Advice Please.

[campertraveller]

Many years ago I bought a mandolin--dabbled for short while--put it away. Recently I got quite serious about the mandolin. Can you help with the following questions please?

a) What gauge strings do you use for good volume & tone on your style of mandolin?
b) What type of string do you prefer?--bronze / phospher bronze / nickel wound /other?
c) Would you use the same type of string for acoustic & electric?
c) Tailpeices: A heavier T/P for a F5 style mandolin? How crucial is the tailpiece for different style mandolins? Will a heavy T/P on a light mandolin hinder the sound?

Looking forward to your expertise.

[Jared Heddinger]

A lot of these questions you have are all very personal, and by virtue of that, hotly contested. If you take a look through past threads, you'll see string types are possibly the most discussed aspect of mandolin playing. You'll find the whole gamut here - from bluegrass players who use the heaviest string gauge possible, to classical bowl back players who prefer ultra lights. Its a very personal (and luckily cheap) part of mandolining.

As for me -

a) I prefer lighter to medium gauge strings. Not so heavy that they lose tone, but heavy enough to produce enough volume.
b) Phosphor Bronze usually.
c) It depends on the pickup type. If its a magnetic pickup you should use electric strings. Otherwise both strings should work.
d) The tailpiece, if properly installed, shouldn't touch the top of your instrument. Really the tailpiece choice is a matter of convenience rather than tone.

[pit lenz]

a) Standard gauge strings, like EJ74s (11/15/26/40) are a good start to experiment. find out what suits your picking style and instrument.

b) I settled on EXP74CMs coated phosphor bronze strings that are slightly thicker on the treble side (11.5/16/26/40)

c) not necessarily, My guitar strings are regular (not coated) phosphor bronzes.

d) No. I think a heavier tailpiece is rather a cosmetical question. Some are cleverly designed, so you can change strings easier, common opinion seems to be that they won`t sound any better. Old Gibsons (that most of the builders are trying to copy) have a pretty flimsy stamped piece of sheet metal as a tailpiece. go figure...

MHO, YMMV.

[Roger Moss]

Your questions generally depend on two factors.
1-What brand and model mandolin do you have?
2-What kind of music do you want to play?
Knowing those two factors will help us answer your questions.

[campertraveller]

Many thanks for your replies so far. The type of music I am mainly interested in is bluegrass style. The mandolin I currently have is a far-eastern F5 copy--nothing great but hope to upgrade at a later date.

For bluegrass style what would be a good string height action at the 12th fret?--what suits you?

[pit lenz]

I really recommend getting Rob Meldrum's pdf book about mandolin setup and maintenance. He will send it to you for free if you shoot him a mail.

here you will find his original post including his contact.
Very valuable informations inside, that will answer all of your questions plus some you didn't even think about yet.
This helped me a lot when I got my first (far-eastern F5 copy--nothing-great) mandolin...

pit

[UsuallyPickin]

A. .115 to 41.5 Medium heavy strings
B. Bronze or Phosphor Bronze a mandolin will tell you what it likes the best
C. Electric via transducer yes via electromagnetic pickup no
D. In my opinion it isn't

[CES]

My Kentucky 675S was built like a tank and needed heavier strings (like J75s, nothing too manly) to sound its best. My Eastman does fine with J74 or J75 gauge strings. Excuse me, EJ, not J anymore, I guess. I like the coated strings, too, but don't feel they're a necessity on mandolin like I do on guitar for some reason.

[ddawson2010]

Just a heads up on the Electromagnetic pickup offering, we'll be releasing a Nickel Bronze version of our Mandolin strings later this year. In fact, we'll be searching for some beta-testers soon.

[MediumMando5722]

I use EJ75 set just high enough they don't buzz if I dig in really hard.