New to Mandola and sore fingers...

[Dchip]

I just purchased an Eastman MDA815 mandola and love it. The only thing is my fingers are super sore. I have pretty decent callouses built up from my mandolin and the Mandola was supposedly professionally set up, so I am a little surprised at the soreness. Maybe just a case of overzealous playing, bad setup, or maybe I'm just a weenie...

Any advice for a new mandola player?

[Mark Wilson]

Wait 30 minutes and get back on it!

[allenhopkins]

Do you feel that the action on your mandola is significantly higher than on your mandolin? Mandola strings are, of course, thicker/heavier than mandolin strings, and may involve a bit more effort to fret; however, it the instrument's properly set up, there shouldn't be a difference large enough to cause the "symptoms" you're getting.

You may need to get the set-up modified to fit your hands. You could try lowering the bridge a bit, see if that makes a difference.

[Dchip]

I checked the action and I was at 2.8mm above the 12th fret on the C of the mandola vs. 2.0mm at the same fret on the G of my mando. I lowered​ the bridge on the mandola to match and it seems to be helping. I am getting a little fret buzz, but not as bad when I fret harder. I'll leave it here a while and see how it goes. Thanks. Maybe I need a few more of the 30 minute breaks per above ;-)

[NotMelloCello]

Are your knuckles turning white when you fret?

[Pittsburgh Bill]

When I got my first dola, I too thought fingering was more difficult than a mandolin. It will not take very long before your fingers adjust and your calloses cover a slightly larger area than they used to.
Once you are accostomed to playing dola, I think you will find it makes you a better mandolin player. For me, this is true in my perception. Hopefully it is equally true in reality.

[derbex]

If it's sore fingertips you may be pressing too hard, I did this with my tenor guitar at first -rammed the strings down with mandolin force and gave myself sore fingertips I think it was the same with my mandola too. They both need much less pressure than my mandolin.

[Drew Egerton]

I have the same mandola! I honestly haven't played enough since I bought it. I have also played guitar longer than I've played mandolin and a couple weeks ago my fingers were sore from playing guitar at a jam for 2 hours. Different spots on the fingertips I guess.

I just bought a bass though and talk about new soreness!

[bratsche]

2mm action at the 12th fret sounds excessively high to me on mandola, and especially on mandolin. The latter would feel terrible to me! The lower and longer the strings are, and also the lower the tension, the more they "wobble" where they're picked. (Hence my baritone uke, which has nylon and only single strings, can easily have action double or more the height of that on my mandolins, and still play comfortably.) I just checked, and my mandolas are all fairly close to about 1.5mm under the C strings at the 12th fret (measuring with a pick - top of fret to bottom of string). The mandolins are a bit less than that under the G strings. There are no buzzes on any of them.

bratsche

[acousticphd]

You may well be able to improve the setup for yourself. Often pre-dialed setups have action that is too high at the nut. If your playability feels stiff, I would check the action at the first fret (ie, the nut slot depth), using Frank Fords method, or similar (fret at the 3rd, tap and inspect the clearance over the 1st fret). Also check the relief.

On my mandola (17" scale), the strings are lighter-guage for its scale than on the mandolin, so I use slightly higher action. I'm not sure my 12th fret action is all that relevant - especially on the C string. But you will have more leeway with an adjustable bridge. It will depend on string weight, how hard you dig in, how flat your fingerboard plane is, etc. But the mandola's feel is softer overall, I think because the bigger wound strings are more comfortable to fret. Maybe your strings are heavier than ideal (?)

[Dchip]

I checked the action again and was able to lower it even more (I am now close to 1.5mm at the 12th) - definitely an improvement in play-ability. The Frank Fords method was helpful - that website is a nice resource and a fun distraction. I think some, if not all of my buzzing is from my technique. I am not used to so much space between frets and was fretting too far behind the fret. Moving closer to the fret has helped reduce the buzz. Fun learning this new instrument!