Regarding DR Mandolin Strings

[Nick Triesch]

I used the J74 strings for years. Very good. But then I tried the DR MD 11's and WOW! Fantastic after they settle down. ( about two days) I really like the sound. My Weber Fern has never sounded so good. They just "Pop"

[Ivan Kelsall]

Nick - I think that the Weber Fern mandolins & the similarly constructed Summit mandolins seem to respond extremely well to the DR strings.I get the impession that mandolins built on the 'light' side get a real kick from the DR MD11's. My Lebeda which is 3/4 Lb heavier needed MD12's to get it moving.The Ellis "A" style i bought recently also qualifies for a 'light' instrument & that too sounds terrific with MD11's on board. My Weber Fern still never fails to totally amaze me since i put DR's on it & if push came to shove,i'd choose it over the Ellis - however,the Ellis's action is a tad too low(IMHO) to get the best out of it,something i'll rectify shortly,
Ivan

[dcoventry]

4-6 weeks dr11's the date over. back to elixers.

4-6 weeks dr11's the date's over. back to elixers

There. I fixed that for you.

[yankees1]

I have found that playing 1-2 hours per day that DR md11 strings last a long time !

[Astro]

I tried them and girls started throwing themselves at me, folks were walking up to me and putting thousand dollar bills in my tip jar and movie stars wanted to be my friend.

No, wait a minute, that could have been the hallucinagens.

I guess I'll have to wait a few months until I change strings and see if it happens again.

[tkdboyd]

First X amount of hours, Shrill and unappealing on my Weber. Then, it sort of clicked and sounds much better. Of course now I am concerned about for how long will they sound "good"? Fortunately it isn't a costly experiment.

[Ivan Kelsall]

tk - My first set of DR's were exactly the same, a tad overbright for a couple of days ( i've heard that about other brands as well), then the 'good bit' kicked in & lasted for 8 months. I only changed them because where my hand sits, just behind the bridge,the bronze windings had gone black. Strangely enough,the new set settled in straight off with no overbright tone at all. By a long way,the best strings i've ever tried,
Ivan

[Billbass1]

Several years ago I was invited to have a private tour of the DR string factory in North Jersey .
I was quite impressed with the entire operation and attention to quality and detail .
After the tour I interviewed owner Mark Dronge . He was very accomadating and polite .
We sat down in his office for about an hour were he related stories going back to the days of
his association with Guild Guitars . His father , Al Dronge was the original founder in the 1950's .
Mark was very influential in some of the developments in the early and mid 1960's Including the legendary Starfire Bass guitar .
Anyway , the guitar and bass DR Strings are wonderful. So I am ordering some DR Mandolin Strings .

[pops1]

DR is one brand i have not tried, but most of the others i have lately it's been GHS A-270 or GHS silk and bronze. I have just put on a set that i cut the balls off as they were guitar strings. I have been wanting to do this for years and have talked to GHS several times about making these strings in a loop end for mandolin, but not yet. Anyway they are GHS white bronze, they sound like phosphor bronze after a week when they are first put on, that is good. When the bronze are a month old they are getting plenty dead. When i played guitar for a living these were my strings, sounded great when first put on and sounded the same two months later. I am going to see if GHS would consider making them in loop end again, but if not they said they would make them for me, but i would have to buy waaaayyyyy more strings than i will use in the next ten years. Wondering if anyone is interested in these. They are also magnetic so can be used with a pickup for electrics.

[mandotim1955]

Hi all. After reading this thread, I decided to go for the heavy DR strings on my F5 Fern. I'm a long-time J75 fan, so I was interested to see the difference. The DRs took some hard playing to settle in, but after a sound thrashing for a couple of hours, well...suffice it to say, I'm not going back. They are noticeably louder than the D'Addarios, which means I can play softer and more precisely for the same volume. The 'chop' is crisp and clear, and the mids (a strong point on my mandolin) are really powerful when driving the rhythm of the band. Tonally, they are similar to the J75s, at least to my ear. I played acoustically in a picking session the other day, with four Mastertone banjos, four Martin dreads, an electric bass, three fiddles and a large accordion. When it came to taking a break, I just leaned on the strings a little more, and could cut through the sound with no problem. Well worth the money, and I got them at a great price from Strings and Beyond, my favourite string dealer. They seem to be lasting well, with no real drop off in sound as yet (I'm not hard on strings though, as a rule).

