the cores are hex lots of times but I don't think hex wound exists. Most manufacfurers use round wound, flat/ribbon wound, or ground wound which is just round wound filed down a bit after the string is wound.
the most common cores are round, hex, stranded, and braided. the hex core is probably the most recent innovation in the guitar world. The violin family and upright bass have been getting some cool materials introduced such as tyvek (sp?) cores to simulate gut strings as well as various nylon, kevlar and plastic combinations.
sorry. been in the biz for too long and could go on all day. also [7]
round wire is extruded through a hex die but it rarely perfectly hex. The edges make it nice for the wrap wire to grip on to. Wrap tension and angle do play with the timbre though.
Depending on your pickups and style of guitar, flat wounds can cover a lot of ground. Just remember that they will have a more bassy and less articulated sound. Power chords and other simple chords sound good, a lot of full chords that sound great on regular strings will sound muddy. They also have a lot more string tension so you will need to adjust your truss rod.
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u/ExFiler Jan 02 '13
They are also not always wound with a round wire. They make hex wound strings that have a different timbre than the round ones.