Nickle vs Stainless steel strings, pros and cons

Ryan Barwin · Post by **Ryan Barwin** » 28 Jul 2011 5:41 am

I use nickel wound SIT's. They don't last as long as stainless, but I much prefer the mellower tone from nickel wound strings.

Brint Hannay · Post by **Brint Hannay** » 28 Jul 2011 7:07 am

Must be my body chemistry, but I found in the past when I tried stainless strings, especially on standard guitar, they went dead faster than nickel.

At any rate, I prefer the tone of nickel, and I use an un-chromed stainless steel bar, so I also find that stainless on stainless makes more bar noise and some drag.

Jordan Beyer · Post by **Jordan Beyer** » 25 Nov 2015 11:50 am

If you like to play old country like don helms do you want to use nickel or stainless for the tangy sound?

Jordan

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 25 Nov 2015 11:56 am

You get a warmer sound from nickle.

Jordan Beyer · Post by **Jordan Beyer** » 25 Nov 2015 1:11 pm

So I would want to use nickel?

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 25 Nov 2015 1:32 pm

Storm Rosson · Post by **Storm Rosson** » 25 Nov 2015 1:36 pm

I too am with Erv, usually I would use nickel cause I also hear a warmer stringier sound but back in the play days some rooms I would use ss cause they sound brighter and a tad more metallic so they cut through better.IMO

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 25 Nov 2015 1:41 pm

Your bar slides smoother on nickle strings also.

Jordan Beyer · Post by **Jordan Beyer** » 25 Nov 2015 1:52 pm

Ok , thanks yall

Jordan

Marco Schouten · Post by **Marco Schouten** » 25 Nov 2015 2:21 pm

I used nickel wound strings forever, but recently wanted to try out stainless wound strings, so I switched from Live Steel Strings nickel wound to Jagwire Stainless wound strings. The Jagwires sound much better on my JCH, so I will keep using them.

Jim Pitman · Post by **Jim Pitman** » 26 Nov 2015 12:05 am

Nickel is permeable and stainless is not so in theory stainless won't grab a pickup's magnetic field and move it around as aggressively as nickel. This may account for the tone difference.
I'm thinking only the winding is nickel or stainless steel and the string itself is regular steel in both cases, which is permeable. Otherwise, a total stainless steel string would produce a very low output if any at all.

Rich Upright · Post by **Rich Upright** » 26 Nov 2015 2:29 am

In my honest opinion, I don't think there is any difference in tone no matter what string you use, & I dare anybody to take a blindfold test and tell the difference.I think it's all psychological. Only thing I won't use is d Addario strings with their stupid packaging & color code system. I use GHS because that is what is available locally, and they're cheap.

Stu Schulman · Post by **Stu Schulman** » 26 Nov 2015 2:30 am

Nickel because I like the sound!

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 26 Nov 2015 8:17 am

There is a difference in the tone.
I got a new Williams and I didn't care a lot for the tone so I contacted Bill and asked him what kind of strings he put on his guitars. He said "stainless", as was my suspicion. I changed to nickel and then I was happy.

John Macy · Post by **John Macy** » 26 Nov 2015 9:53 am

I use D'Addario nickel strings...I buy them in bulk from juststrings.com. I use slightly different guages so it's not only cheaper, but easier to get what I want....

Tom Quinn · Post by **Tom Quinn** » 26 Nov 2015 10:45 am

I dunno. What are Black Diamond's made from?

b0b · Post by **b0b** » 26 Nov 2015 11:22 am

Tom Quinn wrote:I dunno. What are Black Diamond's made from?

Nickel wound.

Storm Rosson · Post by **Storm Rosson** » 26 Nov 2015 12:11 pm

I certainly hear(heard) the tone diff between Ni and SS on every string inst (psg,6 string, bass)back when I was still working and could still hear.

Billy Carr · Post by **Billy Carr** » 26 Nov 2015 2:34 pm

Nickel Wound for me. "Live Steel Strings" brand.

Dean Holman · Post by **Dean Holman** » 26 Nov 2015 3:39 pm

It's my understanding the GHS Boomers are a nickel plating over stainless steel wound string. You kind of get the best of both worlds I guess. I'm pretty lazy when it comes to changing strings but I like the feel of the nickel wound and feel that they last a sufficient amount of time. Of course my hands don't perspire so I could understand strings not lasting as long for those who perspire more.