The Steel Guitar Forum

Bronze is nice, but I have a magnetic pickup.....so Nickel will respond much better (correct me if I'm wrong!).

So far I've only found the Martin Resophonic .016-.056 set, which I've used on a variety of instruments for years, but I wonder if there is anything better out there?

at only $3.53 per set for the Martins (price at Juststrings) I have to believe that there is something better to be found out there somewhere....I've been happy with them, but who knows?

Steve, you can buy GHS nickel reso sets from Beard at www.resophonicoutfitters.com Also www.elderly.com stocks them. Probably some other choices out there too.

Jerry-
Yeah, I found those, but they are "semi-flat" wound...I avoid the dull sound of flat wounds, I don't know if "semi-flat" has the same issue...??

Well no, they're not flat, only slightly flattened to lessen the handling effect. They're what Jerry Douglas used at one time. I used them for a short time on an amped Dobro.

Elderly also lists a GHS roundwound stainless set...those should certainly not be dull.

John Pearse also markets a nickel set, but I don't know if they are semi-flat.

If all else fails, you could make them up from rollerwound nickel singles I guess.

To answer your first question - yes correct.
I use Martin nickel reso sets that I get from that well known online auction site.

Try the John Pearse brand - they work fabulous!

Steve,

I've got a couple sets of John Pearse Reso set #3000 nickel wounds. They're new and only several months old.

I'll send the two sets down to you for a $15 donation to b0b.

Send me your address via email if you want them. I think I've got nearly $8 into each set from our local stringed instrument shop.

-Brian

Beware that John Pearse resonator sets come with a .059w 6th string.

This might not be an issue for many tuners, but I have Sperzel locking tuners on my Clinesmith, and the 6th string doesn't fit through the hole. I found out the hard way. If a guitar's tuners won't accept this gauge, one could go to their tool bench and ream it to make it slightly larger, but if you don't have the correct tool for the job then a trip to the hardware store is in order to purchase something to make one guitar string fit through a tuning machine hole.

The .059w is nice if you're playing in Open D, but I don't actually want that heavy a gauge when I'm playing in standard dobro G tuning, which I do the overwhelming majority of the time, I prefer a good ol' .056w.

The reality is that when your dobro is equipped with a magnetic pickup, it's now soundwise more of a 50% dobro/50% lap steel (or perhaps a higher percentage on the lap steel side), so IMO the best bang-for-the-buck strings are the ticket.

When played acoustically, I can't stand the sound of nickel strings. I've a tried a few different brands of nickel including Martins - didn't like any of them. A little over a year ago we had a Rob Ickes workshop here and I thought "I better put some new strings on for the occasion." A friend of mine had gone to the 2012 NAMM show in Anaheim and he sent me a "care package" of freebies he picked up including a new resonator nickel set from Sabine so I put those on the morning of the workshop to give them a try. I realized at the workshop that I absolutely hated the sound of these strings and when I returned home that evening I couldn't get them off my guitar fast enough.

On the other hand, I know some pickers who prefer nickel on dobro, but I think it is often on smaller-bodied Dobro brand instruments, either from the OMI era or pre war. And I can recall using nickel years ago on my circa 1931 Dobro and I don't recall it bothering me - maybe it brightens up the sound of the older smaller body guitars? Don't know - but I do know another nickel set will never go on my Clinesmith.

Look here.

http://www.daddario.com/DADProductDetai ... nd_Singles

Make up your own set.

That's great Bill if you just gotta have a set with customized gauges, but with all the good buys out there on complete string sets which will suffice for the vast majority of players, that's going to get fairly expensive.

I think the Martin Bluegrass nickel wound strings are the best value in nickel wound strings for resophonic guitars. I use them regularly on my National Tricone and am satisfied with them. As a plus, they are much cheaper than other string sets.
I prefer the sound of phosphor bronze strings on my Tennessee resonator guitar, but the tricone likes nickels.

I swear by Dr. Duck's resonator guitar sets. Best nickel sets that I have found (at least for me). You can find good deals on 6 set lots on ebay.

Thanks, folks....

re the John Pearse set, I did read a review of the Beard Road-o-phonic (don't have it yet, it arrives Tuesday) that also mentioned the .059 not fitting....so not worth going there....there do seem to be enough other options.

I have a batch of the Martin strings in my "string vault"....I also just ordered some Dr. Duck strings, sounds intriguing, I'll give them a try...

