The cost of sterling silver has gone up quite a lot in the last year causing us to have to raise the price of this type of string. We understand how expensive strings can be and we are constantly looking for ways to bring you quality and value. In an effort to help you keep the cost of stringing your instrument down we now offer strings wound with nickel silver wire as a substitute for the sterling wire.
Nickel silver is similar to sterling silver, but there are some differences. Nickel has less density than sterling, and the speed of sound passing through the wire is a little faster. This means that the tone of the nickel string will be very much like a sterling string, but on some instruments the tone might be a little brighter and the nickel-wound string will also be a little lighter than the sterling-wound string. We have decided to use the same gut / wire formulations for the nickel strings as we use for the sterling strings so the gauges of the two types will be the same. However, because nickel is a lighter wire, you might find that you will want one or two gauges heavier. For example, if you are used to the tension and feel of a Medium gauged sterling string, you might prefer a Medium+ gauge nickel string. Even though it is a little thicker, the tension will be more similar to the sterling string and you may have to try a couple of gauges to find the best compromise. The good news is that, because the price of nickel is quite stable, there will not be frequent adjustments in the price like there is with sterling.
Nickel silver strings are available for:
Violin standard gauges
Viola standard gauges
Cello standard gauges
Bass Viol standard gauges
Because of the nature of equal tension strings needing as much density as possible, we have no plans to offer the nickel silver strings in this category for any of the instruments.