daveinspain Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 I usually buy D'Addario nickel wound strings for my guitars. The other day I needed a 10 pack of 010's to have in the house. The guy at the music store sold me a pack of D'addario acoustic or electric but I just notice they are "plain steel". Just want to make sure they are ok and not going to eat my frets or anything... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 According to the perceived wisdom they will wear Gibson frets down quicker than nickels, I'm afraid. I'd change them immediately if I were you. P. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveinspain Posted March 31, 2011 Author Share Posted March 31, 2011 According to the perceived wisdom they will wear Gibson frets down quicker than nickels, I'm afraid. I'd change them immediately if I were you. P. I was afraid of that... Damn! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strat-o-steve Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 Unless you do a bunch of string bending, and play a lot, the steel strings won't quickly ruin your frets. You may even like the sound of the pure steel strings over nickel plated steel or pure nickels! It's not just Gibson frets that will wear with them either. Nearly all guitar's made currently have the same nickel-silver frets, having the same "hardness", just different sizes. I'd try the pure steel's, give them a chance to see how they sound and feel. If it improves your tone and the "feel" of your axe, I think that would outweigh the fact that you could have accelerated fret wear. Still, even with the steels, your frets should last for a long while. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete c Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 isnt nickel a harder metal than steel? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrNylon Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 No, nickel is softer than steel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icantbuyafender Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 hmm ernie ball makes some steel strings too. Have to give them a whirl soon, i guess. Take a break from my beloved pure nickle R&R slinkys. What sound do they get? like super bright ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 Less expensive nickel plated strings are common; a little more pricey are the pure nickel wrap on wound strings. Some strings are stainless... I'm guessing that as stainless, "plain steel" might wear faster in theory, but functionally we're talking wrapped strings only anyway that probably aren't bent as much anyway. Light gauge with an unwrapped G likely are just plain steel anyway on the top 3... I think some brands claim various coatings on those high strings... but my understanding is that the nickel or nickel plate is on the wrapped strings only. If I'm wrong, somebody please holler. My guess is that if you grind the higher 3 strings bending, yeah, you might find them wearing frets faster than the bottom 3 strings that you probably don't bend much anyway... regardless of string composition. I've a hunch that flatwounds probably wear frets less too. I haven't seen the plastic tapewound strings for a regular guitar in ages, but they'd probably be easy on frets. But I think it's mostly the top strings one is likely to bend that much anyway. Just fretting strings unless you've an exceptionally heavy hand and/or "grind" those wrapped strings probably won't see that much diff. But that's just, again, a guess. m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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