Thomastik Infeld vs D Addario Chromes Guitar Strings

geparing The Two Classics,TI Jazz/Bebop vs D'Addario Chromes

If you play jazz, bebop, swing, fusion, surf,just about any non-metal rock electric guitar style,it's quite likely that you find yourself looking forguitar strings that aren't the typical "round wound 9's"like the rockers tend to gravitate toward.
Here's a geparison between what I seem to find arethe two most popular strings of this non-rock type,the Thomastik Infeld Nickels and the D'Addario Chromes.
I'll refer to the Thomastik Infeld strings as "TI's"and the D'Addario Chromes as "Chromes" simply becauseit's a shorter way of discussing the two brands.
First the TI Strings
TI makes two flavors of these strings. Both are wound withpure nickel, not nickel plated steel, and both involvedouble wound construction on round core wires, like piano strings.The plain strings in all TI sets are brass plated steel.
The round cores of the wound strings are high carbon steel.They are not hex shaped in cross section like the majorityof strings. The core wire is round.
Thefirst layer of winding on the TI strings is a round wire,nickel/steel alloy. It is not nickel plated, but an alloy ofthe two metals.
The outer layer of winding on the TI strings, is pure nickel.Not an alloy, not nickel plated, but entirely made of nickel.The flatwound "Swing" series outer layer is a flat ribbon ofpure nickel. The roundwound "BeBop" series is a round wire ofpure nickel.
The wire that makes up the outer layer of the roundwound stringsis geparitively small in diameter. That means that the windingsare closer together and therefore is a little "smoother" to thefingers than if the wire were larger in diameter.
The double winding construction (either flat or round) tends tofilter out the odd-order uneven harmonics. The result is thatthe string tends to be more "bell like" and be richer ineven-order harmonics.

Darker, more mellow, A little brighter, more bebop,players typically choose Tuck-like players typically chooseFlatwound (Swing) Roundwound (Bebop)

Here's the data on string gaugesSet Gauge 1 2 3 456 TensionJS110 Flatwound Swing Xtra-Light .010 .014 .018w .023 .033 .044 107.6 lbsJS111 Flatwound Swing Light.011 .015 .019w .025 .035 .047 123.6 lbsJS112 Flatwound Swing Med-Light .012 .016 .020w .027 .037 .050 140.4 lbsJS113 Flatwound Swing Medium .013 .017 .021w .028 .039 .053 156.5 lbs
BB111 Roundwound Bebop Xtra-Light .011 .015 .019 .026w .034 .047 120.2 lbsBB112 Roundwound Bebop Light .012 .016 .020 .028w .036 .050 137.9 lbsBB113 Roundwound Bebop MedLight .013 .017 .021w .030 .038 .053 154.0 lbsBB114 Roundwound Bebop Medium .014 .018 .022w .032 .040 .055 173.6 lbs
TI Flatwounds
Are my personal favorite string for ES-175 style guitarsor just about any jazz box when you want that classic,dark, Joe Pass like "jazz tone".
TI Roundwounds
Are my personal favorite for giant archtops (L5's, supers etc)when playing BeBop or any time you want jazz tone but justa bit "brighter". The roundwound TI's sustain a little longerand have a little more treble response, than the flatwounds.
Now consider the Chromes by D'Addario
The term "chrome" is a bit of a misnomer. The wound strings are not chromelike a car/truck bumper,but polished stainless steel which is a steel/chromium alloy.Unlike the TI round coreprocess, the wound strings start with HEX shaped steel wire.
D'Addario then wraps their hex shaped core wires first with a layerof round cross-section, steel wire.
The outer layer of the Chromes is a stainless steel ribbon wire.
The plain strings in the D'Addario Chrome sets are ROUND plain steelwhich, have been "silvered", an industry term which means "tin plated",like tinned electronic wires.
Here's the data on string gauges for the Chromes
Set Gauge 1 2 3 4 5 6 TensionECG23 Xtra Light .010 .014 .020w .028 .038 .048 117.0 lbsECG24 Jazz Light .011 .015 .022w .030 .040 .050 137.3 lbsECG25 Regular Light .012 .016 .024w .032 .042 .052 155.2 lbsECG26 Medium .013 .017 .026w .035 .045 .056 183.8 lbs

D'Addario Chromesare one of the electric guitar strings that I like for big, flatwound jazz playing.But they also make really great strings for surf, fusion, or electric slide.They're one of the largest gauge strings you'll likely ever put on an electric guitar.Big, stainless steel, ribbon wound. That translates into a LOT of fundamental tone,not a lot of overtones, and not a lot of finger noise when sliding from fret to fret.They're not what you'd want to use to play Santana or Van Halen stuff.For that you'd surely want something lighter with more sustain and overtones.These are fabulous for surf on a Tele or Jazzmaster or Mustang or similar.They're also very well suited to a Les Paul or Strat in the recording studio,when playing nearly anything except maybe metal. They'll TWANG or they'llMOAN, depending on your tone settings. They just don't sustain like roundwound strings.

Craig 'Lumpy' Lemke - okay songthief