DR Lo-Riders, nickel vs stainless tension?

[sb69coupe]

Do the DR nickel strings have a lower tension than the same gauge strings in stainless? Background to follow.

I just replaced the .130-.o45 set of Lo-Rider stainless strings with a set of the exact same gauge Lo-Riders in nickel. The bass in question is a Lakland Darryl Jones 5, and it is set up with slightly low action and very little relief in the neck.

With the previous set of strings, there was no fret buzz, yet immediately after installing the set of nickels and tuning them, theres a substantial amount of fret buzz uniformly across the neck, and I can tell that there's essentially zero relief.

I've got a gig tomorrow night, and will go ahead and give a quick 1/4 turn to the truss rod to loosen it and add a little relief, but I'm just curious if anyone knows if this is expected, or if DR publishes the tension numbers for their strings.

[joelb79]

FME, DR Lo-rider nickel are some of the highest tension strings that I've tried in nickel. But if you switch strings like that you can almost expect to do some tweaking.

I went from light hi-beams to light sunbeams and almost immediately had to adjust my relief. Although it was minor and the opposite direction you went.

[bgavin]

Lots of folks have been agitating for tension charts from DR. I see requests here and other forums.

They refuse. Pity.

D'Addario publishes all the tension information you could ever want. They also publish the formulas for calculating Unit Weight so you can calculate tension in a drop-tuned environment.

That is "customer service".

[alexclaber]

Nickel is slightly denser than stainless steel, so all else being equal the tension will be marginally greater.

Alex

[Coelho]

Nickel rulez. Can't understand people that play steel strings...

[brandonwong]

Originally Posted by bgavin

Lots of folks have been agitating for tension charts from DR. I see requests here and other forums.

They refuse. Pity.

D'Addario publishes all the tension information you could ever want. They also publish the formulas for calculating Unit Weight so you can calculate tension in a drop-tuned environment.

That is "customer service".

The charts dun matter after you've tried them once.

DRs are the best strings i've used so far. and sunbeams are the ones i recenty put on. They are just great!!!

[Wilbyman]

Originally Posted by alexclaber

Nickel is slightly denser than stainless steel, so all else being equal the tension will be marginally greater.

Alex

This is about the difference in feel to me....I found the nickel LR's just slightly, slightly higher in tenion than the SS LR's. It's barely noticable. I still like the steels a little better, but the nickels are good too.

W

[bgavin]

Originally Posted by brandonwong

The charts dun matter after you've tried them once.

Actually, the charts matter a great deal.

For example, a drop-tuner can use the D'Addario charts to find which higher gauge strings comes closest to his original tension. He can also use the charts to insure even tension across the neck width. For example, if the B string is really high tension, and the D and G are really low, this puts a leverage on the neck.

A careful player can use the charts to select tensions that are more uniform across the neck, especially for drop tuning.

Nickel is slightly denser than stainless steel, so all else being equal the tension will be marginally greater.

The nickel is a wrap, not the core wire. I'm not a string engineer, so I have to ask if the wrap or the core is responsible for the tension.

[One Drop]

Originally Posted by Coelho

Nickel rulez. Can't understand people that play steel strings...

I play the string and not the metal.

LaBella Flats: SS, but one of the warmest most musical flats on the market to my ears.

Roto SS 66 rounds: One of the grindiest gnarliest rounds out there, especially when new, great for a loud rock band with a few guitars. I love the edge and metallic clank from these.

2 different SS strings, and they can sound completely different from each other.

[Dan1099]

Originally Posted by bgavin

The nickel is a wrap, not the core wire. I'm not a string engineer, so I have to ask if the wrap or the core is responsible for the tension.

Both the wrap and the core matter. The relevant variable is "unit mass," or mass of a certain length of string. Whichever string has the higher unit mass will have the higher tension.

[bgavin]

Thanks for the clarification. What I understood you to say is, the combined mass of core+wrap = unit weight, and bringing a given unit weight to pitch incurs a certain tension.

My original thinking was the tension was entirely in the core material, but that is incorrect. The core is the tension device, but the wrap contributes to the unit weight. The D'Addario tension formulas show how this works.

[Dan1099]

Originally Posted by bgavin

Thanks for the clarification. What I understood you to say is, the combined mass of core+wrap = unit weight, and bringing a given unit weight to pitch incurs a certain tension.

My original thinking was the tension was entirely in the core material, but that is incorrect. The core is the tension device, but the wrap contributes to the unit weight. The D'Addario tension formulas show how this works.

Yep, it makes sense when you think of it like this... the tension in the core has to be enough to accelerate the entire mass of the string at the speed necessary for the desired pitch.

[sb69coupe]

Well, I can confirm that the nickels seem to have a slightly higher tension than the stainless strings of the same gauge. After restringing and letting the neck stabilize overnight, I noticed that the buzzing was gone and there was slightly MORE relief in the neck. I'm liking the nickel Lo-Riders and am anxious to see how they last compared against the stainless that I've been using to date.

[bgavin]

Originally Posted by sb69coupe

Well, I can confirm that the nickels seem to have a slightly higher tension than the stainless strings of the same gauge.

Interesting.

I looked at all the D'Addario tension measurements in my spread sheet. Using 34" scale for comparision, the lightest tension is SS, next is NPS, and heaviest is NIK for every string that had a comparision.

[SGT. Pepper]

I just slapped a set of the Nickel Lo-Riders on my ATK 305.
These have a nice warm tone with lots of midrange bite and growl. The low end is rich and smooth. The hi end is bell like not zingy like the steels. These are stiffer than the steels and allow for a nice low action with no buzzes. They feel like a baby's bottom, nice and smooth. Very Good Strings!

[Maurice Carr]

Originally Posted by bgavin

D'Addario publishes all the tension information you could ever want. They also publish the formulas for calculating Unit Weight so you can calculate tension in a drop-tuned environment.

That is "customer service".

You bet they have great service!

I had the low B on a set of super long scale Chromes snap on my bass for no apparent reason when I was re-stringing.

I contacted the supplier who alerted D'Adario and within 12 hrs had the sales manager of D'Adario email saying "sorry, we'll replace it, what's your address and can you help us by describing what happened so we can do an autopsy on the event - that's unusual, we'd like to get to the bottom of it"!

The replacmenet string arrived within a week and I'm something like 8,500 miles away!!!....all for a string which cost....say...oohhh $US 3.50!!!!

Impressive doesn't even begin to describe D'Addario's attitude.

I tried a set of DR Lo Riders on my bass a couple of years ago.. The result was so bad, even my drummer noticed...he was real subtle like most drummers are "Hey Harley, your bass is sounding real ****** tonight, have you blown a valave in that fancy amp of yours or something?"

Those DR's were off that bass that night...never to return!

Harley

[bgavin]

I couldn't get heavy enough DR Lo-Riders for Chelsea's (www.aroarah.com) drop tuned bass, so I went with GHS Boomers in Heavy instead (50~115). She put it through the paces at rehearsal last night, and it is back to me this morning for a relief adjustment and action lowering. The big cables put more bow in the neck. Otherwise, she is really thrilled with the Alloy52 sound and feel.

I strung her standard 5-string with a fresh set of Nickel Lo-Rider, but with the .130 B string. She likes this much better than the .125 in the standard set. She was happy to get the SS Lo-Riders off, and into the trash can.