GHS touts that this set of strings will bring you that "Vintage Tone and More"
From the packaging:
"... GHS is happy to bring back these great "old" strings for electric guitar..."
"... pure nickel roundwound for that special, warm, bright tone of the fifties and sixties..."
"... We burnish (polish) it ever so slightly in the winding process"
Specifically we're reviewing a .009" set (Set BNR-XL 009-042) string guages: 009, 011, 016, BNR32, BNR32, BNR42
So what's 'BNR'? I guess anyone could infer that BNR is GHS's abbreviation for 'burnished'!
What exactly does 'burnished' mean?
Burnish means to polish and make shiny by rubbing (innuendo entirely intended).
According to the website and packaging, the strings are lightly polished during the winding process for a smoother-feeling, brighter-looking string, without compromising the profile of the string and thus continue to be roundwounds!
As I removed the strings from the standard strings-in-paper-envelope-in-plastic-sleeve packaging, I was immediately drawn to the initial tactile feel of the wound strings.
Neither did they have that slick oily feeling, nor did the strings feel like a coiled up mass of lead. The re-stringing process was simple and painless and I could not wait to go into some familiar chords and runs once the guitar was tuned up.
My fingers were already in eager anticipation of chugging out some power chords when i\I strung up the low E.
I ran these strings on my alder bodied, rosewood/maple neck strat copy, with 3 single coil alnico 5s. I used an old Roland Jazz Chorus as the test amplifier (EQ set to 12 o'clock across the board).
I then went through neck, 2nd, 4th and bridge pup positions (not a fan of middle pup) across the pickup settings, next the tone knobs were varied from Full, to Half, and to Nothing) while I ran through my favorite licks and chords.
So how do they sound? Vintage!
Putting the strings through some basic blues licks and bends they sound more Mississippi then Chicago. These strings would definitely give you that vintage vibe and help you rock around the clock.
I still cannot quite believe how warm these strings are. Playing some faux-jazz runs on the neck pup with the tone rolled back, I swear that each b7, maj9 and sus5 sounded silky.
How do they feel? These strings aren't exactly very slinky, but they sure are not as tough as the Blue Steels. Chording is an absolutely breeze, bending and sliding is like a hot knife through butter.
One interesting thing to note is that pure-nickle strings are always 'slinker' and slight;y easier to handle than say, their steel counterparts.
In a nutshell, it means if you are used to .09s, you might want to actually try the .10s for pure-nickle.
And if you are used to .10s, you might want to try .11s for pure-nickles; relatively similar feel but a much bigger tone.
I used to play d'Addario XLs, but after this test run, I will be sticking to the BNRs for a while longer. These burnished strings are really quick and at times even feel almost like flatwounds!
To sum it up,
For those of you who are keen to inject a little 'old school' into your tone, and a little warmth to your playing, I highly recommend that you give these strings a try.
These strings also come in Light (.010) and Medium (.011) sets!
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