Eastman 515 + ghs strings

[Payton]

A while back I'd posted my experiences with installing ghs silk/bronze strings on my Eastman 815 as recommended by Jeremy Chapman. I was and still am very happy with the difference in tone, and without sacrificing volume these strings did for my 815. I just installed a set on my Eastman 515, and I'm very impressed. My 515 has always been been on the bright side. Not any more. I'm
Amazed at how a set of strings can change an instrument to that degree. It also makes me wander how many times good instruments have been traded off or sold due to the owner believing they had a lemon, and switching to a different make of strings might would changed the instrument for the better. While these strings didn't effect the volume on my 815 in a negative way, they did noticeably increase the volume on my 515. Just my observations. Sorry for the long rant!

Payton

[pops1]

I have used GHS silk and bronze many times and they are indeed a very fine string. I just put on a set of the new pure nickle from GHS, one lighter set and one of the heavier. Both mandolins sound great with these strings.

[Payton]

Pops1, do you mind shareing your thoughts on the tonal difference between the ghs silk/bronze and the ghs nickels on your mandolins?

[pops1]

The silk and bronze are still bronze like phosphor bronze, they just have a different core. The nickel strings have a different sound than bronze. I think the bronze are too bright at first then after a week they are better, but they go down hill more quickly. The nickel are not as bright at first and retain that sound for a much longer time. I also feel they have a drier, softer sound, hard to describe sound accurately we all hear and use different terms. I was using GHS white bronze guitar strings and taking the ball ends off before these as they are similar sounding to the nickel. I use white bronze on guitars and have for a long time.

[Payton]

Thanks Pops1! I'll have to give those a try my next restring.

Payton

[Ivan Kelsall]

From Payton - "...how many times good instruments have been traded off or sold due to the owner believing they had a lemon.." Many,many times i'm sure !.

Some of the best advice ever given on here has been regarding trying out different string & pick combinations. . Any given set of string brand / gauge will sound different played with different picks on different mandolins - that's about as close to a ''generalisation'' as you can get. Try them all if you have to. It only took me around 10 years to find my favourite combo. - but only on 2 of my mandolins. My Ellis will take DR MD11's,but sounds 'sweeter' with GHS A270's.

My favorite string pick combo. on my Lebeda 'Special' is DR MD11 strings + 2.0 mm Primetone 'grippy' pick. On my Weber DR MD11 strings + 1.5 mm Primetone 'grippy' pick. I specify ''grippy'' because i find the 'smooth' Primetones a bit 'softer' in tone to the 'grippy' ones. I belive that they're a different specification of the Ultex material to the 'grippy' ones & ''behave'' differently.
I use a Primetone 'smoothie' on my Ellis 'sometimes' & sometimes the added 'bite' of a 'grippy' one will sound better - day to day,
Ivan

[Payton]

I'm definitely going to give the ghs nickel Pops1 mentioned a try. I don't dread the task of changing strings, so I think I'll experiment around and try to find the best combination possible. I'm real about it and know my mandolins will never sound like the higher end mandolins, but I don't see any harm in trying to get them playing as well as they can. I'll als add I'm hearing better tone to my ears using a Wegen 140 than my Bluechip TAD50. Just my ears but I'm now using my TAD50 on my guitars, and the Wegen on my mandolins.

Payton

[Willie Poole]

In past years I played the GHS Silk and Bronze strings on my mandolin and one time for some reason when I ordered a set they sent me the GHS A-270`s and they sounded just as good and were slightly cheaper so that is what I use mostly now on all of my mandolins, I do try other brands and gauges from time to time when something new comes out and I do want to try the nickel steel strings and will do so as soon as my next two gigs are over and I`ll have a month in between gigs....

Pops do you feel that the nickel strings put more wear on the frets than the bronze strings do?

Willie

[Kalasinar]

I decided to get some GHS Silk and Bronze strings for my Eastman MD 504 after reading this thread. I already love my Eastman to shreds, so I know its not a lemon - but it is due a string change, so its nice to have something new to try!

[Hudmister]

Pops do you feel that the nickel strings put more wear on the frets than the bronze strings do?

Willie

I also would like to know the answer to that. On the Mohs Scale of Hardness for metals brass is a 3, bronze is a 3, and nickel is a 4. I wonder if any tests have been done to measure fret wear.

[Mandoplumb]

Willie and Hudmister, I have used nickel and stainless steel wound strings on my Dearstone since it was new (2000), and it is just now needing frets. I do own and play other mandolins some but the 'stone is my main squeeze so it has been played a bunch since 2000.

[pops1]

Willie and Hudmister, I don't have an answer about wear, I did some of the prototyping of these strings, but haven't used them for long enough to make a judgement. I do feel that any string can wear frets and some with a lighter touch can play for years without damage and someone with the same strings will need frets every year as they have a heavier touch.

[Payton]

I'm not up to snuff on fret wire or even what type of feet wire Eastman uses. I do know their frets are on the small side, and don't look like they have much buffer room for wear. I'm still interested in trying the nickels, and if I do wear the frets down I could possibly opt for larger ones with a fret job.

Payton

[pops1]

They have made nickel guitar strings for a long time and I have not heard of them wearing frets on guitars. I firmly believe it's how hard you push the string into the fret. I have seen fret wear on classical guitars and that is not even metal strings.

[Payton]

My next string change I'm giving the nickels a try. I can't comment on anything but Eastman mandolins and really just the md515 and md815v to be specific, but I've had several solid players that play Collings, Gibsons, and Ellis, and all of them have complimented the action on both my Eastmans. All of them stating the same thing concerning the lack of fret board pressure to play clean notes. I plan to try and squeeze as much out of my Eastmans as possible. I know I'll hit a point where that's as good as it will ever be, and all it can do, but no harm in trying to reach that point.