I managed to get to a shop that had some pure nickel strings so i could take these damn Slinky's with their nickel plated steel. Unfortunately they only had 10s, and i use 11s, but i'll work with it till i get my regular set. I personally DO HEAR the difference between maple/rosewood fretboards, callaham solid steel vs Fender pressed steel powder blocks, etc. SOmetimes its a good thing, like when im trying to diagnos a problem, sometimes its a curse when I get some tone that bugs me.
But its amazing, because besides necks, pickups, amps; the fact of the matter is, that strings and picks change the tone the most. I use Fender heavy pearloid picks that i shave down for blues, Jazz III Ultex for my go to pick, and other ones for certain tones; metal picks, regular Jazz III's, like the Eric Johnson, that i find to have a softer attach than regualr jazz iiis. But Pure Nickel, and strats, once you play them, especially if you go heavier than 9 gauges, you cant go back. The regular sound horrible IMO on the wound strings, especially the Low E. It makes a Klang sound instead of the note. The Nickel, gives me the note. Love em. I use the Eric Johnson because they're a mixed set, but not just heavy tops, light bottoms like other mixed sets. They're heavy low E, A and G, and light D, B and high E. I find it a more balanced feel and sound. After those, Fender pure nickels are my favorite. I find the different gauges for the different strings to be a better balance than most. I dont like a 11 guage with a 52 low E, its too thick. I like how Fender goes to 49. Plus, you cant beat the price.
The Bullets are gaff. They say theyre more stable in a tremolo, but ive NEVER had the ball ends shift around on me.

What brand are the Eric Johnson that you're describing? I've been experimenting with different strings the last 6 months and find the Fender's to be the brightest sounding of all of them all.

_________________
'10 American Deluxe HSS Sunset Metallic
'10 JA-90 Thinline Telecaster
'15 Music Man JP-15 Blueberry Burst
'07 Les Paul Standard Faded LCPG #82
'14 Carvin ST300
'12 Carvin CS424S
'66 Guild Starfire IV w/Bigsby
'14 Warmouth Partscaster Daphne Blue

Eric Johnson GHS Nickel rockers. When you stay Fender strings, are you talking about the regual nickel wound strings, like the silver bullets, or Fender 250 Pure Nickel? because while they're normal strings are bright, their pure nickels are not. I find them to be one of the warmest.
The Nickel rockers are a little bit brigher than say; GHS Burnished nickel, because when they make the rockers, they slightly flatten them, ant it makes them more rigid, and hence brighter. Its kind of counterintuitive, because flat wound strings are the warmest sounding string you can get, but for some reason, just flattening them slightly increases the brightness, but not nearly to the degree of regular nickel plated steel like Slinkys.
I actually like the burnished nickel better, but they dont come in the gauged sets that i like, that the EJ's do. I like a mix of heavy/medium. Usually hybrid sets are sold as heavy bottom/light tops. So the Low E, A and D strings are comperable to what you get in a 11 gauge set, and the G,B and High E are from a set of 10s.
But the EJ'S have the heavier strings for the Low E, A and "G" string, and lighter ones for the "D", B and high E. I just like the balance they offer.

I have Fender Super Bullets on my Strat right now. My Tele came with Fender 250L NPS. Both are 9's. Both are very bright and much brighter than the regular Slinky's that are on my Guild.

_________________
'10 American Deluxe HSS Sunset Metallic
'10 JA-90 Thinline Telecaster
'15 Music Man JP-15 Blueberry Burst
'07 Les Paul Standard Faded LCPG #82
'14 Carvin ST300
'12 Carvin CS424S
'66 Guild Starfire IV w/Bigsby
'14 Warmouth Partscaster Daphne Blue

I believe 95% of the tone is in your hands, not the tools you wield.

_________________
"Epitaph on a blues musician’s tombstone: “I didn’t wake up this morning”" Davy Knowles


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Well, that may be true (though im not sure about 95%)but Ive played both type long enough to know they sound different, and different enough that i just cant stand the sound of one type, so i'll use the ones I do like.

I'm just glad you weren't talking about :



Somebody had to do it...

I don't agree with 95%,not at all ...strings and picks do make a difference and pickups can make a big difference in tone...but technique in your hands and playing from your soul is a larger part also.
I bought some of the GHS burnished nickel strings today to try,I've used D'Addario nickel strings on one Strat and still use nickel wound on some others,the nickel do have a warm sound,I'll see how these GHS compare...tone chasing....much more than 5%....

