I've found a big difference in feel between nickel and steel. I use nickel strings, but one time I decided to try stainless steel, and they chewed up my fingers. I mean, I get blisters from nickel strings, but the stainless steel strings turned my fingers into ground chuck.

[This message has been edited by Dave Siff (edited June 28, 2000).]

Is there a big difference in sound or feel? Longevity? Would one be preferable over the other on a fretless bass? I can't believe I didn't post this earlier...

Will C. http://www.talkbass.com/ubb/cool.gif

------------------
You can't hold no groove if you ain't got no pocket!

In my experience, nickel strings are not quite as bright as steel. I've heard some people use them because they are not as hard as steel, and won't wear frets out as fast. I couldn't say about the fretless issue, even though that is all I play, because I always use flats or tapes on mine.

To me, the typical steel string is very bright, metallic harsh edge, but the ultimate in clarity - I think John Patitucci's solos on 6-String bass.

I think Nickel are not so bright and emphasise the middle range more and don't pick up so much finger noise, but still have very pronounced harmonics and can get a great slap tone - which is impossible on Flats etc. IMO I find them better at getting that Jaco- type fingerstyle sound - steels are too abrasive for that, flats too dull.

Nickel strings sound mellower, I think.
I prefer nickel over stainless for this fact.
Also, ( and I've been told that I'm dreaming on this one) nickel strings just feel " softer" to me. Stainless has a harsh, cutting quality to it, especially on the roundwounds. My fingers tend to drag on stainless--I don't have this problem with nickel.


------------------
Far out,man.

Ditto what everyone else said. I have also found that Stainless strings (especially Roto's) have a little more tension, so they feel a little tighter. They also shred my bass and my fingers. http://www.talkbass.com/ubb/frown.gif They sound brighter, but they tend to go dead a little faster to me.
Nickle strings are a little "looser" and mellower sounding, but they seem to be more consistent and last a little longer.

------------------
RAC

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by rcrimm:
Ditto what everyone else said. I have also found that Stainless strings (especially Roto's) have a little more tension, so they feel a little tighter. They also shred my bass and my fingers. http://www.talkbass.com/ubb/frown.gif They sound brighter, but they tend to go dead a little faster to me.
Nickle strings are a little "looser" and mellower sounding, but they seem to be more consistent and last a little longer.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
It may just be the Roto's. I've used Ken Smith and a number of other steel strings for years and never had any major problems.

But the Rotosounds are chewing up my fingers. I can't even imagine what they are doing to my bass!

I don't know what it's worth, but somebody told me that steel strings with nickel wounding have a "chorus" feel - because of the two different metals. Is that bogus?

I use Nickel roundwounds exclusively. Zero damage to my hands and my basses. Smoother feel than the SS strings I was using. Not as harsh sounding. Seem to last longer than SS which die quickly. Great sound on my Zon fretless. Slaps very well on fretless, too. YMMV

Sounds like a load of hooey to me.

Will C. http://www.talkbass.com/ubb/cool.gif

------------------
You can't hold no groove if you ain't got no pocket!

Steel strings also have a higher magnetic content, which generally results in higher output. This may account partially for the difference in sound that everyone is speaking about.

I used nickel strings for a long time, but when I got my six-string headless, my string choices got really limited really quickly. I now use Ken Smith steel strings (double ball end) on that bass exclusively. I like them a lot.

As for wear on one's fingers - the more you play, the less you notice. http://www.talkbass.com/ubb/smile.gif As to wear on the bass - I haven't noticed any difference in the impact from Nickel to Steel.


------------------
Mark Gollihur
Bassist, Second Story
http://www.second-story.net
http://www.mp3.com/secondstory

A friend warned me about fret wear with using Steel. I had to try one set any way. Very good, very bright, But after a couple months I noticed some gouging on the frets.

As far as losing their brightness quickly, when I first put the nickels back on they were definitely brighter than the outgoing steels.

ok here it is again,
stainless are brighter and last longer than nickel.
and pure stainless and pure nickel are completly nonferrous(that means there not magnetic at all)

I would dispute that Stainless Steel last longer than Nickel strings. In my experience, they sound very bright initially but go "off" much quicker than nickel, which are "useable" a lot longer overall, but never sound quite as bright as stainless steel - which to me, is a good thing!

I agree completely Bruce.

