Playing a 335 clone with Duncan 59s, I was unhappy the tone of the guitar. Decided to try the pure nickel strings and I now love the tone of the guitar. No other tweak between worry and love, so it had to be the strings. If your looking for a mellower laid back tone, try these before investing in a new amp or pickups. They might do the trick and its a whole lot cheaper!

When you first put them on, the pure nickel wrap starts off a little duller than the nickel plated steel, but they don't ever really change their tone over time. The steels go downhill very quickly after the first day. From the second day till you take them off the guitar, the nickels sound much better than plated steel. Another advantage is that you set your amp and you can leave it, you don't have to keep changing it to make up for the dying strings.

I have been partial to Ernie Ball Classic Slinky strings for years -- going back to 1970 when I read in Guitar Player that Carlos Santana and other contemporary players favored them. I prefer these Pure Nickel Wrap 2251 over the EB 2221 set because I found they hold up much better to my heavy rhythm playing style. They hold their ringing tone pretty well. I rarely break these whereas I invariably break one string when 2221s are installed on the same guitar.