dogals to trade for other

[jeffshuniak]

I have three sets of dogal "calace" strings , light tension. #

I would to trade for strings suitable for a greek mandolin.
light gauge light tension....not Mari's.... (not that I dont like Mari's...)

I am interested in the lenzners..if I remember correctly, they are kinda hard to come by.

I would also sell the strings...I think I paid $10 a set? from "that shop" out west that james or somebody told me about... the vendor's name is gregg. a violin shop I believe... anyhoo. I would sell the three sets for $15 bucks , fair?

[vkioulaphides]

The deal you offer is perfectly fair, Jeff. I do have Dogals in store, however; plus, I have gravitated back to the Age of Bronze.

For the time being, why don't you get some cheap GHS lights? Not great strings, of course, but they sound fine (as long as they last) on MY Greek mandos.

Just my $0.02 worth.

[jeffshuniak]

yer right vic, the ghs are good. I somehow forgot about those. duh.:p

[Jim Garber]

Jeff and Victor:

I thought that the contemporary greek bowlbacks were robust enough to stand the slightly heavier (not bluegrass gauge) strings. Is that not true?

Jim

[jeffshuniak]

Im no authority on this, first of all, but here is what I think I know:

these greek babies have I think ONE brace underneath the soundboard. and its NOT under the bridge. the top does seem to be cut thicker than what I have seen around on italian ones, I dont know what thats all about...
the neck is set in rather STRAIGHT and not angled to meet the bridge.. the builder recommends his own strings of course, (mari strings labeled diodinos and sold for much more) and mari's are super light.

[jeffshuniak]

Bob A, is taking these off my hands. I gave my cheapo sicilian bowlback to my friend who moved to vermont. thats why I am getting rid of them. I am down just one greek mandolin now. I am very happy with it by the way.

[vkioulaphides]

In answer to Jim's question: Perhaps it is our own, subconscious fear that the top of Greek mandos, being uncanted, will simply implode if burdened with heavy strings. As the top is rather thick, however, I wonder how rational this fear is.

It is hard to imagine that the area around the bridge, supported as it is by one, fairly chunky brace, would ever collapse under (reasonable) pressure. Mind you, this brace is a good three times more massive on any of my Greek mandos than on e.g. my de Meglio. You would really have to sit on it for a while to push it downwards and inwards.

The area below the bridge, of course, is a whole other story: That can (and DOES) sink by a fraction of a millimeter over time, as it is "free-standing", vibrating to and fro (as Bob A once put it most eloquently) like the drum of a speaker. That area, however, is not directly under the pressure of the strings.

So, in the best of all possible worlds, I would probably put Lenzner lights on a quality Greek mando; lacking those, I would go with GHS. Silver-wound strings do work, of course, but the tone-quality is, ehm... different; think bouzouki.

Yet, for some reason, (most) Greek mandos do come with silver-wound strings as "default", straight from the shop. I don't know why... Perhaps it is that those strings are in abundance in shops that specialize in bouzoukis.