Stainless steel strings???

Wayne Ledbetter · Post by **Wayne Ledbetter** » 6 Oct 2016 2:56 pm

I noted that there was statement " to not use stainless steel strings". Can someone tell me why there is a concern. I have been using stainless on the Sho Bud to see if tone brightens up. I thought maybe the stainless might be moe abrasive than nickel but the non wound strings are steel and thinner. I have nickel on C6. I'm okay with that, for now. I went back to the old search forum thing and saw opinions on sound and bar drag, etc. Does anybody know if the stainless causes problems with older changers. Guess I need to google that. Those that have used them for quite some time should know. Thanks in advance.

John De Maille · Post by **John De Maille** » 6 Oct 2016 4:40 pm

The only thing I heard was to not use a stainless steel bar. I used a stainless steel bar in the beginning and noticed that, it dragged a little and did make an audible noise. I switched to a chrome bar and all of that went away.
I'm not aware of any other no, no's.

Jerry Overstreet · Post by **Jerry Overstreet** » 6 Oct 2016 6:14 pm

Different strokes. It's been discussed here many times.

The plain strings are the same in ea. set. It's only the wrapped strings that use nickel or stainless steel in most steel guitar string sets. So, unless you're using a wound 6th, it's only the bottom 4 strings of the E9th neck that are affected.

Stainless is a harder material than nickel and most people agree the strings have a brighter sound than nickel. It's also a bit more corrosion resistant, has less stretch and they seem to keep their tone longer.

Some people feel that nickel wrapped strings are more mellow and have less handling noise.

I've tried both nickel and stainless steel string and have settled on stainless for the last 30 yrs. or so.

If I played your guitar, I wouldn't be able to tell if it had nickel or stainless strings on it.

I may be the odd man out here, but I don't find much difference with the tone bar material. I have a nice chrome plated BJS bar, but my go to bar is my old stainless one I bought from the Jackson folks sometime in the 80's. I don't notice any particular drag with stainless on stainless....maybe the chrome plated bars give the speed demons an edge, I don't know.

Try everything. Whatever feels the most comfortable to you is the best for you. It's not going to make a whit of difference. A ton of great music has been played using all combinations of all the above.

Wayne Ledbetter · Post by **Wayne Ledbetter** » 6 Oct 2016 6:52 pm

I had seen some of the discussion of stainless versus nickel. What I was wondering was any adverse thing in using them. I saw that one manufacturer was stating not to use them. I really don't know what hardness the Sho Bud Super changer is....so really can't compare hardness of metal. If you with Sho Bud or similar changer material have had no issue then I can evaluate that. Thanks

Jerry Overstreet · Post by **Jerry Overstreet** » 6 Oct 2016 7:07 pm

Sorry, my response was pretty general. I seem to have missed the issue of your concern.

Some people say that stainless is more abrasive. I don't have any experience with the various Sho-Bud models, but I'm sure others who do will see your post and offer some helpful input.

Wayne Ledbetter · Post by **Wayne Ledbetter** » 6 Oct 2016 8:00 pm

There was a recommendation not to use stainless steel strings.

George McLellan · Post by **George McLellan** » 7 Oct 2016 2:04 am

I find that when I use nickel strings my left hand gets black from the chemical reaction, so I use GHS SS on both E9th & C6th neck.

Geo

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 7 Oct 2016 2:10 am

I've used Stainless Steel strings on my 35 year old Franklin (ever since new) and it has not harmed the changers.

I've used George L's strings for most of the 35 years.

Mike Perlowin RIP · Post by **Mike Perlowin RIP** » 7 Oct 2016 3:23 am

First, I believe that no 2 wood guitars are exactly alike. Even 2 that are made from wood from the same tree will have subtle differences. But my 2 Millenniums are structurally identical, and therefore ideal for making comparisons between different strings, pickups etc.

With that in mind, I bought 2 sets of Live Strings. One Stainless steel, and one nickle, put one set on each guitar, and compared them.

The difference was so slight as to be negligible. You all know the cliché, six of one, half a dozen of the other. This was more like 5.9 and 6.1 The stainless steel strings were a tad brighter, the nickle a tad darker.

If I was not comparing them on identical guitars, I never would be able to tell the difference.

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 7 Oct 2016 7:25 am

Stainless steel strings have a thinner sound than nickel. They are also more abrasive on your bar.
And stainless strings with a stainless bar is a definite no, no.

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 7 Oct 2016 7:30 am

I use SS strings (as noted for the last 35 years) and have a 20 year old BJS bar (chrome plated) that does not show any wear. The SS strings do not sound "thinner" to me, maybe a little brighter when new but not "thinner".

