Bronze or nickel for dobro?

Terry Sneed · From: Arkansas,

Sorry I'm sure it's been asked and answered many
Times before, but I hadn't been on the forum for good while.
Which strings for best tone bronze, nickel, stainless, and
Which brand do you guys prefer? Thanks

Jack Hanson · From: San Luis Valley, USA

Bronze for sure. Lots of good brands. Currently using John Pearse Phosphor Bronze 3100s because they were recently on sale @ JustStrings.com.

Nakos Marker · From: Washington, USA

Jerry Overstreet · From: Louisville Ky

Depends who you ask, I guess. Probably one of the most used sets is D'Addario EJ 42 bronze set. At least for acoustic playing. They also make a Flat Top set in bronze for less noise plugged in.

Then there's Beard, Pearse, Black Diamond, etc. sets in bronze.

Some people like nickel, but I think most players choose bronze for acoustic and on stage miced playing.

b0b has John Pearse nickel and bronze sets here at www.steelguitarshopper.com

Brad Davis · From: Texas, USA

For bluegrass and old country I used the Beard Special 28 and Special 29 sets, bronze. In theory they're designed so the 3rd string lasts longer. Not bad at all for a little Hawaiian either. The EJ42's are good too.

I tried a Pierce nickel set a long time ago and didn't like them, but the guitar I tried them on wasn't that great either.

Terry Sneed · From: Arkansas,

Thanks a bunch guys. I'll go with the bronze.

Mark Eaton · Posted 18 Jun 2017 11:26 am

Good choice.

I can't stand the sound of nickel strings on a dobro.
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Mark

K Maul · From: Hadley, NY/Hobe Sound, FL

I usually use Pearse Phosphor Bronze but sometimes nickel. They are slightly duller initially but remain the same for a long long time. If you're cheap like me,then you don't have to change strings as often. Haha.
But...if you want to sound like Uncle Josh,use Martin Monel strings [a solid Nickel/Copper blend, not nickel plated] with an unwound G .026! They just started making them again after 30 years.
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Jim Sliff · From: Lawndale California, USA

I use nickel for guitar I play Hawaiian music on - a 30's Dobro and 4'2 National Tricone.

I use GHS Scheerhorn sets on my bluegrass machines. I used to use D'Addario but the 3rd and 4th seem to consistently go dead in 2-3 hours playing time.

The GHS last for 6-10 hours before they go "dead", but only 4-6 hours before the brightness fades out.

That's the most many bluegrass players get out of any set.
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No chops, but great tone
1930's/40's Rickenbacher/Rickenbacker 6&8 string lap steels
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K Maul · From: Hadley, NY/Hobe Sound, FL

Quite often I use Stainless steel .028 on the 3rd string. It takes a beating much better than bronze and is an interesting tonal transition between the wound and unwound strings.
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KEVIN MAUL: Airline, Beard, Clinesmith, Danelectro, Evans, Fender, GFI, Gibson, Hilton, Ibanez, Justice, K+K, Live Strings, MOYO, National, Oahu, Peterson, Quilter, Rickenbacher, Sho~Bud, Supro, TC, Ultimate, VHT, Williams, X-otic, Yamaha, ZKing.

Brad Davis · From: Texas, USA

Beard has sold a solid 3rd string individually for some time, I forget the exact gauge. I saw it posted somewhere online a long time that he said you wouldn't like it. I tried it once, and probably still have a couple of extras laying around. I didn't like it.

Tom Wolverton · From: Carpinteria, CA

I too am a big fan of the Scheerhorn strings.
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Paddy Long · From: Christchurch, New Zealand

I use EJ42 Phospher Bronze on my Beard MA6 - just perfect
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Mark Eaton · Posted 7 Jul 2017 4:13 pm

Interesting that some of the comments are along the lines of "for bluegrass I use phosphor bronze as opposed to _____ ."

It doesn't matter to me what kind of music I'm playing - it's whatever makes the sound most pleasing to my ear. And it's pretty much always phosphor bronze on a lap style resonator.

It's no different to me than if we were on a flattop forum and discussing strings. I put strings on my Martin dreadnought that sound good to my ear and I believe are the best choice for the guitar - it's not one type of material for bluegrass vs. a different type of string when I'm playing say, a Jackson Browne or a Gordon Lightfoot song.
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Mark

Robert Allen · From: Tennessee, USA

If you find yourself in a situation where you can't wait for delivery from an Internet store, and your local store doesn't carry dobro strings, a set of medium guitar strings will work just fine if you toss out the .013 first string, use the .017 guitar 2nd for the 1st on the dobro and buy a single .018 or .019 plain for the dobro 2nd string. For EJ42, substitute EJ17 or Martin M550.

Robert Allen · From: Tennessee, USA

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