Dunlop Nickel Strings

Walks Backward

Walks Backward

Well-Known Member
I used to do this a while back when more active. Well I'm gettin there.

Rebuilt the trem/bridge on the low budget Fender Starcaster. Of course new strings were in order. Have a set of Dunlop Nickel on the shelf. Done.

Plain cardboard box with a set of 9's individual paper envelopes with guage marked. Old school. Ok with me.
Strung up easy and took a "set" very quickly. From 1 to 10 here's my take on these strings .

Texture/smoothness: 9
Strength/3 interval bend: 10
Bass response: 9
Mid range response:10
Treble response:9
Sustainability : 8
Overtones when distorted: 9

Overall, good strings will be known on even low end instruments and perform. These do. Cheap ceramic single coils took every bit of the vibrations from these nickel plated strings. I was amazed at the broad tonal range and balance when playing clean. Add my monster distortion and harmonics were fast to achieve and maintain. Bending was smooth, controlled, and recovery fast and precise.

Am I going to buy more soon? Most likely. They're fast, aggressive toneful strings that stay in tune after my psychotic bends and extreme vibrato.tmp_25090-38120094201.MAIN-800348343.jpg
 
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Ernie Ball.....been using them since 1980....they still give me strings when I visit the Coachella, California factory.... :-)
 
I use Dunlop heavy core on my goth epi sg with Iommi pickup in the bridge and air norton dimarzio in the neck. I absolutely love them for the heaviest stuff I play, and while they definitely help you bring the doom, they scream too. In fact, I'd break out that sg more if the pots wherent going to absolute shite..

Otherwise for my Pelham blue sg and my 2013 Gibson 70's tribute sg loaded with dirty fingers pickups. I'm in the Ernie ball fan club myself. But yes, Dunlop strings are pretty damn nice too
 

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Metal89 said:
I use Dunlop heavy core on my goth epi sg with Iommi pickup in the bridge and air norton dimarzio in the neck. I absolutely love them for the heaviest stuff I play, and while they definitely help you bring the doom, they scream too. In fact, I'd break out that sg more if the pots wherent going to absolute shite..

Otherwise for my Pelham blue sg and my 2013 Gibson 70's tribute sg loaded with dirty fingers pickups. I'm in the Ernie ball fan club myself. But yes, Dunlop strings are pretty damn nice too
Click to expand...

What gauge???

For years I used EB 'Lime Green" .010's but lately I have begun using EB "Orange Package" Hybrid .009's with a .046"/.036"/.026" top set....REALLY like them....
 
With my Pelham blue axe with vibrola I'm firmly sticking with the power slinky. 11-48. The Gibson I'm still playing around with what strings I like on that one. Last time I put the cobalt 9-42 on em just for something different. Absolutely shredded and screamed but I'm interested in the new paradigm strings and may try the skinny top heavy bottom which is 10-52.
 
And ya get a 3"x3" "Dunlop Strings" B&W sticker for bling in the box too! Whoo hoo!

Next day update:

Instrument sat upright in a stand overnight. Had a replacement of the entire tremolo & bridge system when strung. Bear that in mind. Had perhaps a couple of hours play yesterday to set both the assembly and strings.
This morning I checked the tuning of the strings and not one was out of tune by one cent.
Modesty prohibits my saying I still do superb work with the bridge set up, but the new strings took a set quickly and easily remained set overnight. That's the real star here. The consistency and structure of the strings. Most impressive. Others often will stretch minutely for days after installation.

Their tonal balance between the entire spectrum is remarkable for nickel plated steel strings on a hex core. To bring such fullness to a Strat configuration is an accomplishment for a set of strings. Ever since Dean Markley discontinued the round core nickel wraps (really pissed me off too) I have been on a personal quest for a replacement. So far these Dunlop strings are on my "short list" for that. Time will tell on their durability. More on that later.
 
When I bought my ES 335, it came with a set of Gibson Vintage Reissues which are Pure Nickel (as opposed to Nickel Wound). The VR's were noticeably different to the Slinkys I had played for years. When I restrung the guitar (the VR's lasted for ages) with my usual Slinky 9-42, something was missing. So I ordered some Gibsons. Whatever was missing came back.

