Why is Nickel plated steel so common on cheap strings?

[shoulderpet]

Hi

Just wondering why is Nickel plated steel so common on cheap strings? Almost all of the cheapy strings out there, Harley Benton, Gear4music, Rotobass, Legacy, Johnny Brook are Nickel plated steel, there must be a reason but what is it?  thanks

[Skybone]

Don't forget that Nickel Plated Steel is used for high end strings too.

[Bigguy2017]

Steel because it's magnetic and cheap, and nickel plate to prevent rusting. Works great, what else could you use?

Iron, nickel, cobalt and gadolinium are the four magnetic metals;

Iron (as steel) is the cheapest, is readily available and easy to work with.

Various alloys of the four could be used.  Dunno, other than steel, nickels or cobalts, what's out there?

Edited June 11, 2020 by Bigguy2017

[shoulderpet]

23 minutes ago, Bigguy2017 said:

Steel because it's magnetic and cheap, and nickel plate to prevent rusting. Works great, what else could you use?

Iron, nickel, cobalt and gadolinium are the four magnetic metals;

Iron (as steel) is the cheapest, is readily available and easy to work with.

Various alloys of the four could be used.  Dunno, other than steel, nickels or cobalts, what's out there?

Ahh so I guess nickel plated as then they do not have to use stainless steel, they just use a low grade of steel and nickel plate it so it doesn't rust ? 

[T-Bay]

And the steel may not be low grade as such, it may have properties that are beneficial in other ways but rust resistance not being one of them. Personally I don’t like stainless strings, never found any that I like the sound of.

[Delberthot]

I love D'addario strings. Depending on what mood I'm in I'll have Chrome flats, ELX165 Nickel plated or my current favourite - Prosteels

I find most stainless strings too rough but D'addarios across the board seem to be a lot smoother on my fingers

[itu]

The availability is not the thing, but the price is. Nickel is simply cheaper, 0.34 U$D/lb, while stainless is 1.06 U$D/lb.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_(music)

[Stub Mandrel]

Stainless steel is generally pretty difficult to work fro all sorts of reasons.

Back in the days nickel was probably a more practical material.

Today people think anything 'old' like alnico magnets instead of neodymium or ceramic must be better.

Actually it's just different.

That said I'm still loving the nickle strings that my Fender Jazz came with and I'll replace with the same.

For my other basses stainless  Rotos (the marmite strings) or Elites.

[John Cribbin]

Well you can use stainless steel strings on your nickle silver frets (which are 2/3 copper and contain no silver). Next question may be, how much is a refret!

[ubit]

I'm allergic to nickel so am forced to use stainless steel strings. If I use nickel strings for any length of time my fingers break out in itchy little blisters which then burst and I get painful broken skin. Before I self diagnosed back in the 90's when we were playing a very lot, I used to have blood running down my hands and was always in extreme pain when gigging.I almost gave up. Thank feck for stainless!

[mcnach]

2 hours ago, ubit said:

I'm allergic to nickel so am forced to use stainless steel strings. If I use nickel strings for any length of time my fingers break out in itchy little blisters which then burst and I get painful broken skin. Before I self diagnosed back in the 90's when we were playing a very lot, I used to have blood running down my hands and was always in extreme pain when gigging.I almost gave up. Thank feck for stainless!

 

wow, that sounds nasty, very painful! 😲

I heard about some people having a reaction to nickel in strings but I always assumed it was a much milder effect. 

[Stub Mandrel]

I have wondered if some people react to nickel strings.

Hope I stay lucky, I like the contrast, plus nickel seems to keep its sound longer.

[Woodinblack]

I have a nickel allergy which means I can't wear most rings or jewelry or play a cheap flute (that was a painful one to work out), but never actually had a problem with nickel strings, I have no idea why. Well, If I have been playing a lot my fingertips go a bit black but I assumed that was something else, it certainly doesn't inflame them at all.

[ubit]

5 hours ago, mcnach said:

 

wow, that sounds nasty, very painful! 😲

I heard about some people having a reaction to nickel in strings but I always assumed it was a much milder effect. 

