Flatwound Octave Mando strings?

[Jake Wildwood]

Is there a (less expensive?) alternative to the TI octave mandolin strings for GDAE tuning where all the strings are flatwound?

I've been playing my archtop tenor guitar in GDAE with flatwounds on the GD&A but want a flatwound E to round out the tone. Even with a 14 or 15 plain on the E it sounds a little too ringy for comfort.

Thanks in advance!

[steve V. johnson]

I don't think I've ever seen a wound string smaller than .020, tho I've heard of one as small as .018.

I haven't found OM/zouk sets that I like so I shop for "bulk strings" at JustStrings.com. Also, I just discovered this site
octave4plus.com from a Cafe post, but I haven't looked at it closely yet.

I hope you can find what you want.

stv

[John Hill]

Maybe you could search for flatwound guitar strings that would fit the bill? You would have to cut the ball out of the end most likely but I've done it and its' no trouble.

[Travis Finch]

Not sure what you're paying now for a set of TI's, but you could try www.saitenkatalog.de for some alternatives (yes they do ship to the States). Search for Fisoma or Pyramid, they do flatwound sets that are cheaper than the TI's over here. Bear in mind that in Europe, 'Mandola' typically implies Octave mandolin.

On a side note, Fisoma also do flatwound sets for mandolin as well. I use them on my L&H and other flatbacks as an alternative to TI's. On a round-back instrument, I find that TI's do fine but on a carved-back they get a little thumpy on the lower courses. The Fisomas are a little brighter and tend to take care of some of the lower course thudding.

[Ted Eschliman]

How to build your own flatwound string sets:

.

[mandroid]

I use a different sort of pliers, less tendency to cut the loop accidentally .

square jaw face, crushes the ball and then I take out the brass pieces of the ball.