Steel vs. Nylon Strings: What's the Difference?

Steel vs. Nylon Strings: What's the Difference?

The two most common guitar string materials are steel and nylon. Although we have discussed the differences briefly in other articles, including our look at How to Choose the Best Acoustic Guitar Strings, this topic is so important that we wanted to go into more detail.

Putting nylon vs. steel strings on your guitar makes a huge difference. This simple choice determines whether your music is bright, mellow, soft or heavy. Conversely, putting the wrong string material on your guitar can mean an inferior sound — and even damage the instrument. This comparison of nylon and steel guitar strings gets to the bottom of what each is good at so you know which to choose for your axe.

What Are Nylon Guitar Strings?

Nylon strings were developed shortly after DuPont announced the new material in 1938. With the catgut (aka sheep’s intestine…yum) material traditionally used to make instrument strings becoming scarcer and more expensive during World War II, these synthetic polymers quickly became a low-cost alternative that also had a more consistent shape and better feel. The strings are made from plain nylon or a nylon core with wrapping such as silver-plated copper. Each manufacturer has a different nylon blend that gives the strings unique sound characteristics.

What Are Steel Guitar Strings?

As we mentioned in our overview of guitar string history, the origins of steel strings are murky at best. Regardless, they represented a huge shift that reverberates (rim shot) to this day. Typically, the B and high-E strings are plain steel wire while the lower four strings have a steel core wire and wrapping. On electric guitars, this wrapping can be nickel, stainless steel, cobalt alloy or other metals. For acoustic guitar strings, the standard wrappings are 80/20 bronze and phosphor bronze alloy. Like with nylon, different string brands have their own materials and designs.

How to Tell Nylon and Steel Strings Apart

When looking at the contrasts between nylon-string and steel-string instruments, four areas stand out most: sound, feel, construction and tuning. Let’s analyze each to see how each type of guitar string performs.

Musical Sound

Even if they can’t describe it, casual listeners often hear the difference between nylon and steel strings from the first note. Nylon strings were designed from the beginning to at least be close to catgut strings. As such, they produce a warm, mellow and light sound. Nylon strings have become the standard string for classical guitars to play classic, Latin and flamenco music. Some jazz and folk guitarists use nylon strings as well if they want a fuller or more sweeping tone.

Conversely, steel strings blazed a new trail with a much brighter, sharper and crisper sound — sometimes described as a “twang.” Steel strings are also louder and have more power, making it easier for them to be heard within a mix. These attributes have made steel strings ideal for rock, country, bluegrass and other similar styles. Modern design methods can make a steel string sound darker or a nylon string sound brighter, but it’s nearly impossible for one to truly match the other.

String Feel

How the guitar strings feel in your hands is another way to distinguish them. Nylon strings are much softer than steel strings, though various windings can narrow the gap. This makes nylon strings better for beginners since they’re easier on the fingers. Because the strings hold much less tension, they also are more responsive and flexible, making it easier to play solos or complicated riffs.

On the other hand, stiffer steel strings can be played more aggressively, which produces the louder, more attacking tone. Furthermore, a steel guitar string is more durable than a nylon string. In the same vein, using guitar picks on nylon strings is much more likely to damage them over time — you’re almost exclusively limited to finger-picking.

Guitar Construction

You can also separate nylon and steel strings from how the guitar is built. Nylon string guitars have a smaller body that usually starts at the 12^th fret. The neck is wider because thicker gauges are needed with nylon than steel to achieve the same notes. Steel string guitars have a larger body and a thinner neck that meets the body at the 14^th fret. Many guitars with steel string also have a cutaway or indentation on the bottom that makes it easier to reach the upper frets.

Although a few guitars are available that can hold both types of guitar strings, this is rare. Putting steel strings on a nylon string guitar will cause permanent damage due to the added tension. Nylon strings on a steel string guitar are more difficult to play because of the narrow neck and can cause warping if you don’t adjust the truss rod.

Instrument Tuning

Finally, we have the tuning characteristics of nylon and steel. Each string is set to the same notes, and each material has a “break-in” period. But since steel is harder, it is better at holding its tuning. Once the steel settles, you’ll have a period where the tuning stays fairly consistent from day to day. As a softer material, nylon doesn’t settle as much as steel, and they are more sensitive to changes in temperature, so you’ll need to re-tune them more often.

Final Thoughts

We hope you enjoyed this look at nylon strings vs. steel strings. Which one you ultimately decide to use depends partly on what music genres you like to play and partly on personal preferences regarding sound and feel. Whether you’re as hard as steel or a big softie, we have plenty of strings available at Strings and Beyond to satisfy every guitarist.