I agree with the other people on the most part......the steel ones tend to tear up my fingers fairly quick compared to the nickel ones i have on my Jazz right now......oh yeah usually my fingers won't get tore up that quick since I've been playing cello going on 3yrs & bass for about 4 years.....that's all

well i could be wrong about this,but the reason i made this statment was based on info a labella string rep told me.
so sue him if its wrong.

SW. maybe you should quote your source before you say things with any degree of authority, especially if you're going to blame third parties when people disagree with you. It's great that people want to participate, but this kind of contribution doesn't help anybody.

Will C. http://www.talkbass.com/ubb/cool.gif

------------------
I'm not a genius. I'm just a hard working guy.
-BW

big wheel,my blaiming a third party was in jest(i know its hard to convey these things)
and i did not get facts in order.
but we are not trying to solve the worlds problems.in the future i will take the disscusion board much more seiously.lol
come on i know you want to do your job well
but cant we be a little relaxed?

SW, actually, we can be very very relaxed. It is true that this is a very flat medium, but you should take into account that your choice of words will determine the tone of your post. Your "Jest" didn't sound like one. Maybe I was a tad overzealous.

Smileys help, of course, but I think people shouldn't have to use them if they don't want to.

Will C. http://www.talkbass.com/ubb/cool.gif

------------------
I'm not a genius. I'm just a hard working guy.
-BW

You should try EBS northern light stainless steel strings someday! You could kill with one!! Slides are pretty much like sliding on a rusty knife! but the slap tone is the brightest around.

I would just say - don't believe anything "reps" say or salesmen/women! http://www.talkbass.com/ubb/wink.gif

Anything I say here is based on my experience of playing bass for over 25 years
and any opinions are my own and not gathered from "dodgy dealers" http://www.talkbass.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

Maybe we should make it a rule that you only talk about stuff that you have tried directly and that if not, you should quote your sources - like "the Fender rep said that their strings were the longest lasting on the market" - yeah right!

ok guys i will take the hint,i have to agree with you it does sound bogus when i didnt quote the source directly,and jim is probly
right about if i should trust a rep to give me a straight answer.
that being humbly said i also have 26 yrs on the bass and i feel like that steel strings
give me that grand piano tone and i beleive they will keep that sound longer.
here is another intresting queston of all the types of strings to choose from stainless
,nickeland gold none of these metals are magnetic.(ok i dont want to get this wrong)
this is something basic metalurgy will back up.so how do these differant metals effect the overall sound?
humbly
Chuck C

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by swolves:
(snip)i also have 26 yrs on the bass and i feel like that steel strings
give me that grand piano tone and i beleive they will keep that sound longer.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

But have you actually tried any Nickel strings? I used Rotosound (then Elites)stainless steel for many years in the same belief and because you could only get these locally. In the last 4-5 years, though, I've tried a lot more. It really opened my ears, when I first tried D'Addario SlowWounds - they just make anything sound so much better - I couldn't believe how much difference strings could make to the sound.

Having settled on these as the best, over the last 2-3 years, I now find that I only need to change them once or twice a year, whereas I was buying stainless steel strings every 6-8 weeks! I also used to find steel strings very "scratchy" and abrasive - rough on my fingers. But nickel coated strings are very smooth, but still have very strong harmonics and lots of treble if needed.

Finally, have you ever plucked a piano wire - they don't sound like steel bass strings, which to me are just too bright and amplify all the unwanted noises. We are playing *bass*, after all.

I've found that Nickel strings last a lot longer, too, Bruce. Next I'll probably agree that Sadowsky's are better.....nah! http://www.talkbass.com/ubb/wink.gif

Well, given the choice between a Lakland and a Sadowsky, I bought a Tobias! ;)

I'm surprised that Flatwounds didn't take up more of this thread inasmuch as they are stainless steel, very easy on the fingers, have a distinct tonal quality, are longlasting and are perfect for fretless.I use them on both my basses (neither of them are fretless).Great deep thump from a steel string.

Hello, Dave. The reason flatwounds weren't mentioned in the replies is because I asked for a comparison between materials, not manufacturing processes that would obviously yeld different results. The point about flatwounds is well taken, though.

Will C.:cool:

Yeah.

