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The most common materials to wound bass strings are bronze and silver. Most string makers offer options with either. Seems that bronze strings last shorter or can go bad easier, so there must be a tone difference among them to justify the less modern bronze-wound strings?
What's the difference in tone? Is one brighter than the other? Why would one choose bronze-wound strings over silver-wound strings?
Most listeners can't tell the difference between bronze-wound strings and silver-wound.
It is often said that the silver-wound strings (actually silver-plated copper) sound warmer, and that the bronze-wound strings are punchier.
I say 'silver-plated copper wound' because pure silver winding would be prohibitively expensive.
It all comes down to that which feels right in your hands and which sounds good to you.
I have become a fan of flat-wound bass strings. Much smoother surface they have, and boy oh boy do they feel good under your fingers.
The ones I am drawn to are the Rotosound 77's. They are made of a stainless steel core and a Monel 400 top tape. (Monel is around 65% pure nickel.)