The guitar has both a P90 and a piezo cone pickup, with stereo output....I'm hoping that it can do both lap steel and dobro tones ..I once had an Amistar roundneck resonator that had a similar setup, and the P90 was automatically muted by a lot when both pickups were in use....so nickel strings might give me the lap tone I want, but way more than I need to warm up the piezo dobro side....

I'm getting a Baggs stereo preamp with a blend control, so that may do the trick...

re nickel vs bronze acoustic tone, on the Amistar and my Melobar lap steel I'm pretty happy with the tone....very bright to start, but I leave them on for a while, hardly ever change them, and it settles in to a smoother tone that is pretty consistent for a long time....I'll probably try a set of bronze strings at some point just to compare...and the Dr. Ducks...

I use the Martin set for my electric 25" lap steels and my Sunrise equipped Weissenborns .
No complaints and I`m one the nitpickers when it comes to equipment...
You`ll find more expensive sets but I`m not sure they`re that much better.

Just snagged a 6-pack of Dr. Ducks Dobro strings on ebay for $30....about half-price off normal....I'm guessing, from the reviews, that these will be a step up from the Martin strings....not that I'm unhappy with the Martins, but some strings really just are better than others...we'll see.

I've worked in both the wholesale and retail nursery industry for decades. There's an old saying regarding the question of "What's the best lawn fertilizer?" Answer: "The one that's on sale." Just about all the bagged granular lawn foods have the required ingredients to green up your grass.

Like lawn fertilizer, I figure that most any string company in business for awhile has a relatively good quality and going for the good deal is probably smart, the strings seem to have the "required ingredients" and most players love new strings.

No doubt we have members here who have worked in the guitar string industry at some point, and for most of us I think it's kind of a mystery how it operates. You hear stories like "there's only a few actual string manufacturers and they produce all the strings which are sold under dozens of brands."

Could well be true - if one has little knowledge of the ins and outs of the guitar string business how are we to really know? It's sort of a maze, to me anyway.

If it's truly the case then the vast majority of string brands are sold by middlemen, so there's an extra cut in the pie.

What I do know about Martin Strings is that they produce their own strings, for quite a few years at their Mexico factory and the quality control apparently is up to snuff compared to when they used to make them in Nazareth, PA.

So as far as Martin, apparently there's no middleman involved so the consumer receives the benefit of good pricing on quite a number of their string sets.

I'm with Brad. Stick with the Martin Bluegrass. I've been playing since 73 and have tried many brands.

Tell you what, believe it or not but you can still buy Black Diamonds in dobro sets. Get the ones endorsed by Ferrell Stowe with 017 for the 1st string. Best I've heard so far. They have come a really long way since the 60s.

OK, David - I guess it is up to you to tell us why Dr. Ducks are so good?

Frank Parish wrote:Tell you what, believe it or not but you can still buy Black Diamonds in dobro sets. Get the ones endorsed by Ferrell Stowe with 017 for the 1st string. Best I've heard so far. They have come a really long way since the 60s.

Frank, I ordered a few Ferrell Stowe Black Diamond sets recently from Elderly because some of the guys have been raving about them, haven't put them on yet but I'm looking forward to trying them as the current strings go dead.

Two things:

1. This thread is in regards to nickel strings to work with a magnetic pickup, Black Diamond Stowe sets are phosphor bronze.

2. It ain't the same company as the old Black Diamonds that Grandpa used to play. the name has apparently been bought and sold a bunch of times. that said, good reports (like yours) seem to be out there on a regular basis regarding modern Black Diamond strings.

I believe a lot of companies wind there own strings, but that there are a fairly limited number of companies that make/draw musical wire. Don't know fur shure though. S.I.T. wind their own strings.

So the Dr. Ducks are similar, to my ear, to the Martin strings....but they have the .028 third instead of the Martin .026...a nice feature

I do get a very mushy sound out of the Spider pickup in the Road-o-phonic through my Baggs Mixpro....the neck Lace pickup is crisp, the Fishman captures the resonator tone but is mushy and dark unless I completely kill the bass in the Mixpro internal and external range and level controls....

Never plugged it in with bronze strings, but not sure what that would have to do with it...

Doesn't much matter which brand you buy, most of the time you're getting Mapes Strings no matter what the label says. Go to www.mapeswire.com and click on Specialty Wire and it brings up the list of string manufacturers that buy Mapes string wire.