Sad news John Pearse Pure Nickel Wound strings

[Muse]

Hello there,

I’ve been using both John Pearse Jazz Nickel Wound strings and Pure Nickel Wound acoustic strings for a long time. I’ve heard and thought they were the same pure nickel wound strings just with different gauges.

To make sure of it I contacted JP and here’s their reply:

They are all nickel plated.....We have a NO pure Nickel strings. This has been brought to our attention and printing on the envelopes will be changed. Sorry for any confusion

Thanks

Rog

I’m shocked. So according to the email I received, they’ve been selling nickel plated strings as pure nickel wound strings. This is fraudulent. The pure nickel wound strings #960L and 980M have been on the market for a while. They say they are not pure nickel wound strings. They are nickel plated strings.

Your thoughts?

[Stringswinger]

It is only fraud if they knew that there is a difference.

I use DR pure Blues strings on my solid body guitars. I believe they are the real thing. I have never liked John Pearse strings myself. Try the DR strings.

[st.bede]

I was going to give those a try. Now, probably not…

I have also used the DR Blues. I have found that thay are the warmest strings I have tried.

Does any know of any others roundwound strings that are even warmer?

[marcwhy]

If you've used them and like them, keep using them. If you really must have pure nickel, try another brand -- like Stringjoy.

[Doctor Jeff]

I use D'Addario Pure Nickels on a couple of my guitars acoustic and electric--Telecaster and Godin 5th Avenue (with floating pickup). I think it gives a nice warmer tone than chromes, but still with the definition of roundwound strings.

[omphalopsychos]

I think this is common knowledge and is present in online descriptions. They're some of the best sounding and feeling and intonating electric guitar strings on the market. Oh and some of the cheapest. Why should it bother you to learn that you misunderstood the composition of the winding material? Does this make them sound different to you?

[DawgBone]

I wonder how many gigs I've lost because I didn't have pure nickel strings?

I just use the bulk electric roundwound strings from Just Strings. I've had better durability than them other leading brands and I can't tell the difference and I'd bet money in a blind test neither could someone else. But if you want to split hairs about it they don't come all rolled up so the alloy doesn't take a set from being wrapped in a tight circle in order to fit them in a package. See! Superior tone!

I get a dozen sets worth for a little over 30 bucks I think.

[Cunamara]

Bearing in mind that there are far more brands of strings on the market than there are actual manufacturers of strings; and all string manufacturers AFAIK buy their wire on big spools rather than drawing their own.

[sgosnell]

Even the 'pure nickel' strings are not pure nickel. They're an alloy, more or less similar to Monel, which is a variable alloy itself. They all have some copper, and usually some other metals included in the alloy. 'Pure nickel' is another marketing term, and just means that the windings are not plated steel. The main difference I find is in the reaction with magnetic pickups. Because of the copper and other non-ferrous metals in the alloy, the pure nickel or monel strings have very slightly less output than nickel-plated steel strings. A very slight adjustment of the polepieces usually compensates for the difference, and may not even be needed.

[Hammertone]

So John Pearse String joins Rotosound in the "we're liars" school of guitar string packaging (Rotosound lies about their Monel wrap Top Tape strings, which are steel wrapped, not Monel wrapped).

Pure nickel wrap strings are quite a distance from Monel.
I do like them both.
Monel is typically 67% nickel, 30% copper, 3% other.
"Pure Nickel" is typically an alloy, but 95%+ nickel.
Nickel-plated steel is, of course, something else entirely.

[maxsmith]

Over time I moved from nickel (as “pure” as it might be) to Monel. I put these on pretty much every electric guitar except where I want to use flatwounds.

Pyramid Monel Classics Electric Guitar Special 11-48

Unfortunately they don’t come is sets with a wound 3rd string. I get the 11-48 set and singles in 12 and 15 to replace the E and B, so my sets are 12-15-18-28-38-48.

These strings have a round core. Is the Monel “pure”? I don’t know but they sound and feel great and last a very long time.

[Muse]

Thanks guys for your opinions.

Pure nickel wound is more expensive than nickel plated steel. The term “pure” is a magic word and it attracts people’s attention. They go “Wow, that’s the tone that “pure nickel” delivers!”. The company is deceiving them.

I don’t like the idea that they use a different material from what’s clearly written on the package. Its not a “misunderstanding”, but it’s a lie.

Here I’m talking about the company’s integrity. Say “You like this meat printed on the package and keep buying it. Then you figured out it’s actually not meat. It’s “meat substitute”. Do you still keep buying it because it tastes good? Maybe yes for some people, but not for me. That could be a big lawsuit if it happened in the food industry.

[Big Mac]

I wonder how many gigs I've lost because I didn't have pure nickel strings?

Probably as many as Jimi Hendrix lost because the internet wasn't around to educate him on "cone cry" LMAO

[chasranney]

Pearce simply needs to change their packaging to read: "Pure Nickel Lite."

[sgosnell]

If you're playing the guitar amplified, why insist on acoustic strings? Nickel plated steel strings were designed for use with magnetic pickups, and sound about as good to me as monel, better than bronze or brass, on an acoustic archtop. Of course, that's personal taste, and personal taste is the reason for the plethora of string brands and types. Pretty much every tiny niche has been filled to overflowing.