Originally posted by Bruce Lindfield
Well, given the choice between a Lakland and a Sadowsky, I bought a Tobias! ;)

I guess in my case two out of three ain't bad;)

Originally posted by BassIsBest
Yeah.

Well that added a lot to the debate :rolleyes:

Originally posted by Bruce Lindfield
Well, given the choice between a Lakland and a Sadowsky, I bought a Tobias! ;)

Given the choice between a Sadowsky and a Lakland and a Tobias, I sold the Tobias and bought BOTH a Lakland and a Sadowsky. :)

The differneces between nickel and steel are just physics and commons sense

Nickel is a softer metal, therefor producing a mellower darker sound. Since it is softer, its easier on the fingers and frets and fretboard and all that type of stuff.

Steel is a harder metal, therefor producing brighter sound. Since its harder, it eats fingers and things like that.

I don't think that metal type has too much to do with longevity, as thats mostly in construction.

To bring it to an extreme analogy
Nickel is like hitting a pillow...soft thud
Steel is like hitting a cymbal...loud and crashy.

Wow - it took you 2 whole years to join this debate!! :D

Is this the longest gap between posts ever seen on TB?

Tyler, your physics isn't quite up to scratch.

Finger eatage is due to friction. Hardness is not important in the least. There is no way the string is going to be affected in the slightest by something as soft as the human finger. Your post seems to imply that nickel is soft enough to give more than steel, which causes the finger to be eaten by steel and not by nickel. That is ... well, rubbish.

The fret wear issue is different altogther, you are quite right about that.

As for the sound, I'm of the opinion that things like density and modulus of elasticity make much more difference than hardness.

Maybe this is niggardly, but I have a thing about oversimplified explanations.

Well, I prefer the sound and feel of Stainless Steel! While stainless steel does cause fretwear, and is tougher on fingers I don't finr them a problem. My basses frets are fine (although you can see evidence of some wear) and my fingers are used to them.

I prefer the sound of stainless, just sounds right to me - nickel always sounds a bit dull, almost as if they are not brand new. I also found that my fingers go black when plaing nickel strings - I just didn't like that!

swolves - you made a statement about pure stainless steel bein no ferrous. From what I know, stainless steel is made in a variety of different grades, but they are generally an alloy of iron, chromium, and nickel! Some carbon is introduced for hardness as well in most grades. As the chromium (for corrosion resistance) is about 12%, and nickel content is about 2% that makes stainless steel about 85%+ iron. This suggests to me that all stainless steel will be ferrous!

Also, pure nickel whilst being non-ferrous, is not what nickel strings are made from in their entirety. They are nickel coated stainless steel strings!:)

Originally posted by Johnny BoomBoom
Well, I prefer the sound and feel of Stainless Steel! While stainless steel does cause fretwear, and is tougher on fingers I don't finr them a problem. My basses frets are fine (although you can see evidence of some wear) and my fingers are used to them.

I prefer the sound of stainless, just sounds right to me - nickel always sounds a bit dull, almost as if they are not brand new. I also found that my fingers go black when plaing nickel strings - I just didn't like that!

I hate the sound of stainless steel strings - I have been given free sets recently and wouldn't touch them with a barge pole now!!

So - they just sound over-bright and feel very scratchy to me, then they go "off" very quickly.

I remember in the 80s, there were very limited choices and I was buying Rotosounds Steel sets every few weeks as they sounded horrible when they went off - no harmonics etc.

Since discovering Nickels and in particular D'Addario Slowounds, I wouldn't use anything else - they sound great straight out of the packet - very little settling in time - and they last for months and months - after a year I think about changing them, but don't always need to!

I took a set off a bass that I had had on 6 months and gave it to Dudley Phillips - who was tutor on the Summerschool I was attending. He liked the sound so much, he used that same set when recording on John Paricelli's album "Alba" - great album which I have on CD!! ;)

I hate really bright strings but want ones that produce clear harmonics and are good for slap/pop -the Slowounds do everything perfectly and last for ever!

Originally posted by Bruce Lindfield


I hate the sound of stainless steel strings - I have been given free sets recently and wouldn't touch them with a barge pole now!!

So - they just sound over-bright and feel very scratchy to me, then they go "off" very quickly.

I remember in the 80s, there were very limited choices and I was buying Rotosounds Steel sets every few weeks as they sounded horrible when they went off - no harmonics etc.