Next I tried some Ernie Ball Pure Nickel because the price was much lower than the Gibson VR's. For whatever reason, I tore through the EB Pure Nickels in record time, wore the windings down to the core on the wound strings in just a week of playing. This happened with all wound strings and with each set. :hmmm:

So I went back to the Gibson VR's. The longevity came back and the tone was great. But even with the longevity, I wear through the wound D strings about twice as fast as the E and A string. The plain strings almost never break and I have an overabundance of them.

I was told the Gibson VR's are made by D'Addario. Not sure if that is true. But I went searching for the ability to buy individual strings. I found www.juststrings.com. I ordered up 10 wound E strings, 10 wound A strings, and 25! wound D strings, round core, Pure Nickel from D'Addario.

Curiously, the D'Addarios come in 41, 31, 23 instead of 42, 32, 24.

I hate the colored ball ends on the D'Addarios, but everything else about them is excellent. They last at least twice as long as Nickel Wound (nickel plated steel). They sound better, and they feel better. They aren't cheap like Slinkys (one of their best qualities was the ability to buy a dozen at a time at a heavy discount), but due to the long life and superior characteristics, they are worth it.

I was also told the Gibson VR's are hex core, so the D'Addarios are not identical to the Gibsons. The D'Addarios might be even better.

I want to try Pyramid Pure Nickel Round Core, but I want the ability to order extra quantities for the E, A, and D strings.

Pure Nickels have a warmer, smoother top end than Nickel wound. Round Core have a springier, spongier feel. So for the foreseeable future, I will be using D'Addario Pure Nickel Round Wound. (y)
 
mdubya said:
When I bought my ES 335, it came with a set of Gibson Vintage Reissues which are Pure Nickel (as opposed to Nickel Wound). The VR's were noticeably different to the Slinkys I had played for years. When I restrung the guitar (the VR's lasted for ages) with my usual Slinky 9-42, something was missing. So I ordered some Gibsons. Whatever was missing came back.

Next I tried some Ernie Ball Pure Nickel because the price was much lower than the Gibson VR's. For whatever reason, I tore through the EB Pure Nickels in record time, wore the windings down to the core on the wound strings in just a week of playing. This happened with all wound strings and with each set. :hmmm:

So I went back to the Gibson VR's. The longevity came back and the tone was great. But even with the longevity, I wear through the wound D strings about twice as fast as the E and A string. The plain strings almost never break and I have an overabundance of them.

I was told the Gibson VR's are made by D'Addario. Not sure if that is true. But I went searching for the ability to buy individual strings. I found www.juststrings.com. I ordered up 10 wound E strings, 10 wound A strings, and 25! wound D strings, round core, Pure Nickel from D'Addario.

Curiously, the D'Addarios come in 41, 31, 23 instead of 42, 32, 24.

I hate the colored ball ends on the D'Addarios, but everything else about them is excellent. They last at least twice as long as Nickel Wound (nickel plated steel). They sound better, and they feel better. They aren't cheap like Slinkys (one of their best qualities was the ability to buy a dozen at a time at a heavy discount), but due to the long life and superior characteristics, they are worth it.

I was also told the Gibson VR's are hex core, so the D'Addarios are not identical to the Gibsons. The D'Addarios might be even better.

I want to try Pyramid Pure Nickel Round Core, but I want the ability to order extra quantities for the E, A, and D strings.

Pure Nickels have a warmer, smoother top end than Nickel wound. Round Core have a springier, spongier feel. So for the foreseeable future, I will be using D'Addario Pure Nickel Round Wound. (y)
Click to expand...

Wow!!!!

You are worse than me.... :-)
 
They should start putting packs of strings on the back of cereal boxes like they used to do with floppy records. I'm might even spring for a name brand box of cereal if it came with guitar strings.
 
SirFlintstone said:
They should start putting packs of strings on the back of cereal boxes like they used to do with floppy records. I'm might even spring for a name brand box of cereal if it came with guitar strings.
Click to expand...

I still have some Honeycomb Hideout records from cereal boxes....
 
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