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CoolSpring
Nov-21-2010, 6:51pm
I'm new to the mandolin and am interested in playing bluegrass. I have a cheap beginner model mandolin to kind of learn the chords and maybe a few songs and see if I am interested or if I just want to stick with my banjo. So far I am loving it and thinking I need to upgrade. :grin: My question is what type of strings should I be looking at? I have no idea what is on my mandolin as I haven't changed the strings. I think that I want to go lighter to ease up on my fingers, this mandolin is a lot harder on them than my banjo. Can you help me as far as a good place to start? I did some searches and saw that there were a few strings that came up quite a bit. I didn't really see anything refrencing particular types of music though. What do most bluegrass players out there use? I figure I'll end up buying a few different types and just trying them out. Thank you for your help!

Rodney Riley
Nov-21-2010, 6:58pm
Why a Martin Bluegrass set. M-450's. They are a lighter guage then their regular Mando strings. Love them on my Godin and will be putting them back on my Weber Gallatin soon.

Jim Ferguson
Nov-21-2010, 7:50pm
Heh Coolspring.......I use Daddario J74 strings on my mandolin. They are a medium guage string & I have always liked them. The J73 are a lighter string. I suggest that you choose a brand (Martin, Daddario, or some other) and try out a light & medium string set and see what feels best to you & then use those regularly. Good luck as you venture into the mandolin experience. Once you've had mando.....you'll never go back...:-)
Peace,
Jim

Miked
Nov-21-2010, 10:01pm
It will ultimately be a personal preference thing. I've been using the Gibson Sam Bush Monel strings for a few years and like 'em a lot. They bring out a nice woody tone in my F-9 and don't lose their tone as quickly as the phosphor bronze strings. To quote Mr. Bush: "They even sound good when they're dead!"

Rob Gerety
Nov-21-2010, 10:35pm
At the beginning, for comfort and ease of play, you might be well served with a set of JM11 flatwound strings which can be had a jazzmando.com. They are quite a bit more comfortable to play. Most would not use them for bluegrass long term but for you my feeling is they would be perfect for now. Later you will have your own ideas about what you like and you might change - or not!

Ivan Kelsall
Nov-22-2010, 4:03am
D'Addario J74's are 'possibly' the most widely used string for Bluegrass. You could do worse than starting with a set of those to establish whether you need heavier or lighter ones.They're also one of the least expensive sets around as well,
Ivan

Tim2723
Nov-22-2010, 9:17am
While the J-74 are hands-down the most popular first recommendation, there really isn't such a thing as a "Bluegrass" string set. There's only the strings that work best for your individual mandolin in your individual hands to produce the tone you want, be it Bluegrass or anything else. Start with the J-74 to establish your baseline and go from there. You'll soon know if you need something lighter, heavier, brighter, woodier, etc. Then you can say "As compared to J-74s, I need...." and then we can steer you to other options.

Denny Gies
Nov-22-2010, 9:59am
Anothe3r vote for J-74"s. Been using them for years and they never have let me down.

CoolSpring
Nov-22-2010, 11:28am
Thanks for the advice, now I have a place to start.

mandroid
Nov-23-2010, 7:25pm
many stars endorse or at least have their picture on some packet.
I got some Gibson Monel wound strings made as G161ML or Mona steel
probably before San Bush was born, but now they have his name associated with them.
the Monel is a very Corrosion resistant metal.
seem to last longer than phosphor bronze..

lenf12
Nov-24-2010, 2:22pm
[QUOTE=CoolSpring;860377].....I have a cheap beginner model mandolin to kind of learn the chords and maybe a few songs and see if I am interested or if I just want to stick with my banjo......I think that I want to go lighter to ease up on my fingers, this mandolin is a lot harder on them than my banjo.[QUOTE]

I'm kinda surprised that nobody has yet mentioned that the problems the OP is having may be at least partially eliminated with a good setup to lower the action at the nut. I've found that even heavy strings on a well setup mandolin are not very hard on the ol' fingers. Then it's just a matter of choosing the strings that sound best. (I like FT-74s myself).

Len B.
Clearwater, FL

CoolSpring
Nov-25-2010, 9:01am
The action was and still may be a little high. I have never messed with a mandolin before but have done a lot of tinkering with banjos so I was able to lower the action some. I guess that is what you get with a cheap instrument, but I have next to nothing in it as I got it from a friend who started on it. I had to work on the bridge some because the adjustment on one side was not right, the top of the bridge sit a little high and I had to take it apart and instead of drilling the hole a little deeper I ground off part of the threaded adjustment screw, once I got it back together it sits level across the top of the bridge. I don't know if that made since but it worked really well and helped a ton. The grooves on top of the bridge were almost not grooved at all so I took a jewelers file and cut them a little deeper. The neck had a little bow in it that made the strings sit high above the fretboard about middle ways of the neck and I tweaked the truss rod in the neck a little and straightened that out too. Once all back together it sounds and plays like a different mandolin. This made it play much easier by lowering the action. I am going to try and pick up some different strings this weekend but I haven't been in quite as much of a rush to since I made some adjustments because that made it much easier to play. Thanks for all the advice.

CoolSpring
Nov-25-2010, 9:03am
After reading my post I wasn't to clear on the bridge, one side of the bridge sit higher than the other due to the adjuster being to long. Or the hole for it not deep enough, I guess you could look at it either way. Rather than take a drill to it though, I felt better about grinding a little off the adjuster. It worked out good.

I guess this was getting a little off topic but I just wanted to explain my situation a little.