[Just Fred]

As @sgosnell above, observed, "pure nickel" is simply a marketing term. Here' some lowdown from those good guys at Stringjoy (which I use and highly recommend!):

Probably the biggest misconception around pure nickel strings is that the finished string itself is “pure nickel,” core and all. It’s not. Nickel isn’t strong enough to hold up to the rigorous demands placed on core wire or plain strings, as it’s a much softer metal. If you made a nickel-core string, strung it up, and bent it, it would just stay bent and hang off the fretboard. That’s no good. Therefore, pure nickel strings always feature stainless steel cores and steel plain strings, just like nickel wound/nickel-plated steel strings do.

[teleman3726]

I think there's other things to stress over.

Hello there,

I’ve been using both John Pearse Jazz Nickel Wound strings and Pure Nickel Wound acoustic strings for a long time. I’ve heard and thought they were the same pure nickel wound strings just with different gauges.

To make sure of it I contacted JP and here’s their reply:

They are all nickel plated.....We have a NO pure Nickel strings. This has been brought to our attention and printing on the envelopes will be changed. Sorry for any confusion

Thanks

Rog

I’m shocked. So according to the email I received, they’ve been selling nickel plated strings as pure nickel wound strings. This is fraudulent. The pure nickel wound strings #960L and 980M have been on the market for a while. They say they are not pure nickel wound strings. They are nickel plated strings.

Your thoughts?

[63 vibroverb]

I'm willing to bet on the possibility that Rog doesn't fully know what he's talking about. Unintentionally, of course. Any communication and email exchanges with the company I've had were shoddy at best. I've received strings where the packaging has typos, spelling mistakes, and missing spaces between words.

John Pearse passed in 2008, but his ex-wife and widow have worked together to keep the company going. And thankfully so, because I love JP strings and my ears/hands are telling me "pure nickel" when I play/hear them. The german steel they use for the plain strings makes them softer and sweeter sounding than typical swedish steel.

Unless the company is completely reformulating all their strings due to cost increases in raw materials the last couple years, I'm hoping they're just gonna stick with John's original formulas. The only change I would push them to do is to finally start using the sealed packaging.

[RJVB]

Pyramid Monel Classics Electric Guitar

Unfortunately they don’t come is sets with a wound 3rd string

They take custom orders, without (much) extra charge. They may also have the corresponding wound 3rd string available as singles.

The german steel they use for the plain strings makes them softer and sweeter sounding than typical swedish steel.

I've heard of "German Silver" (stainless steel?), never of German steel. Are all their plain trebles made with that alloy and is acoustic sound softer-and-sweeter sounding too? Presuming you didn't mean they're softer (last less long) but sound sweeter?

[DRS]

They take custom orders, without (much) extra charge. They may also have the corresponding wound 3rd string available as singles.


I've heard of "German Silver" (stainless steel?), never of German steel. Are all their plain trebles made with that alloy and is acoustic sound softer-and-sweeter sounding too? Presuming you didn't mean they're softer (last less long) but sound sweeter?

German silver is copper alloyed with nickel and often zinc.

[RJVB]

German silver is copper alloyed with nickel and often zinc.

Hard to believe that that alloy can be strong enough to make plain strings with! Maybe it's the plating material?

[Hammertone]

German silver is copper alloyed with nickel and often zinc.

Hard to believe that that alloy can be strong enough to make plain strings with! Maybe it's the plating material?

IIRC, "German silver" is used for frets, not for strings.

[63 vibroverb]

.I've heard of "German Silver" (stainless steel?), never of German steel. Are all their plain trebles made with that alloy and is acoustic sound softer-and-sweeter sounding too? Presuming you didn't mean they're softer (last less long) but sound sweeter?

Yes, German steel. All their plain treble strings are made with steel sourced from Germany. German steel is indeed softer and sweeter sounding, but also less likely to break due to the softness. The more common Swedish steel is harder, making it more brittle and easier to break. On the back of every pack of JP strings, the plain strings are listed as "silvered steel" - not to be confused with "German silver".

Pyramid and Thomastik also use German steel and are known for their longevity.

[RJVB]

Well, we'll see then how the trebles I ordered from Pyramid will do & sound.

Thomastik trebles less prone to breakage? I've had several snap last year, including an almost new 1st string when releasing tension. Normally they snap when I try to put them back on, sometimes only at the 2nd time

[63 vibroverb]

Well, we'll see then how the trebles I ordered from Pyramid will do & sound.

Thomastik trebles less prone to breakage? I've had several snap last year, including an almost new 1st string when releasing tension. Normally they snap when I try to put them back on, sometimes only at the 2nd time

I like Pyramid strings - just too expensive here in America to use on a regular basis.

Sorry to hear about your Thomastik strings - it’s a shame because they’re crazy expensive. Sometimes rough edges/burrs on the saddles and tailpiece are the culprit.

I’ve only broken one JP 1st string on the third night-in-a-row of 3 hour gigs. It was an older pack too, so I’m sure it had more time to oxidize. And I play hard.

Strange how those 3 brands don’t use a sealed packaging…