Usually when I change strings (not very often) I just go into the local music shop and ask for mandolin strings. Are there major pros and cons to the various types (and prices) that are available? I’m thinking of my new Gloucester, and also my older Kentucky A model.
Phosphor bronze are really bright-sounding; silk & steel and silk & bronze sound dark and woody (like bluegrass mandolin). I like GHS silk & bronze myself.
Heavier gauge strings will give you bigger fatter tone in general; lighter gauge strings will be quieter and thinner-sounding, but will give your tone an increased “sproing” factor. Ultimately what strings you use comes down to what you want to sound like.
Also what sounds good on one instrument might not sound good on another… for example GHS silk & bronze sounds good and woody on one of my mandolins and just sounds dead on another.
Just a guitar player here, but I’ve always gone with GHS, great brand. How come you don’t change your strings often? Fresh strings always sound so much better…crisp and bright. But again, I’m talking acoustic guitar, not a mandolin…
Laziness factor, plus the fact that I don’t get to play the mando all that often, so they remain fresh longer. Now that I’ve finished nursing school, I’ll have a lot more time for fun stuff though.
The other day I hinted to my wife that perhaps a little congratulatory present for finishing school was in order, hoping that she’d release the Gloucester from captivity. No dice: she reminded me that I didn’t get her a present when SHE graduated, which is true (we took a vacation as her gift, and we’re doing the same for me too). Oh well, it was worth a try…
Hey Paul,
I reckon the nearest thing to a standard mandolin string that I’m aware of is the D’Addario J74 set. Gauge is .011 - .044, so about medium weight.
The strings on my Gloucester when it arrived either were J74s or played and sounded just like them. I’ve tried others on my Eastman, but always have gone back to the J74s.
I did change the ones on the Gloucester, but only so I could do a nut replacement - and I replaced them with another set of J74s!
Hi Paul,
You’ll really need to open the mandolin up first before settling on a string set. Let it find its voice first. And of couse you’ll need to confirm the set up. Don’t judge anything before you have it fully set up.
I’d agree that J74s are about the closest thing to a standard there is. Kind of like SM-57 microphones for instrument micing. There are better and worse, but J74s and SM-57s are benchmarks to which everything is compared, so start there. Once you’ve got the J74s on and the mando has opened, put a new set of J74s on and stretch them in. Have your wife or someone play, or at least strum it from a distance so you can hear what it actually sounds like (this is really important). Then you can start thinking about how you want to tailor the sound.
Once you have defined the base sound, the dialog becomes easier. You can say “My Gloucester sounds X, how can I make it more Y”, and you won’t be chasing your tail.
Good luck with it, and congratulations on finishing school!![/i]