Strings; j-74 vs. j75's

[troika]

I'm thinking about stringing up with D'addario j75's. Has anyone made the switch? What were the results? Any problems with increased string tension? My mandolin is pretty lightly built. I would love to get a little fatter sound in the trebles. What about mixing gauges? Thanks for your input.

[Chip Booth]

I tried them once instead of the J74s I always use. They were just too stiff for me, and there was not much change in tone on that particular instrument, so I quickly switched back. It's only a 7$ experiment though, see what happens.

Chip

[Keith Erickson]

I'm thinking about stringing up with D'addario j75's. #Has anyone made the switch? #What were the results? #Any problems with increased string tension? #My mandolin is pretty lightly built. #I would love to get a little fatter sound in the trebles. #What about mixing gauges? #Thanks for your input.
I've had the best of results with J-74's. I love 'em so much I'm too chicken to change to anything else on my MK A+.

[Jason Holmes]

I've used both, and while I do find that the 74s are noticeably easier on my fingers, the 75s really bring out the tone and volume for me. I'm sticking with the 75s, though I'm partial to EXPs over the Js nowadays as the Js never lasted me very long and I'm not fond of frequent string changes.

[squirrelabama]

My favorite aspect of the 75's is the thicker treble strings. I tend to overdrive the 74's on any thing that has them on them. The treble notes themselves really bloom too. My next step is the exp's, as like jasonh, they never last that long. I have very caustic hand sweat!! Like anything, you'll get used to the larger guage sooner than you think, and your mando will open up more quickly with more tension on the top!!

[Paul Kotapish]

I prefer the snap and punch I get with the J-75s. Just a crazy thousandth of an inch makes all the difference.

[Aran]

J75's have a fatter sound for sure...

Having really liked the J75's over the J74's I also tried the Sam Bush Gibson Monel set and now after a second try of all 3 types I'm sticking to the Sam Bush set.

As a bonus with Sam Bush set you get a spare A & E string.

[squirrelabama]

Aren't the Sam Bush strings even lighter guage than the 74's...in particular the A's?

[pjlama]

I think the 75's are much fatter sounding and because they're stiffer I can really dig in.

[300win]

J-75's made my mandolin sound a little richer, but the 74's are easier, I too also like the Sam Bush monos.

[Aran]

Yes Sam Bushe's a knats chuff thinner:
Sam Bush Monels: 11 14 25 41
J75's : 115 16 26 41

[Kevin K]

J75's have a 26 on the D

[MikeEdgerton]

J-75's are louder and honestly I like the way they sound better on my F5G. The other side of the coin is that I play J-74's most of the time because I can pick them cleaner.

[Doug Hoople]

Believe it or not, I put the J75 A-string on my mando otherwise strung with J74. The J74 A-string features a lower string tension than the other strings, and suffers more from "end effect" tuning problems (where the string played open is in tune, but the notes in the lower frets tend to be sharp). I find that replacing the J74 A-string with the J75 A-string softens this "end effect" problem.

[Rick Smith]

1 more for J75s

[Mark Walker]

I've had both on my Silver Angel. #74's are a bit easier on the fingers; I get EXCELLENT sound with them but GREAT sound with 75's. #(Ken sends his mandolins out from his shop strung up with J75's.) #

I suspect some instruments may not exhibit much difference with the strings; others will show a significant difference. #My PacRim Lotus sounds 'okay' with either; no noticable improvement with 75's on that mandolin. # JMHO #YMMV! #http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[swampstomper]

One of my mandos I use the two J74 wound strings and heavier singles: 0.115 and 0.16: for the E and A. I got standard D'Addario plain steel guitar strings. I have a tailpiece that accepts ball ends, but you can take out the ball if necessary. The J75 wounds are just plain too stiff for my strength, but on that mando I need more projection and "bite" on the trebles. I tried the Sam Bush strings; again the wounds were fine but that wimpy 0.14 A just didn't work for me. And now I have that extra sitting around...

[Rick Cadger]

J74s on one of mine and J75s on another.

On the Gloucester I have J74s which sound great, but J75s just have no sparkle on that mando.

On the other hand, the Bovier has a nice, beefy sound and very good chop with J75s. J74s don't sound as strong on that one.

On all my flat tops I use light strings, usually sets with .010 for top E.

[Nick Triesch]

Just so you know, I talked to Weber and they do not recommend J75 strings on their mandolins. They recommend only the J74 string range gauge but on any strings you like. 11 16 26 40 is what they say you should use.

[jasona]

I had mine set up with J74s and they sound great. I once tried J75s and the result was a muffled, closed, sound. J74s are what my mandolin asks for. I also Tried JS74s and they sound dead out of the package to me.

[Daijoki]

Nick wrote: "Just so you know, I talked to Weber and they do not recommend J75 strings on their mandolins. They recommend only the J74 string range gauge but on any strings you like. 11 16 26 40 is what they say you should use. "

I wrote Weber asking about the J75s (after seeing that Jeff Austin uses them). They said I'd just need to adjust the truss rod.

[Santiago]

I switched from 74s to 75s because I find them much brighter (on my acoustic).

[300win]

Went back to J-75's couple weeks ago. Got tired of replacing the Gibson sam Bush E and A courses with heavier gauge single strings. J-75's do make a big sound, very good tone, they just give out so fast.

[Brent Hutto]

Man, I feel so wimpy with my puny J73's. Hitting them with a heavy pick is probably a forum of bullying.

[Laird]

The J74 ... suffers more from "end effect" tuning problems (where the string played open is in tune, but the notes in the lower frets tend to be sharp). I find that replacing the J74 A-string with the J75 A-string softens this "end effect" problem.

I've never heard of this "end effect," and would have assumed the sharps on the lower frets were due to an intonation problem(misplaced bridge). How does this "end effect" work?

[tburcham]

As long as you're Ok with additional finger pressure and requisite calluses, the 75s will give you more bark on chops. I've switched to 75s (or Sam Bush) on my Weber and Flatiron. I'm sticking with 74s on my 1942 Strad-O-Lin for playing ease.

[OldSausage]

I would think that on most mandolins changing to a heavier gauge of string would leave you needing a new setup. I'm no setup expert, but I imagine it's likely to change the amount of bow in the neck, which is presumably why Weber talked about truss rods. My bet is that much of the change people hear is to do with how the different tension changes their neck bow, which in some cases will be positive and in others negative.

My advice would be to always use the lowest tension strings you can get away with. Why? Because your fingers will be more nimble on them. Volume is what microphones were invented for. Whatever strings you get, check the setup often. Just my opinion.

[Rob Gerety]

I'm with OS. Also, the truss rod adjustment is easy - but the other thing that might need adjusting is the nut slots. That is something I leave to the pros. Also, the extra bridge pressure might conceivably drop the action a touch - maybe, maybe not - but might need to adjust string height a bit. No big deal.

If your mandolin won't get moving with medium strings - J74 - you have to wonder why not.