Nickel Plated Vs Stainless Steel Guitar Strings

They produce more volume and have more sustain.

Nickel plated vs stainless steel guitar strings.

As far as material is concerned we can divide strings into two main categories. Steel strings are made from a highly magnetic alloy and usually produce a brighter sound and a rougher feel under the fingers. 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. As others have mentioned stainless steel is harder than nickel steel and often has burrs from the manufacturing wrapping process.

Guitar strings nickel vs stainless steel. Nickel strings and stainless steel strings. 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. The majority of so called nickel strings are actually made of steel and coated with an 8 nickel wash that acts as protection and softens the touch.

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. I like chrome strings for old school blues and jazz. Chrome and steel strings start off brighter than nickel but lose their brightness faster. 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.

Some players say that it feels a little dryer than or just not as slick. Stainless steel does not feel quite a bit different than other electric strings. Stainless steel strings are brighter with more bite. Both terms are referring to the wrap wire of the wound strings in the set.

They also last a long time and stay bright due to stainless steels inherits ability to resist corrosion. In pure nickel guitar strings the wrap wire is well pure nickel. 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.