Silk and Steel or Bronze?

[Mo Soar]

Trying various strings on my mandolins to see the tone differences. I see GHS silk and bronze and silk and steel strings - what is the difference between them - other than you can't use bronze strings with a pickup (other than piezo)?


So far I prefer J73 over J74, not too fond of any of the Martins I've tried and I really like the Thomastik flat wounds but not so fond of the $40+ price. I need to try the Jazz Mando flatwound strings.

[mandroid]

winding wire on G & D strings,, S&S is Silvered Copper, like wound around Classical guitars 3 lowest strings

silver is plated, not alloy agent.. bronze is Copper and Tin , alloyed.. harder metal results..

[Clement Barrera-Ng]

Silk and Steel has a fairly different tone than regular phosphor bronze - it's more subdued, and to my ears a little less sustain. I personally love the sound of phosphor bronze, but often find them too bright. As a result I am really partial to the Silk and Bronze strings - it has the same sound I prefer but much warmer, and they last longer than the steel windings as well.

[mandobassman]

...I really like the Thomastik flat wounds but not so fond of the $40+ price. I need to try the Jazz Mando flatwound strings.

You should try the D'Addario FW74 flatwounds. They're much meatier than the Jazz Mando flatwounds but have all of the great qualities of the Thomastik's. Actually, IMO, they have a similar sound to the GHS Silk and Steel without the string winding finger noise. They also last forever. I have had a set of FW74's on my mandolin for over a year now and they still sound awesome.

[bluegrassdan]

Are the A and E strings on the flat wounds just plain steel like the J74? If so are they still good after the year?