The overall tone of an electric guitar is influenced by a number of different things – types of wood used, the style and location of pickups, values of capacitors, etc. One aspect of a guitar’s sound that often gets overlooked is the materials that guitar strings are made of, which has a significant bearing on the tone of the guitar. In today’s Tech Tip we’ll discuss the differences between the three most common types of guitar strings.
The most common type of string is nickel-plated. These strings are made from nickel-plated steel wraps around a steel core. The nickel plating helps prevent the string from corroding while the steel core provides a good magnetic pull for pickups, giving the guitar more volume. Nickel-plated strings have a brighter sound that pure nickel strings, but not as bright as stainless steel.
Stainless steel strings (as you might have gathered from the last paragraph) have a bright sound with good sustain. This comes from the steel wraps around the steel core, providing the maximum amount of pull from the magnets in the pickups. Stainless steel strings are more resistant to corrosion, but have a slightly rougher feel that nickel-plated strings.
Finally, pure nickel strings are made with nickel wraps around a steel core. The lack of steel in the wraps makes for a warmer, mellower tone and reduced output compared to that of nickel-plated or stainless steel strings. Pure nickel strings have a softer feel than either nickel-plated or stainless steel strings.
(Special thanks to our friends at GHS Strings for providing valuable information for this tip!)