Mando detail questions

[Tim Farney]

I’m going to need a smaller string winder, huh?

Will my guitar tuners work?

What is the virtue of an armrest?

This is a very cool design. Anybody using one? https://cumberlandacoustic.com/product/bill-james-mandolin-tailpiece/

[Timbofood]

Let me guess, you’ve just found the fun of the Mandolin,?
First don’t go spending a fortune on accessories before you really begin to understand some of the specific quirks you will want to address. In forty+ years I’ve not needed to “upgrade” my tailpiece, add an armrest, buy a smaller winder, and notes are notes, your tuner will be just fine. The James tailpiece has been discussed here at length with generally very favorable reports.
My point is learn something about the instrument before adding anything. Be patient and see what you find you end up feeling you NEED to change.
What Mandolin are you starting with?

[Roger Moss]

1- A guitar winder will work but it is for a larger button so it will knock around unless you are careful. I use one but I position the buttons facing sidewaws and do fine tuning by hand.
2 - Armrests look cool, keep your arm sweat from dirtying the top, and hold your arm off the top while playing, freeing it to vibrate better.
3 - A james Tailpiece is cool because the cover pivots at the bottom but it is heinously expensive. I favor cast tailpieces.

[Jim Parriott]

For me, there is no comparison between a James tailpiece and a cast tail, unless you never change your strings. The ease and speed of the James is worth every penny.

[Tim Farney]

Let me guess, you’ve just found the fun of the Mandolin,?
First don’t go spending a fortune on accessories before you really begin to understand some of the specific quirks you will want to address. In forty+ years I’ve not needed to “upgrade” my tailpiece, add an armrest, buy a smaller winder, and notes are notes, your tuner will be just fine. The James tailpiece has been discussed here at length with generally very favorable reports.
My point is learn something about the instrument before adding anything. Be patient and see what you find you end up feeling you NEED to change.
What Mandolin are you starting with?

Anti-enabling. How unusual. ��

[Ranald]

Will my guitar tuners work?

A great many tuners have adjustments for different instruments. Assuming that you plan to use standard tuning, press the button till you get to "V" for "violin." The violin is tuned GDAE, the same as the mandolin.

From Roger Moss, "1- A guitar winder will work but it is for a larger button so it will knock around unless you are careful. I use one but I position the buttons facing sideways and do fine tuning by hand."

Ditto for me.

Enjoy your mandolin. One of the pleasures of owning a mandolin is that most music stores (in my area at least) aren't full of paraphernalia to take your money but that won't make you a better mandolin player-- they're making enough money on that stuff from guitar players. However, you will start coveting the $16,800 Ellis mandolin with the herons on the head (see top of Mandolin Cafe home page). ;)

[CES]

Regular old chromatic tuner works fine. There’s a Peterson Strobotune app for iPhone that works very well, and I think is 9.99 for the basic version (what I’ve bought so far). In noisy environments the clip ons that tune by vibration are more user friendly, but I always use the app at home...

[Timbofood]

Anti-enabling. How unusual. ��

No, just cheap!
The free tuner apps work pretty much just fine too, spend if you must but, I’d save some money for strings before I start buying armrests, replacement tailpieces et al.
You don’t know what you don’t need yet so, why buy extravagances when you will surely need strings!
I worked in a music store and had virtually free access to strings and learned how one can go through strings early on with any instrument more than starting playing Mandolin!

[Tim Farney]

No, just cheap!
The free tuner apps work pretty much just fine too, spend if you must but, I’d save some money for strings before I start buying armrests, replacement tailpieces et al.
You don’t know what you don’t need yet so, why buy extravagances when you will surely need strings!
I worked in a music store and had virtually free access to strings and learned how one can go through strings early on with any instrument more than starting playing Mandolin!

Fair enough. What about strings? 11s? Phosphor bronze a good place to start? And I ordered a couple of Dawg picks to try the round tip thing, have enough small, stiff Dunlop Primetone Jazz to try pointy picks. Anything else I should try? Strings and picks are cheap. Grisman gets this full, round tone I really like but, well, that’s probably mostly his hands.

[HonketyHank]

Picks? Search the forum for the pick sampler thread and get on the list.
Strings? I don't think anybody says bad stuff about good old plain vanilla D'Ad EJ74's, so that's a good start from which you can branch off if you want to experiment. Some very good players still use EJ74's.

What else? Strap? Leather bootlace works pretty good. So does a nice Lakota buffalo hide strap. Not many folks will notice which you are using.

[Tim Farney]

Let me guess, you’ve just found the fun of the Mandolin,?
First don’t go spending a fortune on accessories before you really begin to understand some of the specific quirks you will want to address. In forty+ years I’ve not needed to “upgrade” my tailpiece, add an armrest, buy a smaller winder, and notes are notes, your tuner will be just fine. The James tailpiece has been discussed here at length with generally very favorable reports.
My point is learn something about the instrument before adding anything. Be patient and see what you find you end up feeling you NEED to change.
What Mandolin are you starting with?

An Eastman 808 is on its way. Should arrive tomorrow.

[Br1ck]

An 800 series Eastman should need nothing but playing.

[Ivan Kelsall]

As Tim suggets,& as has been often said on here before,the easiest & cheapest up-grade that you can do,is to experiment with various brands / gauges of strings,& different pick shapes / thicknesses. You'll eventually find a combo. which will bring out the very best in your mandolin ''as it is'', without needing to change anything else.

With regard to tailpieces - i have 2 'cast' tailpieces (Weber & Lebeda),& 1 James tailpiece (Ellis) - both types work perfectly well for me,even if the 'design' of the Weber t/piece falls short of ideal. Most folk on here seem to find that closing the James t/piece cover, holds the strings on the 'hooks',not on mine it doesn't !. Unless i use a piece of Bluetak to hold the E strings on the hooks,they come off. The cover works perfectly = it's not bent or anything & the 'O' rings are only 12 months old. When i put new ones on,the E strings still came off - no real hardship,
Ivan

[Tim Farney]

Yeah, “my e string comes off is definitely a first world problem, and I hear y’all: experiment with strings and picks, nothing else really needs upgrading.

[Mark Wilson]

NMD is the best! Your mandolin won't need anything but playing but eventually trying out armrests, ToneGards, boutique picks, different strings - all part of the enjoyment of discovery.

If you like using a string winder find one JUST for mandolin. The guitar ones fit too deep and can easily rub/mar the side of the headstock

[Timbofood]

Pick up a couple of sets at a time and play the blazes out of both sets. Maybe get three so you have spares for emergencies. Also whatever sets you get snag a pair of same gauge spare “E” strings....just in case.
I don’t like winders but, the old Herco black nylon was great when I worked in a shop changing a ton of strings it had crossed slots, large for guitar size machine heads and small for more delicate sized ones.
I don’t think that’s made anymore,but, if you must, that really is more useful than a ton of gimcracks and geegaws.
Picks!? Get on the traveling pick sampler list if you want. It’s probably worth it for some but, I have a gross of good old Dunlop lavender standard shape picks which will last me the rest of my musical life. I dally with testing others from time to time but, other than the “Jalepenos” I got in a prize give away from here, I have used the Dunlop’s for a long long time.