Wed Oct 06, 2010 8:53 pm
I like pure nickel strings on my acoustics, and the brand I like the most are John Pearse Pure Nickel, in medium gauge.
I think these strings produce the cleanest, woodiest, most natural sound possible, with minimal noise and extraneous coloration of the tone.
It takes a while to get used to them, compared to other alloys, and they generally do not sound good until they've had a chance to settle, which usually takes a couple of hours. After that, the sound of the guitar will begin to bloom ... yielding the unique, individualistic, organic sound of the guitar.
They have a great tactile feel ... they are easy to fret, hammer-on, and bend. They have tremendous punch, produce a fantastic warmth, with a strong, clear bass, and excellent string-to-string balance.
But the player must have an open mind to experience these strings; they do not sound anything like phosphor-bronze or 80/20 alloys, and must be played after the strings have settled in order to evaluate them properly. They have an unusually long lifespan, and are resistant to corrosion ... a nice thing to know, if you have the kind of sweat that can kill strings in a short period of time.
And so, if you've been looking for a new set of strings, and just haven't found the ones with the "right" kind of sound, but seem to feel that it has been eluding you amongst the standard, most popular brands of acoustic strings, then I highly recommend that you give the JP Pure Nickels a whirl ... you might be very surprised at what you've been missing. In any case, once you've put them through their paces, it's for certain that you'll never again look at a set of regular acoustic strings the same way. After the nickel, everything else will sound dull, lack sparkle and warmth, and just not have the sweet snap to the note separation that nickel can provide.
... JT