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 7 Oct 2016 8:02 am

I ordered a couple of Williams guitars from Bill Rudolph a few years ago. When I got them home and tried them out I really wasn't really happy with the tone. I called Bill and asked him if he put stainless steel strings on his guitars. He said "yes".
I changed them to nickel and then I was happy.

Mike Perlowin RIP · Post by **Mike Perlowin RIP** » 7 Oct 2016 9:22 am

Erv Niehaus wrote:I ordered a couple of Williams guitars from Bill Rudolph a few years ago. When I got them home and tried them out I really wasn't really happy with the tone. I called Bill and asked him if he put stainless steel strings on his guitars. He said "yes".
I changed them to nickel and then I was happy.

Is it possible that the Williams is more sensitive to the nuances of the different metals than my MSAs?

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 7 Oct 2016 9:36 am

Mike,
Anything's possible!

b0b · Post by **b0b** » 7 Oct 2016 9:54 am

Wayne Ledbetter wrote:There was a recommendation not to use stainless steel strings.

Buddy Emmons used stainless steel strings. It's a personal preference. The SIT® Buddy Emmons E9th sets are the best sellers in the SGF Store.

The difference is only in the wound strings. Plain strings are the same. The windings on the wound strings are where the different alloys come into play.

Wayne Ledbetter · Post by **Wayne Ledbetter** » 7 Oct 2016 10:07 am

Thanks b0b. I've been using stainless and have been wondering about that. Good info.

Marco Schouten · Post by **Marco Schouten** » 7 Oct 2016 12:56 pm

In theory a Stainless steel bar could have a little more drag on stainless strings, but in real life, I didn't notice any difference.

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 7 Oct 2016 1:42 pm

I sure can.

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 7 Oct 2016 3:41 pm

Take it from me, there are pros and cons to everything. Use what you like, and just ignore those who don't agree with you. If I've learned anything in this life, it's to pay very little attention to two groups of people - those who say..."Never do this", and those who say "Always do this".

Lane Gray · Post by **Lane Gray** » 7 Oct 2016 5:01 pm

To me, the stainless tonality has a "brashness" to it that the nickel doesn't.
I'd discount any worries about difference in wear rates in the aluminum fingers.

Mike Perlowin RIP · Post by **Mike Perlowin RIP** » 7 Oct 2016 7:06 pm

Donny Hinson wrote: If I've learned anything in this life, it's to pay very little attention to those who say "Always do this".

Always listen to Donnie.

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 8 Oct 2016 7:35 am

Who's Donnie?

Mike Perlowin RIP · Post by **Mike Perlowin RIP** » 8 Oct 2016 10:22 am

Erv Niehaus wrote:Who's Donnie?

I think he's a friend of Buddie.

But seriously, Donny and don't always agree, but he knows what he's talking about and always gives solid advise. To those of you with less experience, I suggest you pay attention to him.

Lane Gray · Post by **Lane Gray** » 8 Oct 2016 10:46 am

I agree with Mike. When I find myself in disagreement with Donny, I stop and analyze my position. If I am still in disagreement, I'm capable of explaining why I look at the matter differently.

Post by **Dave Mudgett** » 8 Oct 2016 10:59 am

I think it really is a good idea to listen to Donny. If you want to really know what you think about any of this, try different string materials and brands yourself and make your own decision.

I have always used some type of nickel-wrapped strings on a 6-string guitar. For quite a while now, I have used pure nickel-wrapped wounds, not the more modern and brighter alloys. It's about the tone I want from guitar, but that's guitar.

On steel, I found early on that I preferred the (to me) noticably (but not insanely) more brilliant tone of stainless steel strings on E9 especially. I did notice a bit more bar drag with a stainless bar, but absolutely no difference with either my super-chrome-plated BJS bars or my Zirc bars. I personally like GHS stainless strings, but George L's are also excellent. I might use them more if they were easier to come by around here.

As far as hardness goes - well, any wound string, if played regularly, will very gradually wear grooves in some changer fingers. For most modern changers with aluminum fingers, it's no big deal to carefully sand out (800-1500 grit wet/dry sand paper, make sure you don't flatten out the top of the finger) the grooves every once in a great while. I've only had to do it once each on a couple of used guitars in the last 10 years. I did it when I was disassembling and cleaning the changer - the grooves were mostly there when I got them. On a couple of fairly recent steels, I haven't noticed any huge grooving over a few years.

I think some of the old Bud fingers were chrome-plated pot-metal, no? Might be more of an issue with them, not sure. But I've had a few Buds and didn't notice any big issue, though. But maybe I also didn't have them long enough to notice. Myself, I wouldn't worry about it either way.

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