Since discovering Nickels and in particular D'Addario Slowounds, I wouldn't use anything else - they sound great straight out of the packet - very little settling in time - and they last for months and months - after a year I think about changing them, but don't always need to!

I took a set off a bass that I had had on 6 months and gave it to Dudley Phillips - who was tutor on the Summerschool I was attending. He liked the sound so much, he used that same set when recording on John Paricelli's album "Alba" - great album which I have on CD!! ;)

I hate really bright strings but want ones that produce clear harmonics and are good for slap/pop -the Slowounds do everything perfectly and last for ever!


I'm always open to other's experience and am not afraid to try new things. I might give those strings a try Bruce. I still like my Rotos, and I think that they now have sorted a lot of their quality issues!

I haven't tried many sets of nickel strings, but they do settle in and don't dull down the way stainless ones do - I'll agree with you on that!

I'll maybe give D'Addario a try (after all, I use their g**tar strings!!!);)

i prefer nickel plated strings over the all stainless stings as i like the mellower, less-clangy, less guitar-like sound. for that matter i prefer my strings a little worn too...as long as their not dirty or grungy. i'm also worried about fret-wear from the stainless strings...after a month with the stainless strings i saw more wear on the frets than a year with nickel plated strings. why don't they make frets out of a harder material? hmm...i guess i'll check that forum.

yo all,

i couldn't stand the sound of the stainless rounds on the new 5er i bought...too metallic, harsh, twany, you name it!

So i heard bruce's advice and went the daddario nickel coated, (and also EXP (extended long play) coated, which is supposed to reduce dirt trapped in strings)

for the first few weeks i was unimpressed, the sound was not much of an improvement, but lately i have got to say that these strings are getting better by the day!!

less harsh, less bright, and more mellow, full, singing, even unique!

people who have used the TI flats have mentioned that the strings get better with time also.

so this lead me to the conclusion that(IMHO): while stainless steel rounds start of as crap and get continually crapper, nickels start of as somewhat crap and become good.
(it would be the other way around if you wanted more brightness, but then why dont you just play guitar or somthing :p)

my point is that my limited experience has come to agree with bruce's 20 odd years of it.

that being said, im still going to experiment with new strings, i was tossing up between
1) labella deep talking flats
2) T.I. flats
3) labella black nylon taped

while i am really curious about the black nylon tape i am worried about the gauge! .60 G, compared to .43 G for the T.I.s!! So if anyone has anything to say about these strings, or had similar worries but took the plunge anyway, id be gald to hear it.

I've tried a lot of strings this past year, and I'm more confused than ever. I don't think it's as easy to distinguish between nickle and SS strings as we would like it to be. I think the sound has a lot more to do with construction rather than material. For example I think that DR Fat-Beams (steel) sound very close to Slowounds (nickle). And while Hi-beams are very bright, they somehow have some of the harmonics you normally associate with nickle warmth. I don't know what to think anymore. The only parameter for me right now is tension. i think the tension of Hi-Beams is perfect, and it really makes your playing more versatile, because it's easier to shape the tone with your fingers. That said I really like Slowounds too. The only thing I know I don't like is a stiff string. It's not only feeling stiff but sounding stiff. While they have good lo-end (think Lo-riders, Ernie ball and Elites), theres just no life in the bass frequencies. Just a hard wall of sound with no life or air. (all sets I tried was 45-125/130, so it's tension as a result of construction not gauge I'm thinking of)

I havenet played all that much, but i know that Nickle as a metal is one of the top 3 metals that people are alergic to which could explain the blisters you speak of. I personally cannot use nickle strings for 2 reasons. One, I hate the sound, and two my fingers will crack and bleed after about a month of use at 5 hours a practice perday. So if you have ever had problems wearing jewlery (nickle based) or watches (nickle based) or even belts, or buttons that are nickle based you may wana consider eather getting coated nickle strings, or just using steel. Don't hurt yourself playing and have fun, peace. Citric. :bassist:

Originally posted by CitricGuy
...I personally cannot use nickle strings for 2 reasons. One, I hate the sound, and two my fingers will crack and bleed after about a month of use at 5 hours a practice perday....

holy crap! :eek: 5 hours/day!!?!??! i can barely fit in more than an hour/day. maybe that's why i still suck. but i think if i were up to 5 hours/day my fingers would be raw regardless of the type of string. maybe we need to go to the Shaolin Temple and thrust our hands into the barrell of rocks to toughen the skin. "HII YAH!" :D

Originally posted by Gear_Junky
I don't know what it's worth, but somebody told me that steel strings with nickel wounding have a "chorus" feel - because of the two different metals. Is that bogus?