[John Adrihan]

Well it has been five months for me since I put a set of the 11's on one mandolin and 12's on the other. This is the longest I have used a set a strings by far ever. I played the crap out out both this weekend and no sign of giving up anything yet. I did however break an E string on the instrument with the 12's. I am another long time J75 user that has made the swich to DR's and is not going back. So... I have found the perfect strings, I have found the perfect pick...... now I just need to keep saving for the perfect mandolin. only about a hundred thousand to go

[LongBlackVeil]

Its officially decided, these are the best strings by far for my Ellis A5.

I thought it was a close competition between the md11s and exp74s. But i put the exp74s on after the md11s so that i could take them to a jam and try them in a mix. It just felt like something was missing until i put the drs back on. Now thats the tone i like

Great strings for this particular mandolin

[spufman]

My Musicman basses just LOVE Sunbeams, much better power, tone and feel than anything else I've tried. I'm diggin' the MD11s now on my Weber, though J74s are just about as satisfying.

[onassis]

I'd be interested to hear from someone who's tried the new coated DR strings. (Dragonskins? IIRC) Strings and Beyond has a buy 2 get 1 thing going.

[Perilous Deep]

I loved the tone of the MD12s when I tried them on my but Breedlove Quartz OF, but my skin chemistry is unfortunately the type that corrodes strings very quickly (like within an hour of playing if I don't wipe the strings down). The MD12s held up pretty well with careful maintenance, but I wanted to see if the coated version would give me some more time and a smoother slide for longer. I just put a set of the Dragon Skins--DSM11s since they don't make the heavies in a coated version--on this past weekend. So I can't say anything conclusive about the longevity yet. But the tone and volume are very similar to the uncoated ones, to my ears, possible less metallic sounding when brand new than the MD12s were (although they broke in nicely). My initial impression is also that the Dragon Skins are not as slick-feeling as EXPs; the grippiness is more similar to an uncoated string.

I like them so far. I think they're worth a spin if you like the DR tone but lean towards coated strings generally.

[LongBlackVeil]

Interesting I wasn't aware of the coated de strings. Ill have to try them if they really sound like the mds

This is interesting


"All 6 strings are protected against then elements, and feature K3 coated brass- plated steel strings for greater tonal balance from top to bottom. "

I think these are the only coated strings I've seen that feature coated a and e strings

[westsideryan]

I put the MD-11s on my flattop last week and like them. I still want to try the recommended Newtones though, unfortunately they were out of stock.

BE FOREWARNED: I just ordered some Newtone mandolin strings thinking that they would be round core like their guitar strings, but were not. I contacted Newtone and was told that all of their "Traditional" strings are hex core, but if I liked they would custom make them for me with a round core.

-Ryan

[Willie Poole]

Well I hate to sound negative but I tried a set of MD-11`s on my Flatiron Festival and they sounded tinny at first on the A and E strings and after three months or so they still sound tinny and the E string just doesn`t sound very loud, I changed back to GHS`s and things seem normal now.....As we all know different people like and look for different sounds so if you like them use them, I am tempted to try the 12`s though just to see if they would work OK....

Some interesting posts on this subject and I wonder how many play all kinds of different music because for bluegrass I like the GHS A-270`s myself....I also like older strings like a lot of bluegrass pickers so maybe three months wasn`t enough time for the MD-11` to get to that point....

Willie

[LongBlackVeil]

Well I hate to sound negative but I tried a set of MD-11`s on my Flatiron Festival and they sounded tinny at first on the A and E strings and after three months or so they still sound tinny and the E string just doesn`t sound very loud, I changed back to GHS`s and things seem normal now.....As we all know different people like and look for different sounds so if you like them use them, I am tempted to try the 12`s though just to see if they would work OK....

Some interesting posts on this subject and I wonder how many play all kinds of different music because for bluegrass I like the GHS A-270`s myself....I also like older strings like a lot of bluegrass pickers so maybe three months wasn`t enough time for the MD-11` to get to that point....

