Big flatwound strings with a PRS SE Hollowbody Standard?

[RobinFromSorgues]

I'm in the process of buying a PRS SE Hollowbody Standard. I'm playing jazz, clean ala Pat Martino. On all my guitars I put 12-52 flatwounds (LA BELLA), replacing the 12 with 14 and 16 with 17. I was wondering wheter - due to the particular structure of the SE Hollowbody guitars - this gauge could put too much pressure on the guitar and thus be dangerous for its integrity...

 

[veinbuster]

I don’t think it would compromise the guitar.
If I was worried, I would first tune to E flat, see what the tension was like and then tune up, adjust the action and carry on.

 

[RobinFromSorgues]

Thanks for You reply. Anybody else? Does anyone tried those guitars with flatwounds?

 

[Moondog Wily]

I have tried flatwounds (on my McCarty 594 HBII), but very light gauge (8's and 9's). They kept breaking on me so I gave up on them. The tension would not be my first concern though with the higher gauge strings but would instead be the binding at the nut. It is unlikely the nut is cut to handle strings of that width. Just my $0.02 and you may have already accounted for this, but I did not notice it being mentioned.

 

[Lacire]

According to what I read It has a wood block connecting the top and back which acts as the anchor point for the bridge, so it’s not really fully hollow like an acoustic guitar just mostly hollow, look inside the f holes and you should be able to see the block. I don’t think there would be any problems with the additional tension from the flat wound strings pulling on the top since the block and bridge negates the pull from the strings. You’ll need to readjust the truss rod and as already said widen the nut slots so the larger strings won’t bind. If in doubt contact PRS technical center or customer support.

https://support.prsguitars.com/hc/en-us/categories/4408350578075-Contact

 

[Robertkoa]

Thanks for You reply. Anybody else? Does anyone tried those guitars with flatwounds?

Hey Robin - did this guitar get dark and thick enough for a Martino type clean tone ?

I am actually wondering if on that guitar or the SE Holowbody II - I could get in the ballpark of Benson/ Norman Brown type cleans ?

 

[mikecg]

Hey all, sharing my recent experience.

I have a PRS SE Hollowbody II that has up until a few days ago been strung up with standard 10-46 strings. On the weekend I put a set of D'Addario ECG23 Flat Wound 10-48, and the fretted wound g string began buzzing like crazy. I took it a tech and he just told me he cannot find a way to reduce the buzzing of the flatwound g string without raising the action to unreasonable heights and that this guitar seems to not be suitable for them.

Did anyone in this thread manage to get flatwounds working, or any type of wound g for that matter?

 

[Greywolf]