John Pearse Pure Nickel Wound for Emerald

[tbeltrans]

Has anybody else around here tried these John Pearse strings on their Emerald X20?

When I bought both the X20 and X20-7 from David Eastwood, both had these strings on them. When I had Michelle at St. Paul Guitar Repair do the setup on both, I provided a set of John Pearse 600L (phosphor bronze) on the X20, leaving the Pure Nickel on the X20-7.

After going back and forth between the two guitars, which are otherwise set up identically, I found the X20-7 noticeable easier on my fingers and (to me) the sound is more full and "round".

So out of curiosity, I put a set of Pure Nickle on the X20 and now it plays just as easily and sounds just as nice as the X20-7.

So that is what I am going to settle on for the long term on both guitars. David picked the winning strings for me.

The Pure Nickel set is John Pearse 960L, for anybody who might be interested. For the 7 string, I followed David's advice and got the .068 John Pearse Pure Nickel single string for the seventh string to go with the 960L 6 string set.

Tony

[David Eastwood]

One quick correction - the 6-string had D’Addario Nickel Bronze Lights (12-54) on it. They look very similar to the John Pearse Pure Nickels, and have a very similar sound profile (to my ears, at least).

Pure Nickel and/or Nickel Bronze seem to have a real affinity for the X20s, and I have a set of NBs waiting to go on the new X20 when it arrives in a few weeks.

[tbeltrans]

Thanks for the correction, David. I forgot about those NB's, but the pure nickel seem to be just the ticket for both of these for me. It appears that without your post and my response, this would have been another dead thread. Oh well.

I did create a very lively thread by posting a "poem" I requested ChatGPT to create. It is at 5 pages so far and is quite interesting to see all the discussion. I wouldn't expect pure nickel strings to be nearly as interesting as AI though.

Tony

[David Eastwood]

Originally Posted by tbeltrans

Thanks for the correction, David. I forgot about those NB's, but the pure nickel seem to be just the ticket for both of these for me. It appears that without your post and my response, this would have been another dead thread. Oh well.

I did create a very lively thread by posting a "poem" I requested ChatGPT to create. It is at 5 pages so far and is quite interesting to see all the discussion. I wouldn't expect pure nickel strings to be nearly as interesting as AI though.

Tony

It’s the nature of the medium that sometimes we find ourselves either talking to ourselves, or a select few others.

For a long time, my signature on RMMGA was “David ‘Threadkiller’ Eastwood”

[Earl49]

I put John Pearse Pure Nickels on my Lucky 13 once about three years ago, and could not take them off fast enough. Yikes! The tone of Lucky was always OK for me, but those strings DID NOT WORK on that guitar. It was my first clear experience with the sensitivity to string type with carbon fiber guitars. Pure Nickel always worked fine on my wood guitars, so that was surprising. My X20 is currently wearing a set of them and they are good.

I was using nickel alloy strings (in the form of GHS White Bronze) before Elixir and other coated strings came along. That choice was driven by the magnetic sound hole pickup that I used back then until piezo UST pickups became standard in my guitars. But I liked the mellower acoustic voice of the White Bronze and they lasted 3-4 times as long as PB's for my skin chemistry. Still do. They sound a week old at first, nicely broken in, but stay that way for 3-4 months. That tone works for my ear.
https://www.juststrings.com/ghsacous...itebronze.html

[tbeltrans]

Originally Posted by David Eastwood

It’s the nature of the medium that sometimes we find ourselves either talking to ourselves, or a select few others.

For a long time, my signature on RMMGA was “David ‘Threadkiller’ Eastwood”

I worked with a guy who played championship pool at the state level. He and his friends always had names for themselves a bit like "Minnesota Fats". I don't remember their names, but "David Threadkiller Eastwood" could be a great pool name for a guy who frequently tears the green felt with his cue on a break.

Talking to myself seems acceptable, but answering would get my wife worried.

Tony

[tbeltrans]

Originally Posted by Earl49

I put John Pearse Pure Nickels on my Lucky 13 once about three years ago, and could not take them off fast enough. Yikes! The tone of Lucky was always OK for me, but those strings DID NOT WORK on that guitar. It was my first clear experience with the sensitivity to string type with carbon fiber guitars. Pure Nickel always worked fine on my wood guitars, so that was surprising. My X20 is currently wearing a set of them and they are good.

I was using nickel alloy strings (in the form of GHS White Bronze) before Elixir and other coated strings came along. That choice was driven by the magnetic sound hole pickup that I used back then until piezo UST pickups became standard in my guitars. But I liked the mellower acoustic voice of the White Bronze and they lasted 3-4 times as long as PB's for my skin chemistry. Still do. They sound a week old at first, nicely broken in, but stay that way for 3-4 months. That tone works for my ear.
https://www.juststrings.com/ghsacous...itebronze.html

Thanks for the info Earl. One thing I really like about the John Pearse pure nickel is that they have noticeably lower tension (i.e. they feel "looser") than some of the other strings I tried. I have never encountered the GHS White Bronze, so maybe you can tell me how they compare for string tension.

