Mandola string recommendations

[KanMando]

I was on the verge of putting a set of medium guage mandolin strings on my new Republic metal mando:



metal mando thread

Now, after reading the responses, I'm thinking about going with the mandola setup. Looking at the Elderly Instruments selection of mandola strings:

mandola strings

There seems to be a pretty large variance between what D'Addario considers light guage (.014 first string), and what GHS considers as light guage (.012 first string).

Since the scale on this mando is 15 1/8", I'm thinking the GHS would be my better choice. Am I right?

Bob

[allenhopkins]

Be careful of increasing the tension on the resonator cone. One of the problems I've heard on the Asian-made resonator instruments is that the cones can collapse under string tension. You have a longer than mandolin-standard scale, but not that much longer. Go lighter and see if it takes it.

[JEStanek]

While I don't have a 'dola I really like the Jazzmando flatwound strings. You may want to look at them and maybe shoot Ted an e-mail about their specs and your resonator mando/la. Here's a link to JazzDola strings.

Jamie

[mandroid]

On my H scale mandola , Im using GHS Octave mandola sets, .044 on the C, .012 on the A

what D'Adarrio sells as a mandola string set is so heavy I use those in mandola tuning on 13.875"
mandolin scale 4 string .
49 38-40 24-26 12ish sortof sizes.

bluegrass 011-040 string sets may be fine in F C G D or
E A B F# tuning.
still 5ths , may not be as floppy on the low end
as dropping all the way to CGDA.

Just a bit of exercise for the transposing muscle.

[KanMando]

On my H scale mandola , Im using GHS Octave mandola sets, .044 on the C, .012 on the A

Thanks for the advice guys.

Mandroid - I took a little trip to the Musician's Friend outlet here in KC and picked up a set of D'Addario J80 Octave Mandolin strings - .012, .022, .032, .046. I hope to have time to put them on this week. I'll post a follow up.

Bob

[KanMando]

I put the J80s on yesterday, and now that they've had a chance to settle in, I must say that I like the way the Republic resonator sounds in the lower register (tuned as a mandola - CGDA). The string tension feels about the same as it did when it was strung with the light guage mando strings - loose enough that you can bend strings if you want - good for blues. The intonation is a little off now on the lower strings, but not bad on the first strings.

The first thing I worked out was Mike Compton's intro and solo on "Every Humble Knee Must Bow" from the "Stomp" CD.
It's in F, and with the mandola tuning, it's like playing in first position C on the mando. Nice. The Republic sounds very soulful.

The wound second course (D strings) are going take a little getting used to. Next string change I may try a slightly heavier set.

That's it for now. Play on.

Bob