Thoughts on Nickel strings?

[samlm]

Hi all,

I am considering trying out D’Addario Nickel Bronze strings. I play a Martin 000-15M (all solid mahogany) and currently have coated phosphor bronze strings. Any opinions from anyone who uses or have used nickel strings? I read that they are more sensitive to magnetic pick-ups, which I have an LR Baggs M1 Active installed. The thing that has me most interested is that they are supposed to bring out the natural sound of the guitar.

Thanks!

[Brucebubs]

Welcome to the forum.
I'd suggest you try Martin Retro Monels first and give them a week to get used to.
D'Addario Nickel Bronze second choice.

[Rockysdad]

Originally Posted by Brucebubs

Welcome to the forum.
I'd suggest you try Martin Retro Monels first and give them a week to get used to.
D'Addario Nickel Bronze second choice.

I'll give a +1 to this post

[Pitar]

I don't even want to suppose I could nail down the natural sound of wood. My frame of reference would be the crash it makes as it's felled. Other than that, I've never known the natural sound of wood and certainly not when it's excited by filaments of steel. I don't mean to sound like I'm taking a swipe at you because I'm not. I've just been around acoustic guitars many, many years and the sonic ascriptions and conjuring about wood species just seems to grow and grow. And, there's absolutely nothing buoying it that isn't subjective.

Nickel does indeed give magnetic pick-ups more to see than the other alloys. It is also a stainless alloy, meaning it will not tarnish/corrode like others will. I use GHS nickel strings on my classical (Set 2510) and the wound strings never tarnish. That particular set also has a wound third (g), which resolves the normally distant nylon G string sound. I only change them when the damage from fret wire contact heralds their doom.

[madhat]

Originally Posted by Brucebubs

Welcome to the forum.
I'd suggest you try Martin Retro Monels first and give them a week to get used to.
D'Addario Nickel Bronze second choice.

Yup.


madhat.

[samlm]

Thanks for the quick responses, appreciate the feedback. When I got the guitar it had Martin Retros on it, but only for a few days and I broke one, so I didn’t have a lot of time to really try them out and never heard them plugged in.

I’ll admit, I’m a little biased toward D’Addario when it comes to acoustic strings.

[samlm]

Originally Posted by Pitar

I don't even want to suppose I could nail down the natural sound of wood. My frame of reference would be the crash it makes as it's felled. Other than that, I've never known the natural sound of wood and certainly not when it's excited by filaments of steel. I don't mean to sound like I'm taking a swipe at you because I'm not. I've just been around acoustic guitars many, many years and the sonic ascriptions and conjuring about wood species just seems to grow and grow. And, there's absolutely nothing buoying it that isn't subjective.

Nickel does indeed give magnetic pick-ups more to see than the other alloys. It is also a stainless alloy, meaning it will not tarnish/corrode like others will. I use GHS nickel strings on my classical (Set 2510) and the wound strings never tarnish. That particular set also has a wound third (g), which resolves the normally distant nylon G string sound. I only change them when the damage from fret wire contact heralds their doom.

Haha! That may have been poor choice of wording on my part...

[TBman]

I don't play plugged in so I cant speak to pickups but The D'Addario NB are different than Martin Retros and John Pearse Nickel wounds. The NB strings are brighter. The Martin Retros don't sound that great right out of the package, they need a few days to mellow. The John Pearse NW sound better right away than the Martins, but are just a little different.

[Organic Sounds Select Guitars]

I really like the D’Addario nickel bronze strings, and currently have them on both of my main acoustic guitars. Initially I tried the 12-53 set, and liked them, but found the bass to be lacking a bit compared to phosphor bronze strings. The 12-56 set restores some of that bass fullness. Cool strings, and definitely worth a try. I like the Retros as well.

[Guitarplayer_PR]

Originally Posted by samlm

Hi all,

I am considering trying out D’Addario Nickel Bronze strings. I play a Martin 000-15M (all solid mahogany) and currently have coated phosphor bronze strings. Any opinions from anyone who uses or have used nickel strings? I read that they are more sensitive to magnetic pick-ups, which I have an LR Baggs M1 Active installed. The thing that has me most interested is that they are supposed to bring out the natural sound of the guitar.

Thanks!

I've used D'Addario's NBs. They're really good; but Martin Retro strings are my choice over everything else.

[Shadowfox]

On a Martin, I really like the Ernie ball Aluminum Bronze even better than the NB, but the NB are a close second. They do balance the tone a bit more.

[gmr]

I am a big fan of Martin Retro monel strings. I decided to try the D’Addario nickel bronze strings recently. My preference is definitely the Martin Monel sets.

I prefer John Pearse Pure Nickel over D'Addario NB. But as others have said, on a mahogany-top, there's probably nothing better than Retros, IMO.

[ii Cybershot ii]

I'm a fan of the D'Addario NB. They certainly last longer, and they have just a bit less finger drag and squeak than regular bronze strings.

[musicman1951]

Originally Posted by Pitar

I don't even want to suppose I could nail down the natural sound of wood.

I would describe the Retro strings as more "woody." I suspect this impression comes from the lack of treble ping/zing/whatever in the sound. It gives me the impression that I'm hearing less string sound and more guitar sound.

It's possible that I'm just crazy and it's just a different string sound, but to my ear it sounds like a reasonable way to try and describe the sound.

I think most of us would agree that we're just dancing around the edges of being able to accurately describe sound with words.