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Thread: Bronze flatwound

  1. #1
    Registered User John Hill's Avatar
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    Dumb question time:

    I've noticed that Thomastik makes a flatwound bronze guitar string in various sizes. Would it be possible to use them on the mandolin? Or is it more likely that they are not designed to handle the tension required for tuning to pitch on a mando?

    I love the feel of Thomastiks and like their sound well enough but I figured a bronze or P/B flatwound would be the best of both worlds as far as a combination of tone, feel & ease of playability.

    Or maybe not.

    There are three kinds of people: those of us that are good at math and those that are not.

  2. #2
    Ursus Mandolinus Fretbear's Avatar
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    Shouldn't be a problem after you crack out the ball-ends and respect the usual mandolin gauges.
    But Amsterdam was always good for grieving
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    And Paris never was my kinda town
    So I walked around with the Ft. Worth Blues

  3. #3
    Registered User John Hill's Avatar
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    Let the experiment begin. Usual mando gauges ordered & ball-end cracker in hand. It may not work but what the heck.
    There are three kinds of people: those of us that are good at math and those that are not.

  4. #4
    Destroyer of Mandolins
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    Good luck John. Be sure to post the results. I'm going to order a new Ovation after the holidays and would love to use T.I. ball end strings on it instead of the Adamas brand that I'm normally stuck with.
    Dedicated Ovation player
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  5. #5
    Ursus Mandolinus Fretbear's Avatar
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    I've personally dispensed with packaged sets and make up my own sets from fqms.com. Their prices are so fair that it doesn't end up costing much more. They have so many six packs (sometimes fives) of brand name singles, that I can often get what I need with loop ends already, but not guitar strings obviously. If you really start to like the guitar strings, you could look into a tailpiece that already accepts them.
    But Amsterdam was always good for grieving
    And London never fails to leave me blue
    And Paris never was my kinda town
    So I walked around with the Ft. Worth Blues

  6. #6
    Registered User John Hill's Avatar
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    Well the strings arrived and after a little noodling around to remove the ball-ends I had them tuned up in short order. I'm very pleased with the results, very close to what I was hoping. The bronze flatwounds aren't as quiet as the polished steel flatwounds but they're close and have a presence & "ping" that the steel strings don't have. I'm going to put some time into them to see if they're as easy on the fingers as the other flatwounds. So far so good.
    There are three kinds of people: those of us that are good at math and those that are not.

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