Bronze vs. Nickel
For most of my life, I've preferred phosphor bronze-wound strings. In the preceding photo, phosphor bronze strings are shown on the left, with nickel-wound strings on the right. Phosphor bronze have a slightly darker voice over 80/20 bronze, and a much darker voice compared to nickel-wound strings. On many of my double-course instruments, I'll mix the winding compound types based on the overall desired balancing of the voice of that instrument. For example, if I want the octave string on the F course to speak a bit more, or to be a bit more articulate, I'll use phosphor bronze on the F diapason string, and an 80/20 or even nickel on the F octave string. Or, if perhaps the low B diapason string is too dark in phosphor bronze, I'll use a nickel-wound to make it speak a bit better. The goal in this scenario is to achieve the most balanced set possible for a specific instrument. Each instrument is a unique individual unto itself, and it takes time to alchemize the
