D'Addario - Seeking Mandolin Beta Testers

[soliver]

Overall I wasn't terribly impressed with the beta's .... to me they were just a little lacking. I swapped mine out after pretty much exactly a month.... They we okay but nothing to write home about here,... but hey, they were free

[Paul Statman]

Wasn't part of the beta, so I'm playing the Curt Manganese's NB strings. Wonder if anyone has compared them to the D'Addario NB?

I looked for but couldn't find NB strings in the mando section of the Curt Mangan site. Could yours be Monel?

[pheffernan]

I do like the feel of them and they are nice to slide on. They aren't jangley brand new, and have kind of a thunky sound to them. I can see the appeal of them. Definitely a different sound than my usual Curt Mangan phosphor bronze strings.

I finally got around to installing the test strings on my Hester and had a similar experience. It seems like they eliminate complex overtones in favor of a bright fundamental sound. It occurs to me that this compromise might particularly suit some applications, like large jam settings. I'd like to stack them up against the new Curt Mangan monels, in heavier gauges than the traditional Gibson Bush set, to see how they compare.

[Bill McCall]

you're correct, the CM's are monel, which isn't really 'nickel bronze' because there is no tin in monel. Mostly nickel/copper.

[Mandobar]

I put a set of the NB on my MF5 Italian top. If anything it's brought out the overtones in this instrument. It's toned down after a few hours at a jam, but the tone is different on the MT I out another set on. I prefer the CM monels on certain mandolins, and the NB on others. i think everyone's mileage is going to vary on these.

[GTison]

The betas:

They are the same as our EJ74 set but we would hope to expand the offerings .011,.015,.025, .039

I like the beta strings. Still have them on. They really suit me and my mandolin and what I am looking for in sound. Having said that I just looked at the production sets. None of the sets match the gauges of the betas. I will order some but they will be betas again for me. And they are not cheap by any means, $12 plus.

[Don Grieser]

I set up my H2 recorder whenever I go pick with a friend of mine. So I have a recording with the Curt Mangan phosphor bronze and the D'Addario NB strings. To tell the truth, I can't hear any difference between the 2 recordings. Could be all in the head.

He did comment on the different sound the Passernig had with NB strings, though. Crazy.

[Mandobar]

I have to say, I am not thrilled with the colored tape they bundle the paired strings with. It's annoying when you have to scrape it off. It doesn't always come off cleanly.

[Don Grieser]

Looking back through this thread, I installed the NB strings on Feb 8 or so. They were starting to sound a little dead so I switched back to my Mangan phosphor bronze strings today. I'll see if I miss anything about the NB and go back.

[Delaware]

I have had mine on for several months, as I'm a hacker home player and I liked the feel but found the sound deteriorated pretty quickly.