The EB's lasted about 16 hours with near-new tone before I popped one, a fair enough life and typical for my less aggressive bluesier playing; metal will of course eat up any string, and pure nickels are kind of pointless for metal, as they lack the top end you need for harmonic divebombs and overbends.(I was interested to see the only player's name/quote DR used to promote these was Jeff Healey, a great rockin' blues player and a blind man with incredibly great ears

These babies are warm, play even and have a nice life span

not too stretchy, until you want them to be and have a great feel and life.