Bush Vs. Monroe: Strings

[Jonathan James]

Does anyone know if there are significant differences between the Bush and Monroe monel strings or are they the same, just marketing differences?? Done any comparisons?

[Jim Gallaher]

Sam Bush: .011/.014/.025/.041, Monel wound G & D, with extra A & E strings
Bill Monroe: .011/.015/.026/.041, Phosphor Bronze wound G & D, plain steel A & E

It's been my experience that the Bill Monroe's have the brighter, more metallic sound of phosphor bronze when new, while the Sam Bush's have a mellower, more broken-in sound out of the box.

I used the Sam Bush's on my LaPlant F-5 until switching to D'Addario FS74's recently.

[earthsave]

There are/were some Gibson Monel strings as well (not sure if they are Monroe though), that just do not supply the extra A and E strings. I believe these are exactly the same gauge as the Bush monels.

[Greg H.]

There have been a lot of opinions expressed on this topic Look here (http://www.mandolincafe.net/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=8;t=20093;hl=bush+and+monro e)

[Jonathan James]

Great. Thanks.

[Scotti Adams]

..Monroes are not Monel wound....The Bushs are...The Bushs are the same string that were marketed under Gibson Monel wound..the only diff is the extra strings...the Mons are bronze....

[Jonathan James]

Yeah, I do like the tone of the monels but I recall reading/hearing somewhere that the monel-type strings can accelerate fret wear. Don't know if that is #### or not...