I can sit and play chord melody with those big jazz chords and my hands don't get tired. These strings are definitely mellower than phosphor bronze strings, but then the X20 seems on the bright side to begin with, so the mellower tone of these strings is welcome.

White Bronze would be a great name for a band, by the way.

Tony

[Aspiring]

Originally Posted by David Eastwood

One quick correction - the 6-string had D’Addario Nickel Bronze Lights (12-54) on it. They look very similar to the John Pearse Pure Nickels, and have a very similar sound profile (to my ears, at least).



Pure Nickel and/or Nickel Bronze seem to have a real affinity for the X20s, and I have a set of NBs waiting to go on the new X20 when it arrives in a few weeks.

David what is it you like about them compared to other strings? I have only tried the stock strings and Daddario XS on mine so far. Pretty happy with the XS so far.

[David Eastwood]

Originally Posted by Aspiring

David what is it you like about them compared to other strings? I have only tried the stock strings and Daddario XS on mine so far. Pretty happy with the XS so far.

This is so hard to describe. Generally, I’ve not been a fan of D’Addario’s acoustic strings. I’m pretty sure my X20 arrived in 2018 with D’Addario XTs on it, and I disliked them on first contact. They sounded ok, but felt like sandpaper. I went to Elixirs, which felt much better, and also sounded just fine, but it wasn’t until I tried a set of NBs that I felt the guitar really come alive for me.

For reference, I play fairly gentle fingerstyle, with bare fingers and just a little nail. The NBs give me access to everything I feel that this wonderful guitar is capable of. They also last a long time - easily 3 months a set for me, if not longer.

I’d have gone with NBs for the X20-7 as well, but D’Addario couldn’t oblige. That’s what led me to the John Pearse Pure Nickels, which were terrific for that application.

When my new X20 arrives, I’ll start with NBs, but somewhere along the way I’m sure I’ll try Pure Nickels too.

[steelvibe]

Originally Posted by David Eastwood

It’s the nature of the medium that sometimes we find ourselves either talking to ourselves, or a select few others.

For a long time, my signature on RMMGA was “David ‘Threadkiller’ Eastwood”

Ha! I tend to kill threads faster than an individual suffering from hyperhydrosis playing uncoated 80/20s on a hot day. But your name certainly is cooler, and now you need to live up to it....

[Earl49]

Originally Posted by tbeltrans

Thanks for the info Earl. One thing I really like about the John Pearse pure nickel is that they have noticeably lower tension (i.e. they feel "looser") than some of the other strings I tried. I have never encountered the GHS White Bronze, so maybe you can tell me how they compare for string tension.

I don't know the answer about feel, Tony. I seem to be fairly insensitive to string tension, as my hands are quite strong, making me an unreliable reporter. About half of the time I play mediums (56-13) even when I'm not using alternate tunings, and can play them for 90+ minutes at a sitting.

I've always though of light gauge strings as generically being about 160-165 pounds. A tension guide on the GHS web site shows that a 54-12 light gauge set is 159 pounds. D'Addario EJ16 light at 53-12 are 161 pounds. John Pearse PB 600L's are virtually identical individual gauges, and report 163 pounds of total tension according to an old thread here. Seems like an imperceptible difference to me. Things like windings / core wire ratio and round core wire versus hex core would make a difference. You could get even less tension by tuning down a half-step, if you were not concerned about playing at pitch with others.

[tbeltrans]

Originally Posted by Earl49

I don't know the answer about feel, Tony. I seem to be fairly insensitive to string tension, as my hands are quite strong, making me an unreliable reporter. About half of the time I play mediums (56-13) even when I'm not using alternate tunings, and can play them for 90+ minutes at a sitting.

I've always though of light gauge strings as generically being about 160-165 pounds. A tension guide on the GHS web site shows that a 54-12 light gauge set is 159 pounds. D'Addario EJ16 light at 53-12 are 161 pounds. John Pearse PB 600L's are virtually identical individual gauges, and report 163 pounds of total tension according to an old thread here. Seems like an imperceptible difference to me. Things like windings / core wire ratio and round core wire versus hex core would make a difference. You could get even less tension by tuning down a half-step, if you were not concerned about playing at pitch with others.

Before I had my Emeralds set up at St. Paul Guitar Repair, I had my X20-7 tuned down a whole step. Not only was it easier to play, the sound of the guitar just bloomed.

Now I have both tuned at standard pitch so I don't have to mess with a capo and post-setup, both guitars are MUCH easier on my hands. I tried JP 600L on the X20 and it felt a bit stiff, so I changed to JP pure nickel and that feels much better to me. My hands must be pretty sensitive to string tension because that 1 - 2 lbs difference in strings is noticeable to me.

I have always preferred as low an action as possible and consider playability to be my top priority in a guitar.

Tony

[tbeltrans]

Though there are folks around these forums who love to experiment with strings, I tend to want to find something that works and stick with it. The problem I have had with very light strings and whatever promises low tension is that I seem to lose guitar tone. These Pure Nickel strings seem to address that for me, so I will be sticking with them for the Emeralds.

On my wood acoustic guitars, other strings work fine so I am not planning to experiment with Pure Nickel on them. On my McPhersons, JP 600L seem to do fine.

Tony