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Old 05-05-2014, 07:51 AM
RussMason RussMason is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2010
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Default Nickel strings

While the Monels are pure nickel-wound, as are some other brands, many of the 'nickel' strings are actually nickel-plated steel. These are the strings that are mostly used on electric guitars, and they are quite bright sounding. D'Addario, for example.

Pure nickel strings are not as bright, but, depending on the nickel alloy, the John Pearse nickels will sound different from the Martin Monels.

They are not ideal strings for fingerstyle, but are fine for flat-picking, such as the way Tony Rice plays (sigh).

Like many other kinds of strings, they start out bright, and then become mellower until they reach a kind of plateau.

The only nickel strings I like are the Rohrbacher titanium medium nickel-wound strings. They have a clarity unlike any other string, plus the sustain is really good. Because they are titanium they are impervious to humidity, hand sweat and other environmental factors. I had one set on a guitar for about 8 months and they still sounded good. And, despite being called 'medium' they are really light gauge strings, about 160lbs on the bridge.
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