Nope , it's happened to me .

I prefer steels , because I love bright , scooped mid-range tone .

Scooped midrange, there you go. I think I'm migrating totally to nickels on this P because they give me more raw sound to play with. I would always rather cut than boost (but as I like warmth, I just enjoy what nickel gives me). I'm using Fenders now; eagerly awaiting the arrival of some super-low-tension TI nickel jazz rounds.

There seems to be some confusion in the thread between pure nickel wrap and nickel-plated steel wrap. I would probably prefer the carbon steel (I don't think the nickel would change the sound) over the stainless. But I don't know--I wouldn't be able to afford to keep myself in fresh nickel-plated strings. The acids in my skin were enough to burn the chrome off the keys of a clarinet. What chance would nickel stand?

Also someone mentioned that flats are only steel. The only flats I like are the Pyramid Gold which are described by the factory as nickel in some places and stainless in others, but they sound totally different than the usual stainless flats (lots of vibrant grunt), and the TI Jazz Flats, a totally amazing string in its own class. Stainless flats sound repulsively scratchy to me. But then I like to play flats in hi-fi mode.

So for a new bassist, what strings should i get. I have no clue what strings i have now. Im on a squier Pbass anyone have an idea what i may be using? But what type of string should i get, when my current ones are finished.

Steel or nickel, flat, round, etc. I reeally dont have much clue and the FAQ didnt help me all that much. Mostly because i dont understand any terms

Just wanted to clear up a couple things here with the construction materials in these strings-

Nickel plated steel- Consist of a mild steel core(mostly iron with a carbon added for strength) plated with nickel which is used for two reasons:

1. Mild steel has no inherent corrosion resistance, and nickel does(it's is one of the ingredients in stainless steel) so therfore it is used to provide corrosion resistance to the mild steel core.

2. Being a soft metal, it provides lower friction against your fingers and is ideal for use on instrument strings.

Stainless steel- Consist of unplated, solid stainless steel(iron, carbon, nickel, and chromium) *Stainless steel is a harder metal than both nickel and mild steel* This is due to to its higher chromium content. Chromium is a very hard metal and very corrosion resistant. When Nickel and Chromium are added to mild steel(not plated, mixed in with), you get stainless steel.

Stainless steel strings sound brighter simply because they are made of a harder, more brittle material. A special magnetic alloy is used due to the non magnetic nature of standard stainless alloys(304,316,321). Being that they are not plated with anything, stainless strings are slower and rougher than nickel plated steel.

If you ever got to play on strings that were made of the mild steel wire before plating they would be rougher and more frictive than even the stainless strings- mild steel finishes less smoothly and has more friction than stainless when by itself. That makes the nickel plating even more important.

Also, on the subject of frets, if you are playing nickel plated steel frets, and using stainless strings, fretwear will occur eventually. The strings are a considerably harder material. If you have stainless frets, they dont allow for string bends quite as well, and sound a bit brighter and more clicky, but last musch longer no matter what type of string you are using.

on the subject of ferrous materials, nickel IS ferrous, there are three elements that are naturally ferrous, iron, nickel and neodymium.
Although there are other elements and compounds that can be induced into ferro-magnetivity and some elements (such as boron) can enhance the magnetic properties of some compounds.

Edit: For some reason Cobalt slipped my mind that day :hmm:

I actually haven't found there to be a giant difference. The SS sound brighter for a short period, but the nickel seem to keep the overall tone for a slightly longer period of time. As far as finger wear is concerned I haven't noticed a difference... perhaps the old digits have been beat on enough. I played cello for about 12 years, and bass now for about 14 years.

I think your all wrong =) Ive had stainless and nicklewound strings on my bass and I noticed that the stainless strings produce a more low end mellow sounds ( thus why they are used on warwicks... all warwicks ship with them) while nicklewound strings produce a more trebley sound but still with good mids. The highs I found where lower volume with the stainless steels. This could be due to otherthings though like my pickup hight which i cant move any higher than it is now. Maybe the stainless needs the pickup closer while nickle does not need it so close?

