Are S.S. strings hard on fingers and nuts?

Cliff Kane · From: the late great golden state

For standard guitar I always use nickle wound strings because stainless wound strings can accelerate fret wear. For pedal steel guitar I usually use nickle wound S.I.T. strings. Right now I've got George L stainless wound strings on my pedal steel, and they sound pretty good. I know that fret wear is not an issue with pedal steel, but I have heard of fingers developing grooves and wear over time, and needing to be buffed or resurfaced. I'm curious if stainless wound strings will cause this wear to happen at a faster rate than nickle wound strings......Has anyone noticed this?

Cliff

Earnest Bovine · From: Los Angeles CA USA

Wear under the wound strings doesn't seem to hurt the sound, so I think it makes no difference whether they are steel or nickel.

Sonny Priddy · From: Elizabethtown, Kentucky, USA, R.I.P.

Am I Wrong?I Don't Belive Any Plain String's Are Nickle. Am I Wrong? SONNY.

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Earnest Bovine · From: Los Angeles CA USA

Right, it is the plain strings that do most of the damage.

Eric West · From: Portland, Oregon, USA, R.I.P.

Yes they are, if your fingers are in the way when they break, or you are standing in the wrong place.

Actually I think they might be harder on the changer fingers, on the wound strings, but they get more abuse by getting stuff set on the guitar, or slammed into other objects.

It might be something that shows up after a dozen years of hard playing.

Not worth sacrificing the sound you want for.

EJL

Jim Sliff · From: Lawndale California, USA

Right Sonny - plain strings are steel.

The hardness/softness comparison betwen stainless and nickel as 100 time more to do with tone than equipmnt wear. Flatwounds can wear down frets. Anything somehat hard that vibrates will.

Basically - What Eric said. Play what sounds good and don't wory in the last about the rest.

Good tone comes first. Potential equipment wear is WAY down the list.

Smiley Roberts · From: Hendersonville,Tn. 37075

David Doggett · Posted 26 Jun 2006 8:09 pm

Actually I think what looks like string wear on the changer is most often caused by someone turning the guitar upside down to work on it without the proper support or padding to keep the strings from cutting into the changer. It only takes about once for that to happen. There is almost no movement of the strings over the changer. The distance from the ball end attachment to the top of the changer is too short to allow any appreciable movement.

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Student of the Steel: Zum uni, Fender tube amps, squareneck and roundneck resos, tenor sax, keyboards

Dave Potter · From: Texas

Movement or not, I hate seeing those grooves show up, which they have done over several brands of steels I've owned, so I sure couldn't call it brand-specific.

I'd expect some of that sort of thing to occur, given enough time, but, in my limited experience, it happens way too soon after I've cleaned up and polished the fingers best I could - a few weeks to a month's use is all it takes. And I *never* turn the guitar(s) over to do anything to them, except in their cases, where they are designed to go.

Wish there was a solution - does everyone just live with the grooves and go on down the road?

Cliff Kane · From: the late great golden state

Thanks, guys! Sounds like it's a non-issue.

David Doggett · Posted 27 Jun 2006 7:41 am

Dave, I have a 10-year old Zum I bought used. It didn't have grooves and none have appeared after a year of me playing it. I use SS strings. I have also seen grooves put in a brand new guitar by turning it upside down once with no protection. I have also seen cases with string marks on the bottom where the changer hits. Maybe that is the culprit. I would not be surprised if many long years of hard play put some light grooves in a changer. But it certainly shouldn't happen in weeks or months. Watch the changer as you work the pedals and levers. The changer rolls with the string. There is no visible movement between the string and the changer. The slight movement is all at the nut end, because the string behind the nut stretches. Between the ball end and the changer top, there is essentially no stretch.

Brint Hannay · From: Maryland, USA

On the other hand, the string does vibrate against the finger, doesn't it?

Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

Every time you pick a string, you're pulling it sideways a little. After hundreds of thousands of notes (or sooner if you pick hard), a groove will begin to appear. The movement is very slight, but over time it just mounts up. I think Dave's right about the ill-fitting cases causing it, as well as if you turn it over to work on it. Some very good steels (mine included) have this problem, and I consider it just short-sighted design. The bridge-blocks should extend about .075" above the top of the fingers so as to prevent this problem.

Dave Potter · From: Texas

Move, roll, or vibrate..whatever it does, the grooves in the guitars I've owned do show up, and much too soon. But, fingers are made of aluminum, and strings are made of steel, so I can't be too surprised, I suppose.

Now, if the aluminum fingers were treated in some way with a hardening process, it might be a different story, but my understanding is, most are not. Regardless, the grooves happen, unfortunately.

Lee Baucum · From: McAllen, Texas (Extreme South) The Final Frontier

Dave Potter · From: Texas

Lee, I thought I'd seen that image before. It looks *really* intriguing to me. I wish some Mullen owners would chime in here and deny or affirm that those fingers really do make a difference. Looks to me like they should.

Lee Baucum · From: McAllen, Texas (Extreme South) The Final Frontier

Dave - Del built my guitar for me in about 1998 or so. So far, no signs of wear on top of the fingers. They still look brand new.

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Lee, from South Texas
Down On The Rio Grande

Mullen U-12, Excel 8-string Frypan, Evans FET-500, Fender Steel King

Bill Miller · From: Gaspe, Quebec, Canada

I've been using stainless strings on my Carter for a couple of years and I don't notice any resulting damage to the fingers. Actually the only finger that I polish a bit with pencil eraser is the third string finger. It does develop minor surface marring but the plain strings are nickle alloy anyways.
I do believe that the stainless wound strings might cause faster wear on your expensive chrome plated bar however. I had to have one replaced and from the wear pattern it certainly looked like the wound strings had caused the damage. I use four wound strings and there were four wear bands on the bar that lined up with those strings. Nickle wound might do that too but probably not nearly as quickly.

David Doggett · Posted 27 Jun 2006 2:01 pm

The tops of my Zum changer fingers look like they are chrome to me, not aluminum. And yeah, my SS wound strings eat the chrome plating right off of a bar.

HowardR · From: N.Y.C.-Fire Island-Asheville

Duane Reese · Posted 27 Jun 2006 2:33 pm

nevermind............

[This message was edited by Duane Reese on 27 June 2006 at 03:38 PM.]

C. Brattain · From: Balch Springs, Texas, usa

I have always used nickle strings. When SS first came out some people used them because they were cheap and they got highley promoted
and the price went up. To me they are gritty, make my teath hurt and have a sharp tinny hollow tone. Nickle is smooth and mellow with a full rich tone.

David Doggett · Posted 27 Jun 2006 7:59 pm

Yeah, but the SS strings last longer, so us slackers don't have to change them as often.

Bobby Lee · From: Cloverdale, California, USA

I don't believe that stainless wounds last longer. They stay bright longer, but the harmonics change just like nickel wounds as they age and they get harder to tune because of that.

To me, a bright sounding string that can't be tuned is as bad as a mellow sounding string that can't be tuned.

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Bobby Lee (a.k.a. b0b) - email: quasar@b0b.com - gigs - CDs, Open Hearts
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