Yeah, i prefer the Burnished, they polish them, so they polish them so you dont get as much noise from your fingers sliding on the string (the squeek, not the slide obviously), plus they're a bit warmer, and bend easier.
The nickel rockers, like I said, are "slightly' flattened, not so much that you'd probably even notice it, but it makes the string more rigid, brighter, and requires a bit more to bend. Actually, though they're cheap, Fender pure nickels are my favorite after GHS, and they're relatively inexpensive. $4-5. A set of Eric Johnsons can run upwards around $8-9, this is more to due with how they mix the gauges, and the flattening process than them being signature.
Yeah 95% is a bit high, but I use hyperbole too to get a point across, and point taken. how you approach playing has the most impact on tone, but there are some things that it cant make a difference in. I dont care how good your technique is, you can't make a Tele sound like a Les Paul. And some would say, "just adjust the tone knob on the guitar or amp if you find them too bright." But its not the same, what makes them bright will always be apparent. I just find pure nickel sound better on strats.
It amazes me the lengths people will go, and the $$ they spend to get an authentic vintage tone; old guitar, amp, maybe drop a few thousand on a real set of PAF's (not taking into account that the majority of PAF's made at that time DONT have the sonic qualities people look for in a PAF. Most of the real good sounding ones came about by something happening in the winding process that wasnt supposed to, and they created a really great pickup).
SO they get all this vintage gear, then string up their guitars with modern nickel plated steel, like boomers. The string; a product that has a huge inpact on your tone, is vital to that vintage tone. The very first time you go from nickel plated to pure nickel, you'll hear the difference. If you dont than you dont need to be chasing tone, because you'll never find it.
I do prefer nickel plated steel on some guitars, like my ES345, and my old Sheraton. But even on some humbucker guitars, i need pure nickel. I find the biggest problem i have with standard strings is their tone on the Low E, A, and D; all the wound strings, it just has an ugly sound, almost like a bad aftertaste. Its not the attack, its the sustained tone I dont like.

Yeah the burnished nickel strings sounded great today,I'm going to use these on a regular basis.

Told ya, strats need pure nickel, they just sound right on them, especially if you go to higher gauges, and especially the wound. And i promise you; you'll find your guitar stays in tune better. Just make sure to wipe them down each time after you're done playing.

Remember; 'nickel wound' doesnt mean they're actually nickel strings. 90% of strings that are called nickel wound are just nickel plated.

I'm a blues player and the warm sound of these go well with my vintage amps,currently I'm playing my Brownface '62 Vibrolux a lot and the mids on the amp are great,plus with the nickel strings I get a very pleasing tone....I'm not new to this at all and I find it funny when some people say there's no difference in the sound of strings.....well,a lot of people don't play as clean as I do,plugged straight in making the guitar and amp work as a well tuned pair of instruments,if you can't hear it,then like you said there's no reason to chase tone...even different picks are crucial to the sound,a pick is your contact with your instrument unless you play without one.
If someone muddies up their guitar signal with lots of effects,then I could see where they won't hear it...and if they don't I don't care,I'm working and improving on my tone...and have been for over 40 years....never gets stale to me.

I agree; there are SOOOO many arguements on here about whether or not something affects tone. There are things I know change it, and people will say there's no change at all, throw in some pseudo-science to back it up. But with nickle plated steel vs. pure nickel, there's on denying it. The first time i tried them, i had friends over. The popped in as I was changing them. None of them played, but all heard me play, especially clean, and when I played the first riff, even they said right away "wow, yeah, I can hear a difference."
I honestly feel bad for people who cant pick up on slight changes in tone, to me its like being partially color blind, and being a painter at the same time. They tend to get angry, and make disparaging comments. Or my favorite; on an debate if different fretboard wood changes tone ( i believe it does, especially clean), and they say something like "any change can be adjusted by the amps EQ anyway." Well; if you find it necessary to change your amps controls, then something on the guitar changed in tone, or you wouldnt have to adjust the amp. Right? I mean if itmakes no difference, you should be able to plug in, and itll sound exactly the same.

Once I went to pure nickel, I never looked back, except for my PRS, and GIbson's, I do like nickel plated, i want a bit more brightness. But theres nothing like the sound of pure nickel and single coils. & like I said, i can play for hours, bend strings around the back of my neck, and its still in tune. If the acoustic tone of a guitar changes, its going to affect the amplified tone as well, there's no getting away from it. DO youself a favor, buy a fewpacks of strings. The problem with pure nickel, is finding YOUR brand in YOUR gauge. Its especially hard for me. the GHS Nickel Rockers Eric J.'s use the Low E, A and G from a 11 gague set, and D, B and high E from a 10. They never have them at stores, and if i run out , and dont have time to waid to order, I end up having to get 2 sets of strings, 10's and 11's, so I can mix them. It can get expensive.

You should try DR Pure Blues, they're actually my favorite set, a bit pricey $8/9, but they sound, and play great.
\I also agree with you with the pick. I use a Fender Heavy Perloid that i use a file to shape down to be a bit smaller, i find them stiffer than regular brown celluloid ones, I use these if I dont neet precise picking. If i do; i tend to use Dunlop JazzIII's, but even theses I use different ones for differetn tones. I use the Eric Johnson ( I sear Im not even that into him, but his signature stuff is just so good), when i want a warmer attack because they have a matte finish, regular jazz III's for other stuff. But the pick I use the most is Jazz III made with Ultex. They're lke my swiss army knife of picks.

I decided to restring all of my guitars recently, and fitted some with Fender Bullet Nickels, and some with Fender Bullet Nickel Plated.
I can't remember which has what.
What differences should I hear?
They all sound good to me.