, the Nightclubs are flat wound over a round core, and I believe the Galli are flat wound over a hex core.

Galli AJF1252 .012 .016 .024w .032 .042 .052

Nightclub V25 .011 .014 .016w .022 .030 .042
Nightclub V24 .012 .016w .020w .028 .034 .046
Nightclub V77 .014 .017 .023w .030 .038 .048

[Hammertone]

The Galli AJF1252 and Dogal Nightclub V25 are quite different in gauge size, but there are two other flat wound 80/20 bronze Nightclub string sets that might be a closer comparison. Also, the Nightclubs are flat wound over a round core, and I believe the Galli are flat wound over a hex core...

Yes, hex core on the Galli strings.
Any idea of the tension of the Dogal strings? My guess is probably low, like TI or Pyramid round core.

Galli AJF1252 - Strings&Beyond - $16.49
.012 | .016 | .024w | .032 | .042 | .052
Tension LBS
23.4 | 26.2 | 35.7 | 29.7 | 30.3 | 24.5
Tension KG
10.6 | 11.9 | 16.2 | 13.5 | 13.7 | 11.1

Nightclub V25 - MSRP € 36,71 (@ US$40.60, street price @26.99, stringsbymail)
.011 | .014 | .016w | .022 | .030 | .042

Nightclub V24 - MSRP € 42,48 (@ US $47, street price @31.49, stringsbymail)
.012 | .016w | .020w | .028 | .034 | .046

Nightclub V77 - MSRP € 41,76 (@ US$46.20, street price @30.99, stringsbymail)
.014 | .017 | .023w | .030 | .038 | .048

[dhd]

I get my Galli strings from Strings And Beyond too.
I get my Dogal Nightclub V25 strings from StringsByMail.com.

About a month ago I asked StringsByMail if they had any string tension
information for the Dogal Nightclub strings.
They did not but SBM did contacted Dogal and asked them.
Dogal said they did not have the info on hand and would have to figure it out
and would get back to StringsByMail.
SBM said they would contact me as soon as they heard something from Dogal.

[Hammertone]

Did a preliminary comparison - a more detailed comparison will come at some point.
-two 2004 Gibson Bozeman L-7C acoustic archtops, which sound almost identical
-each equipped with very similar old Dearmond 1000 floating pickups.
-one guitar got the Galli strings, the other has a set of Pyramid Pure Nickel Wound Classics roundwounds, Hand Polished, Round Core P454 Traditional 12-54

Galli AJF1252
.012 | .016 | .024w | .032 | .042 | .052
Pyramid P454
.012 | .016 | .022w | .032 | .044 | .054

We ran both guitars through an ABY box into a Koch Twintone III head, driving an open-back Koch 1x12 cab. The results were surprising to us. Both guitars had the unwound strings replaced with .13 /.17 plain steel.

Unlike dhd's experience, the Gallis were very smooth feeling across the board. They were not bright at all - essentially sounding very similar in volume and overall frequency range to the Pyramids, which is not at all what we expected. The Pyramids were bit punchier, but it's as if there is simply a difference in the eq of the strings across the audio range, as opposed to a noticeably different overall sound.
- the old Dearmond worked just fine with the Gallis and the two guitars were similar enough in volume to easily be matched. Perhaps the Gallis had a bit less overall volume due to a smaller magnetic field, but they were even from string to string. Again, it's as if there is simply a difference in the eq of the strings across the audio range, as opposed to a noticeably different overall sound.

More to come after some more critical playing/listening tests. I do like these strings, however. They definitely have zero "fizz," which was what I had hoped for, but they also have very little "brightness" which I had assumed they would have, given the 80/20 material. Still, they definitely work for me as acoustic carved archtop strings. All quite interesting and great fun.

[dhd]

You experiencing a very smooth feel of all the Galli's wound strings is great news to me.
I'll feel much better placing my next Galli string order to Strings&Beyond.

I first notice the not so smooth G string issue in April 2017.
It was the only string in the set that really stood out for me as being less smooth and
I was getting perceptible string squeaks (only from the G string) when sliding up or down the strings.
I mentioned this to Strings And Beyond (Brandon was very helpful) who forwarded my concern to Galli.
At the time Galli could not comment if it was a defect or not and I haven't heard any updates from Galli.

From your positive experience with the Galli AJF1252 strings it appears Galli may have resolved the not so smooth G string issue.

[Dennis D]

..Ok so I just got 2 of my guitars back from their annual set up.

My '53 L-7 is Acoustic-Only Cutaway - It's had mostly had flats on it, ( Chromes ), although the last string set was Elixirs, the thinking being I wanted to get used to them because my new Campellone was going to have them.....They were ok, better than I thought - the volume is decent but so's the finger and pick noise. I did like the fact that I could play them hard and they'd be ok with it.
So, this L-7 got the Galli 82/20 Bronze 12/52's.....
I've only played them for an hour but they are really interesting ! They are close in volume to the Chromes, maybe louder, but probably less than Elixirs........The Galli's surprised me a lot with their lack of finger and pick noise, and how smooth they are......... This guitar has always been bright, but these Galli's may have settled down that quality a little , but the top-to-bottom volume is still there !
But they sure have a 'sound' ! I am not sure this is anyone else's experience, but so far I look and scratch my head - - are these Galli's nickel ??.....They play really easily, ( noiseless too ! ) and have a good soft response, and I think without the Chrome chimey quality. I don't know how they'd be on any electric, but unless I'm really missing something, these are winners. I am going to try them my '37 L-7 acoustic - - which sounds good with anything, and go from there.

The Chromes on the Campellone are ok so far , but I can see me trying a set of these same Galli's on that real soon too.

......FYI......I'll be interested to hear anyone's experiences and opinions.

Dennis

[Hammertone]

I like the Galli strings a lot. I've kept a set on my L-7C since initially testing them out, and will use them on a couple of other acoustic archtop guitars w/floating pickups whenever I change strings. I haven't yet tried a set of Dogal 80/20 flats, but will get around to it one of these days.

[marvinvv]

Yes, hex core on the Galli strings.
Any idea of the tension of the Dogal strings? My guess is probably low, like TI or Pyramid round core.

Galli and Dogal are pretty heavy tension, almost same as Chromes, give or take on a .54 or 56. or G Wound .24 or .26 etc both like Chromes as you know Hexcore.

Pyramids are the least tension, sometimes difficulty to be spot on because Tis G is 21w Pyramid .24

both Ti & Pyramid 13 & 17 are marginally lighter tension because although minuscule slightly thinner, German imperial measurement, but most plain steel strings between most manufacturers are the same, on other strings G D A E obviously core dimension vary and type of core Hex or round,