Fender Pure Nickel 150’s Strings

[Oscar67]

I’ve tried a set of Fender pure nickel 150’s .011-.049 roundwounds on my PRS 594 Hollowbody II and thought I’d share the experience, as compared to my usual choice of D’Addario EXL 115 of the same gauge. Note that these Fender strings are pure nickel whereas the D’Addarios are nickel-wound.



The Fenders were installed on April 6 and removed on July 28th, so close to four months. During that time I did not notice any kind of deterioration. When I took them off, they looked and felt like new. In terms of sound, they had mellowed somewhat but still had lots of life in them and were far from dull. I use the 594 HB about 8 hours per week on average, adding up to appr 120 hours in total, including some humid weeks. Tuning stability was excellent throughout and overall I’d say these strings held up great.

Compared to D’Addario, I found that the tension of the Fender pure nickel strings is slightly higher and their sound is slightly less “sweet”; there’s a certain primitive cool to their tone that definitely hints at old-school tones. They certainly did not sound “warmer” than the nickel-wound D’Addarios. But I really liked that primitive cool. Sounded great through tube amps and the edge of break-up, think classic Kenny Burrell tone.

In terms of price they’re about the same, but the excellent life span of the Fender pure nickel strings means that in the long run they’re more cost-effective than the D’Addarios.

Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised by these strings and I will rotate between them and D’Addario from now on. They’re awesome for that ever-so-slightly-pushed tube amp tone right on the edge of blues, whereas the D’Addarios are somewhat sweeter and work great for pristine cleans.

[RyanM]

I Think D’addario makes all Fender strings now. Maybe compare with a set of D’addario EPN115 (pure nickel) to see if there is any difference.

[mr quick]

There were rumours when I was selling strings that D'A had much lower QC requirements for Fender strings. It certainly corroborated how they felt to play to my fingers. It's still just an unsubstantiated rumour as far as I know.

[nyc chaz]

You might want to try Curt Mangan Pure Nickel Round Core strings.I've had these on my solidbody guitars and they feel really good and sound better than D'addario in my opinion.