Difference in Strings

I've been playing guitar for quite a while on and off...like 40 years. I just recently decided to put forth more effort to really learning to play better. I bought a Peavy electric guitar. It has wire wound strings. I played it for about a year, and got pretty good at playing and bending the strings. I just recently bought a Fender Strat. It has flat wound strings. I really love playing it. It fingers so much easier than the Peavy. I can play it for hours and my fingers don't get tired like when I play the Peavy.

I thought that was the only difference other than the sound. That is until I picked up the Peavy the other day after not playing it for several months. When I went to bend the strings while playing the Peavy, and they bent so much easier than those on the Fender, I couldn't believe the difference.

Now I'm wondering why. I'm sure someone here knows why. I don't know the diameter of the strings on the two guitars. I'm sure they are different. I'm just wondering if it is maybe because the Peavy is wire wound and the Fender is flat wound strings.

Thanks
Bill

im not sure about the peavy but fenders usually have a 10-42 dia. flat wound strings are harder to bend because the core is more rigid than round wound strings (flat wound have hex shaped cores i believe and rounds have a round core).

the fender fingers easier because the butt against the fret with less pressure than rounds. height and width of the frets might also be the difference here to.

thats the best answer i can give but the experts here might have something that makes a little more sense.

Lighter gauge strings will bend easier, b/c the strings themselves have less tension on them than heavier gauge strings. The heavier (larger) the gauge, the more tension which results in harder bends.

I'm not sure what scale length the Peavey would have, but strats have what is called the long scale neck. The scale length (length of the neck) can impact this also....to sum it up, Fenders have mostly long scale necks while Gibson usually has short scale necks.

The frets will have an impact also...larger frets makes for easier playing..