D’Addario Nickel Bronze Mandolin Strings

[jurasicus]

Anyone tried some of these? Found these at strings and beyond recently, seems like these are new. I've tried nickel bronze guitar strings, didn't care much for them, but am wondering about how would they sound on a mandolin. But I live in Russia, so it's a long wait for the strings to arrive if I order them from the internet. So maybe someone already tried them and has something good or bad to say about them?

[gtani7]

long thread about these and their beta program, user "Prelude" does detailed review and people seem to like them tho it's not clear if they're darker/brighter than phosphor bronzes: http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/sh...-Testers/page7

[Glassweb]

Anyone tried some of these? Found these at strings and beyond recently, seems like these are new. I've tried nickel bronze guitar strings, didn't care much for them, but am wondering about how would they sound on a mandolin. But I live in Russia, so it's a long wait for the strings to arrive if I order them from the internet. So maybe someone already tried them and has something good or bad to say about them?

I bought some of these last week here in Seattle at Wintergrass and put them on my mandolin when I got home. I took them off the next day! They sounded OK, but I didn't care for the feel on the fingers at all. And they didn't sound as warm or play as well as the EXP74 strings. Plus these were even more expensive than the EXP74s. Bottom line - you CAN NOT beat the regular old EJ74s for sound and feel at an affordable price. Sometimes the classics ARE the best choice...

[Pete Martin]

They aren't near as good as Monels to me until they have been on a couple months. Now they are almost identical.

I just ordered the Curt Mangan Monels. I'll let you know how they are at my next string change.

[Drew Egerton]

I participated in the beta on the NB and I thought they were OK, but were lacking some 'cut' in a group setting.

I decided to try them again but this time in the "custom medium" gauge from Strings and Beyond since that's generally what I prefer in phosphor bronze.
I think they have a lot more of that 'cut' that was missing, good tone.

My favorite thing so far is that, for me, I don't get the green nasty junk buildup that I do with any phosphor bronze string. That itself may be enough to persuade me to change over. I'm 2 gigs and 1 practice in so far with them. We'll see how they hold up after another couple of gigs and practices.

[Billgrass]

My beta-test set seemed to be light gauge. I agree with Drew that they were interesting but not quite there. I since have gotten the medium gauge production sets and I really like them. I am also a big fan of monel strings, and I am finding these have many of the same attributes.

[pops1]

I haven't tried these, but am wondering how they compare to the new GHS pure nickel strings that recently came out. Has anyone tried both?

[banjer23]

I agree with Pete,,I took off a not to old set of Sam Bush monels,,and replaced them with the new Nickel Bronze set,,really,,couldn't tell much difference,,I would not have wanted to take a blindfold sound test,,they were that close.

[Tim Griffin]

I really liked the beta set. I'm hesitant to spend $12 for a set right now. I'll probably get some more in the future.

[MediumMando5722]

I agree with Pete,,I took off a not to old set of Sam Bush monels,,and replaced them with the new Nickel Bronze set,,really,,couldn't tell much difference,,I would not have wanted to take a blindfold sound test,,they were that close.

The liner notes to Sam Bush's newest album mentions that he's using D'Addario strings now, probably the nickel bronze.

[Pete Braccio]

To my ear, these work well on oval hole mandolins. I've got a light gauge set on my 1913 Gibson A1 and they sound good. They add just a bit of bite to the notes.

[Lane Pryce]

I ordered a set this morning with my usual J75 order, .41 - .115 too. Lp

[Drew Egerton]

I have had my set on now for a week shy of a month. In that time, I have played 'about' 14 hours on stage inside and outside and then done several more band practices plus a couple of jams and then noodling at home. A pretty big amount of picking for one set of strings.

I still think they sound pretty great but are starting to dull out a little too much for me and lose some cut. But that is WAY more than I usually play even an EXP set of Phosphor Bronze.

An extremely reduced amount of green stuff off my fingers as well, very noticeable. Like the custom medium gauges much better than whatever the beta test was.

[Bob Buckingham]

I was disappointed in them. Like the new GHS nickel strings a lot more.

[mcgroup53]

I have had the CM Monels on my Kimble for 2 months, and they sound amazing.

[june39]

I kill phospher strings immediately. The ghs pure nickel strings are a good replacement for my beloved but discontinued Gibson monels. The over five dollar a set difference in price to the D'Addario equivalent is also something to consider.

[Stop]

I find them dark compared to J-74s...not really impressed with Beta set.

[MediumMando5722]

Just an FYI, Adam Steffey uses the Nickel Bronze strings. I saw the Boxcars last night (great show), and talked to him afterward. He said he's been using them for awhile. In the summertime, he can get up to 4 shows out of a set, versus 1 with EJ or EXP. He was nice enough to give me a set of the ones he uses, which are the 11.5-40 Custom Mediums.

[goose 2]

I love these strings. I have played j-75s for nearly 20 years. These sound like a nicely worn in set on J75s and have fantastic volume. I also really love the feel of theses. If they last as long as the Beta set did then I'm a convert. I really like that the fact that the string gage is the same as the J75. String gage is why I could never stick with the old Monel/Gibson strings.