Question about strings

[Bruce Cech]

My mandolin came with D'Addario J74 strings. I have a couple of sets of J73's. Does it matter when I change strings if I go to the J73 instead of the J74. I don't want to screw up the set up.

[LongBlackVeil]

It depends on how your mandolin is setup now. I think switching from mediums to lights will lower your action, so if you already have a pretty low action, you'll encounter some buzz. Most likely it will be fine though, some will say to adjust your truss rod accordingly and that you'll need a whole new setup, sometimes true, but most of the time it's not necessary.

You will probably have to adjust your bridhe for intonation, that's not hard and you should learn to do it anyway

Again it's hard to say without having your mandolin in hand, if your mandolin has a good pro setup right now, it should be good to go

[Phil Goodson]

The liklihood is that you'll be fine with the smaller gauge. The only reasonably likely issue will be possible buzz. That's s NOT because the change of gauge will change the action; it won't. The buzz might come because the smaller gauge strings will have a lower tension at standard tuning and this might allow buzzing. If so, you might need to raise the bridge a little, or go back to the previous gauge strings.

Intonation, although theoretically might need a tweak, will usually not be affected enough to worry about.

And leave the truss rod alone unless you have a definite need to change it because of too much relief in the neck.

[Joey Anchors]

I'll take the sets of J73..