Willie

I had the same experience with them on my weber but they're the best strings for my ellis. You have to realize that every mandolin is going to react differently to different strings

I do play sone different styles but mainly bluegrass. I also like ghs a270s but they didn't sound that great on this mandolin compared to j74 and md11s

[George R. Lane]

Willie,
I too tried both the 11's and 12's on my Yellowstone and I am not overly impressed. They are a little louder than the GHS A-270's I normally use but, I play mostly for my own enjoyment and loudness is not a factor in my decision in which string to use. I will be going back to the GHS's.

[pops1]

Willie,
I too tried both the 11's and 12's on my Yellowstone and I am not overly impressed. They are a little louder than the GHS A-270's I normally use but, I play mostly for my own enjoyment and loudness is not a factor in my decision in which string to use. I will be going back to the GHS's.

George, would you be interested in trying the GHS White Bronze strings?

[FLATROCK HILL]

Nothing earth shaking to report here but I thought it was worth mentioning.
Like some others here, I tried a set of DRs (MD-11s) on my Weber Fern. That was in April...a little more than six months ago. I was impressed with what I perceived to be an increase in volume and a improved tone. No way to prove it or measure it of course, just my opinion.

In earlier experiments (same mandolin), I went from J-74s to J-75s and noticed what I perceived to be a slight improvement. So, when I swapped out the MD-11s a week or so ago, I figured I'd try the heavier DR MD-12s. No luck there. I have no idea why the 12s would have such a negative affect on both tone and volume on my Weber, but they were not good at all. After a week I could stand it no longer. I pulled them off and strung it up with the 11s again. WOW. Instant improvement. As Nick said at the top of this page..."they just pop."

The 12s might be fantastic on another mandolin, but not my Fern.

I think the DRs are great strings but I guess their 'greatness' is dependent upon each specific application/combination.

[Ivan Kelsall]

It's a simple case of mandolin/string 'symbiosis'. Some mandolin/string combos. work & some don't - as we all know. Exactly 'why' that should be i don't know. DR MD11's work superbly well on my Weber "Fern" & my Ellis "A" style,but do nothing for my Lebeda.
However,the Lebeda is a larger & heavier (3/4 Lb) mandolin that either of the others,so it took MD12's to shake that one up. Even so,it's not improved 'as much' as the other 2,but it's improved nevertheless. It might sound fairly obvious,but to get as much volume out of the Lebeda with it's heavier strings,i have to dig in harder when playing. Maybe on using 'heavier' strings,we forget to do that,resulting in an underpowered mandolin,& one that sounds 'not quite right' ?,
Ivan

[Charles E.]

Thread bump....
I went to the convention center today to see the IBMA vendors and did a quick walk through. I stopped by the DR String booth and talked to a very nice woman about their strings and bought a set of the RARE 11-40's. I installed them on my Girouard F-5 (replacing a well used set of D'Addario EJ-74's) and my first impression was that they have more volume. They need to settle down a bit but so far I like them. The cost was five bucks a set at the booth, pretty reasonable. They also offered a coated set but I am not into those.

OK, after a couple hours of playing the DR's I have to say that the bass register on my mandolin is much improved. I do feel that, although the string gauges are the same as the J-74's, the DR's seem stiffer or have more tension.

[Ivan Kelsall]

Hi Charles - I agree. The DR's do 'seem' to have more tension in them,but for the 'same gauges' being tuned to 'the same notes' as,say J74's, do they really have more tension ?. Somehow i suspect not - but it's a good question to ask. The 'perceived' extra tension's no problem for me in my playing,in fact it makes things seem more positive under my fingers.

DR themselves do say that their strings are 'brighter' & more powerful that other brands, & i think that's what makes them last so long & keep their tone - 8 months on my Weber & they still sounded good. I've been using EJ74's on it for the last 8 months or so,but i got 3 new sets of DR MD11's yesterday,so either today or tomorrow,the Weber will be sporting new DR's.

My spare sets of EJ74's will be used on my Ellis "A" style. I've used GHS A270's on it since i got it,but a couple of days ago,i removed the 6 month old GHS strings & put a set of EJ74's on & it sounds really good. As the GHS strings aren't easy to come by in the UK,i'll go over to EJ74's for the Ellis & i'll continue to use MD11's on my Lebeda & Weber,
Ivan