Back to the future from GHS

GHS Strings announce their new product: pure nickel mandolin strings. They come in two gauge ranges, .0105-.039 and .011-.041, chosen to give a balanced sound and comfortable feel across fingers and fretboard. GHS claim:

They are perfect for players looking for authentic tone on vintage mandolins, or wanting more richness and depth of tone from new mandolins.

This is 'Back to the future', as pure nickel strings were common in the 1950s and '60s, and dropped out of the market only because of a rise in the cost of nickel and the differing requirements of rock musicians.

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In October 2016 GHS launched a global advertising campaign for the new Nitro-Pack system with its guaranteed factory freshness for their range of strings used by bluegrass players. The ads (example on right) feature images of banjo, resonator guitar, mandolin, and acoustic guitar - part of an overall campaign for all string instruments. The company followed this up earlier this month with a range of T-shirts using two of the slogans from the ads, ‘Nice Package’ and ‘Unique-ly Fresh’, on the front and 'Play With The Best' on the back. Full details can be found here.

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In another example of their 'Back to the future' flair, at the start of last year GHS were able to offer instrument straps using vintage jacquard ribbon facings, woven forty or fifty years ago in Switzerland; but these are no longer available.