Nickel Plated Vs Stainless Steel Guitar Strings

Steel strings are made from a highly magnetic alloy and usually produce a brighter sound and a rougher feel under the fingers.

Nickel plated vs stainless steel guitar strings.

In pure nickel guitar strings the wrap wire is well pure nickel. Both terms are referring to the wrap wire of the wound strings in the set. Nickel is a bit softer than steel so nickel or nickel plated strings won t wear your frets out as quickly as stainless steel strings will. One trick that evens the playing field for me is to take a piece of crocus cloth and lightly sand the outside of the wound strings before putting them on.

As others have mentioned stainless steel is harder than nickel steel and often has burrs from the manufacturing wrapping process. Stainless steel strings are the brightest and sharpest sounding of all electric guitar strings. As far as material is concerned we can divide strings into two main categories. Some players say that it feels a little dryer than or just not as slick.

Stainless steel strings are brighter with more bite. Players seeking vintage specs tend to rave about nickel strings generally following the time tested premise that s what they used in the good old days plenty of products advertised as nickel strings however aren t entirely golden era formulations using steel wraps plated with nickel rather than wraps made entirely of nickel. Chrome and steel strings start off brighter than nickel but lose their brightness faster. I like chrome strings for old school blues and jazz.

Pure nickel pure nickel strings are more mellow and warmer sounding than stainless steel or nickel plated strings. Country and rock players might choose nickel plated. Nickel strings and stainless steel strings. Stainless steel does not feel quite a bit different than other electric strings.

In nickel wound nickel plated steel strings the wrap wire is steel plated with nickel typically about 8 of the finished wrap wire is nickel and 92 is steel. Nickel is a bit softer than steel so nickel or nickel plated strings won t wear your frets out as quickly as stainless steel strings will. Guitar strings nickel vs stainless steel.