Lots of good info here, but I think I'm more confused than ever!!

ok maybe not confused, more undecided

I have no idea what my frets are made of, I have a Yamaha BB405

I haven't played in a lot of years, but in the 70's I used rotosound roundwound swing bass, Nickle? steel? don't ever rember asking.

I'm playing Jazz/fusion, R&B (mostly finger style, some slapping)

someone suggested GHS boomers to me, I don't know what guage my strings are ( factory ones ) I do know the E & B are not tapered.

Lots of good info here, but I think I'm more confused than ever!!

ok maybe not confused, more undecided

I have no idea what my frets are made of, I have a Yamaha BB405

I haven't played in a lot of years, but in the 70's I used rotosound roundwound swing bass, Nickle? steel? don't ever rember asking.

I'm playing Jazz/fusion, R&B (mostly finger style, some slapping)

someone suggested GHS boomers to me, I don't know what guage my strings are ( factory ones ) I do know the E & B are not tapered.
So... what's the question? ;)

Deciding on what strings (or any piece of gear) to get, starts with deciding what sound you want/like.

Rotosound Swingbass was almost certainly stainless steel in the 70's.

Check out bassplayer.com's stringtest from a couple of months ago (it's on their website). Try to find what sounds interesting and do a search here. That way you'll get lot's of different opinions and maybe get closer to choosing something that'll work for you.

I have never had a problem with steels on my fingers.
I have found that nickel is louder and picked up more easly by the pickups. which make sence since nickle plated steel will effect magnetic flux more then stainless steel. since the stainless steel are not picked up as well, there would be more of an attack, hence the piano sound.
It would be great if someone recorded the difference on a wav file with the same bass and same gauge. Maybe I will do it.

Just an update for what i said about 5 years ago. Steels really depend on the set for me now. I just put LaBella Hard Rockin Steels [40-118] on my Ray5 and these feel a lot more smooth than the steels i have played in the past. That's all

If you have regular frets + stainless steel strings, let me warn you ahead of time about potential fret damage that can occur during shipping. A friend shipped a 5 string bass to me in a hard shell case and well boxed. The 3 or 4 frets around where the center of the box would be lengthwise had grooves cut into them under the strings. It was like UPS put a really, heavy package right on top of my bass during shipping. Or some UPS Gorilla used my package as a stool to get at something beyond his reach. Who knows?

How do I know this was done during shipping? My buddy said he broke the D string before he shipped. And there were no grooves underneath where the D string would have been!

I have to believe that the frets would have fared much better with nickel wound strings in that situation. In any case, I now always place clean shop rags between the strings + fretboard when I ship. And ask the same for whomever is shipping to me.

( I've been told that I'm dreaming on this one) nickel strings just feel " softer" to me. Stainless has a harsh, cutting quality to it, especially on the roundwounds. My fingers tend to drag on stainless--I don't have this problem with nickel.


------------------
I prefer SS strings but I would agree I think nickel strings “feel softer”

The difference between Nickel and Steel strings is the weeping, bleeding rash that Nickel leaves on my fingers after 40 minutes of playing.

Me: Nickel sucks.

Sensei: Such hatred for a mere metal, grasshopper?

Me: Yep.

Does the strings material affects the sound with the bass callibration? Does the bridge callibration gives weakness to the strings? Txs.

This is how it happened to me.
Pure nickle strings lasted for 4 months (I played mostly fingerstyle) they didn't do any damage to frets but they becamed damaged by the frets. Nickelplated steel strings lasted for 6 months (I was slapping them silly every day) and they did damaged the frets but they stayed undamaged.

