| Before the dawn of bronze strings, most steel strings were nickel. Listen to the old time Carter Family, Louvin Brothers, Delmores, etc. Those were nickel strings.
Quite a few modern instruments are built around the assumption of bronze strings, and seem to sound better that way. But put a set of the correctly gauged nickel strings on a vintage box, and you get the tone that was characteristic of the instrument when it was made.
On my wooden Nationals, I tend to prefer phosphor bronze, but on my metal body, I love heavy gauge nickel strings.
And forget those dead on arrival Elixers. Sure they play nice for a long time, but it's like sitting on grandma's sofa with the plastic dust cover. Crap. |