Bronze isn’t so bad after all!
A quick update to last week’s post about bronze and nickel strings: Over in the forum, Bear suggested trying 80/20 bronze strings. It’s a little embarrassing to admit, but I thought some of the strings I’d stocked up on and tried were 80/20s, but just realized they were another variety of phosphor bronze. D’oh!
So I got a nice, simple set of uncoated 80/20 Martin Marquis, popped them on, and realized that I don’t hate bronze strings — just phosphor bronze (and just on my particular guitars). I’m happy now. 
Anyway, if you’re curious, I’ve updated the audio examples to include this third string type along with the phosphor bronze and nickels. Have a listen if you’re curious:
I’m hearing the warmth I missed, and the whole guitar seems to gush more. The phosphor bronze strings sound so tonally stingy in comparison.
All thee sets are regular lights, with .012s on top. The tone is also a bit mellower on the new 80/20 tracks because last night I snapped off a fingernail while attempting to snap a picture of a gorilla at a gig.
Ha ha. Peter Gun! Makes me think of when I was young. Making believe I was Kieth Emerson on the keyboards.
I only see phospor bronze and nickel wrap where’s the 80/20 ?
Derr. Fixed it.
Sounds to my ears like the recording level is hotter on the 80/20 tracks. I hear more background on them. However, you can definitely hear the warmth of the 80/20 over the Phosphor Bronze. The Nickel sound to me like an old pair of strings. Nice and mellow. I use Martin Marquis and have been for years. I do use Elixers on one guitar that sees a lot of sweat… Those sounds great to, imo. Maybe you should try a set of those to add to the comparison?
It’s weird because the normal view is that 80/20 is brighter than phosphor bronze. (Most string brands will tell you so on their comparison tools.) The phosphors seem to have more bass and darkness, but along with that bigger sound there’s that zing and twang as previously mentioned. 80/20′s well broken in are pretty mellow.
Cool discussion at the forum, though, with lots to explore. Very interested in the “argentine”/”Gypsy jazz” strings now.