I don't remember starting this thread. Wow.. :p

:hyper: old time rock & soul musician from the 60's & early 70's. stopped playing 30 years. now playing some southern rock, blues & old r n' r. always used flatwounds back when but switched to roundwound last year when i began playing again. found nickel very comfortable on my fingers but not the ss-however i had had a bass in a closet that needed a dessicant to remove moisture from the air of the closet. my strings had corroded over a 1 year period when they were untouched. had to '0000' steel wool down the fretboard & frets of my warwick. switched to roundwound ss to keep this corrosion from reoccurring in case i had an instrument not being played. couple of string sets later tried out .100 guage dean markley blue steels-known as very bright strings. i tried them & now everything else seems to sound dead in comparison-i'm on my 3rd set. initially, took me several times playing to determine whether or not i liked them or not they had sounded so different. talk about a complete turnaround in string sounds tho not much different sound in the music being played!!
expecting to receive a warwick active fretless w/an ebony neck & wondering what i might use on it but DR hi-beams or sunbeams or TI rounds or rotosound rounds are all interesting to me. of course the fact that my warwick will have an ebony neck enables me to use roundwounds w/less damage than on rosewood. i will not be using the blue steels on the fretless because i do believe they will be too bright for the application.
IMO half-rounds just don't seem to know what they are best for-i've tried them & they are more alive than traditional flats-but still dead enough that i wouldn't honestly consider them instead of rounds. in general-tho not always specifically which depends on the player-style-the equipment, if you're worried about your fretboard or frets, you will definitely lose some sound quality w/flats IMO. (remember this is from a player who had used nothing but flatwounds & swore by them in bands from 1964-72.) most important is getting the SOUND YOU WANT-it is just as addictive or more so than getting a dream bass when it comes to inspiring your playing. (god i wish i could play like i could back when!:bawl: ) :bassist:

i switched from SS to nickel on my geddy lee jazz bass and i seem to be getting a lot more fret noise than i did with the SS.

any ideas on this?

i switched from SS to nickel on my geddy lee jazz bass and i seem to be getting a lot more fret noise than i did with the SS.

any ideas on this?


same gauge ? same brand and tension ?

same gauge ? same brand and tension ?

same gauge and tension, the difference is that the SS were fenders and the Nicks were Ernie Ball

.....do you think it could be the way that EB makes them that gives me the fret buzz

I'm surprised that Flatwounds didn't take up more of this thread inasmuch as they are stainless steel, very easy on the fingers, have a distinct tonal quality, are longlasting and are perfect for fretless.I use them on both my basses (neither of them are fretless).Great deep thump from a steel string.

Good point, also with that in mind why is there no nickel flatwounds ?

Good point, also with that in mind why is there no nickel flatwounds ?

Thomastik Infeld JF344 jazz flats (nickel) - has a very lively component, slinky, high excursion, takes some breaking in to settle into its stable sound. Sings.

Pyramid Gold nickel flats - lower output and shorter sustain than TI, very rich and creamy.

Both have a LOT of magic not found elsewhere. I ended up cutting fresh nuts for both to get things just right, but that might be a tad excessive for you.

Zeta also makes a set of nickel flats (34" scale, 45-100), but I've never heard any reports of anybody ever trying them. Maybe it's because they are so expensive.

IME, longevity has little if anything to do with steel versus nickel. It has to do with the way the string is made.

Same's true with tone: it's fine to make generalizations, but depending on the string, one can't categorically state that "stainless will sound like X and nickel will sound like Y".

To make my own generalization: to me, most nickel strings have a clean, airy "ping" on top, whereas stainless steel strings tend to have more harmonic richness, particularly in the 3kHz area, that some describe as "clank". But as noted above, exceptions aren't unusual: e.g. DR Hi Beams seem to have a fairly clean "ping" to them, whereas Sadowsky Blue Label Nickels have a rather SS-like harmonic richness in the low treble and mids.

I just tried steel strings for the first time last night and it was quite a hard transition. It was harder for me to move across the fretboard and to pluck the strings quickly. I got used to it after a while. After this I'm going back to nickel, probably coated.

so, going back to will's point on what would you use on a fretless bass... im thinking nickle flatwounds (from what i've heard), but frankly i have absolutely no idea.

jake

Wow, this has got to be the slowest thread on talkbass. (number of post's from date started)

This thread is weird. I don't think I started it, even though it says I did. The second post on page 1 looks like the OP. Strange.

I would dispute that Stainless Steel last longer than Nickel strings. In my experience, they sound very bright initially but go "off" much quicker than nickel, which are "useable" a lot longer overall, but never sound quite as bright as stainless steel - which to me, is a good thing!

couldn't have said it any better

I use both, depending on my mood when I'm buying. :p But I'd say I use mostly steel. I play metal and I need all the punch I can get to hold up in the mix. I also like the (at least percieved) higher tension of SS strings, though nickels are more comfortable, I think I get better results with my tuning (whole step down) with the tension advantage of SS.