new Curt Mangan 11-54 drop-tune Stainless strings bring the heat, without all the pain. Of much importance: they don't hurt my fingers anywhere near like they did in the 80s the last time I tried stainless steel strings. I don't have a way to scientifically test this but I've been playing these strings about 10 hours a day for the last 3 days straight and my fingers are not sore, whereas when I tried stainless steel strings in the '80s it felt like it was going to tear this skin off my fingertips. That's why I never tried them again! Until now. Furthermore, in my past experience with Stainless Steel strings is that they "rattle"....A LOT. Instead if string "buzz", steel strings USED TO rattle a lot. But fit whatever reason, these curtain 11 to 54 stainless steel strings do not rattle it all even on my low Jackson which had been highly tuned and reworked to have very low action with perfect fret work. I can't speak for every gauge of these strings or everybody else's guitar I can only speak for my own experience and tell you that my action is very low and I have absolutely zero rattle. A portion of this is due to the fact I'm using high gauge strings which have a lower vibration arc then lighter guage strings. These strings came on a good day because they arrived in the same day as my Digitech Trio+ band creator. Needless to say I've been playing these Steel strings all day long and recording tracks. I really put them through the paces. My ring finger is a teeny weeny weeny bit sore but you would expect a lot worse from as much as people whine about stainless steel strings being stiff One final topic that I needed to test for myself: BENDING. Yes, steel strings are stiff. But I discovered a pleasant surprise: these Steel strings are extremely expressive, and actually easy to bend up to pitch. Without dragging out the gory details, let's just say I have found that I can bend up two steps on these Steel strings with very little motion. Yes, the string is stiffer, but it's also more expressive, so you don't have to bend as far. I know your next question: will these Steel cringe damage my nickel/alloy frets? Well fret not.... Every fret on this Jackson Soloist is perfectly leveled, crowned and polished. I have inspected the frets before and after playing. I even sent so far so to draw magic marker on my most-used frets to inspect any wear. Verdict: in about 30 hours of solid playing, i see zero fret wear. I'm just an average paying customer and honestly I was expecting to just try these out for fun and then go back to NickelWound. But I really love how expressive and dynamic these stainless steel strings are! They have a distinct beastly growl, unique character and heaps of asservation. I'm going to buy a light gauge set for my PRS ! In fact, Curt Mangan can verify, I'm ordering a light set of Stainless Steel right now. I want to see how these sound playing the Blues...! Update: I only planned to keep these strings on for a week, but over a month has passed by and I'm still playing them. I have used them from C standard, Drop C, D Standard. For down tuning, in my opinion these are on track to be the best friends on the market. They're thick and meaty but they still have a nice high-end crunch while they're soft enough they don't hurt your fingers. Perfect for down tuning. Perfect! They have played great and keep their tone well. My fingers funny seem to even notice that they're steel any more (unlike years past when I use stainless steel strings and they hurt my fingers like crazy, these ones do not). The stainless steel strings tend to be a little brighter. This works in my favor if I'm going for some real punchy palm mutes to thump you right in the chest. These steel strings have a little more sizzle on the top end which gives you some crazy crunchy distortion and when I don't want that top end I just dial it out with my treble cut. I don't see any noticeable wear on my nickel frets after using these for about 6 weeks every day for a few hours a day. I'm eager to try an even heavier set for downtuning! And I'm thinking about trying a wound third for rhythm sets, and just to see how that wound third string feels for bends. Plus the extra wind might bring out a lot of body because these strings already have a little sizzle.

Best strings I ever used. A match made in heaven between quality and price. I have been using for Curt Mangan strings for years and turned on a lot of fellow musicians to it.