It was murder mate. I think sweat made it even worse. We were playing 3-4-5 times a week back then and I was never getting a chance to recover. My fingers were in a hell of a mess. At work they had a guy come up to test folk for different substances but that was a waste of time. I eventually worked out myself that it was the nickel in the strings. I can't wear a watch or any cheap jewellery. Stainless strings were a godsend. I hadn't heard of them but when I tried them-Instant success! It cleared up in no time.

Edited June 24, 2020 by ubit

[ubit]

3 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

I have a nickel allergy which means I can't wear most rings or jewelry or play a cheap flute (that was a painful one to work out), but never actually had a problem with nickel strings, I have no idea why. Well, If I have been playing a lot my fingertips go a bit black but I assumed that was something else, it certainly doesn't inflame them at all.

I don't have any problem with my finger tips. It's down the inside of my fingers, mostly at the joints. Between the ring and pinky is the worst hit area. As I said, when I was never getting a chance to recover, the skin would go beyond itchy and the blisters would break and finally the skin would peel off and it was red raw. Playing endlessly like that with sweat running into it was rotten. I was playing and singing and gritting my teeth all at the same time. I must be particularly susceptible to nickel as no one else seems to have this level of a problem.

[ClassicVibes]

11 minutes ago, ubit said:

 I can't wear ... any cheap jewellery. 

Nice excuse to have! 

[Woodinblack]

1 hour ago, ubit said:

I don't have any problem with my finger tips. It's down the inside of my fingers, mostly at the joints. Between the ring and pinky is the worst hit area. As I said, when I was never getting a chance to recover, the skin would go beyond itchy and the blisters would break and finally the skin would peel off and it was red raw. Playing endlessly like that with sweat running into it was rotten. I was playing and singing and gritting my teeth all at the same time. I must be particularly susceptible to nickel as no one else seems to have this level of a problem.

No, not that level. The skin on the bottom of my lip got messed up because I tried playing a flute that wasn't silver - sadly not good enough to warant a silver one, and I can't wear rings unless they are silver. My original white gold one had a nickel content, that didn't go well. So I got a tungsten replacement, that didn't work either, so my wife bought me a cheap silver one (<£10) annoyed that I had lost the expensive one. I wore that for 10 years, until I got a stone one in new orleans.

[itu]

SS has nickel, but in a nearly insoluble format. The amounts are very low, although sweat may make the playing situation much worse. There is EU legislation on this matter, does it cover strings, I have not checked.

Fretwire, bridge, screws, there are many places in an instrument that may release nickel. SS and coated strings may help, so does a dry and clean bass. Wet, and especially sweat in strings is bad, not only to the strings themselves.

I was working in a company that is closely related to diving. Their tests were tough, and yearly only very, very few customers were complaining about rash or similar skin issues. After special tests we could say that the stainless parts were the issue. But, the problems were actually related to contaminations in the process industry: the same tools were used for other materials. Kind like "this product may contain peanuts" and so on.

[ubit]

8 hours ago, itu said:

SS and coated strings may help, so does a dry and clean bass. Wet, and especially sweat in strings is bad, not only to the strings themselves.

I always had a clean beer mat on hand to wipe everything down in between songs including my hands. It gave some relief but only for a short while.

[StickyDBRmf]

In the early days of my playing I tried different brands, and compositions, for strings, and then I settled into a gauge set by D'Addario and have used them ever since. Funny, I have a DanElectro Longhorn bass, short scale, and when I went to change the strings couldn't find D'Addario so I got GHS Boomers. I couldn't stand them! I think thy are wound in the opposite direction of D'Addario. I found a short set VERY quickly and the Boomers are still in the gig bag. And then, when I got my Chapman Stick, found out Emmett uses D'Addario. They are specially wound for the lower tension. they're nickel also. And my guitars are strung with them. After the initial brightness wears off (all new strings sound like a grand piano) they settle in with a consistency  that lasts and lasts...