4 string emando and, well... strings?

[vwfye]

I've been using guitar strings on my emando without any being wound. Are any of you using a wound G, D or just G? If so, what is the advantage and/or drawback?

As always, thanks!

[mrmando]

You're sure none of your strings are wound? Most guitar strings heavier than .017 gauge are wound as a matter of course. You'd have to go out of your way to find unwound ones.

I accidentally ordered some .026 unwound strings once. Tried them out on a mando and it felt like they were going to slice my fingertips off.

[Soundfarmer Pete]

Did an octave once where the customer asked for .022" plain Ds......(D`Addario do `em).... and yes.....EVIL on the fingers(but too thick for cutting cheese)!!!

[lukmanohnz]

Soon after I got a Fender Mandostrat I restrung it with D'Addario electric guitar strings at .009, .014, .024, and .034. I bought these individually from a local music shop. These gauges are just .001 or .002 lighter gauge across the board than the strings Fender uses to string these up at the factory. The .024 and .034 are both wound. The D'Addarios were much more comfortable to play compared with the factory strings, and the lighter gauges allowed for easier half and whole step bending - great for the blues.

[vwfye]

Thanks for the infor Luk... were the original Fender strings also wound?

[bayAreaDude]

I use power slinky guitar strings, G and D are wound.

[thistle3585]

Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't you convert an electric uke to an electric mandolin? If so, the scale may be a bit different which would require you to use "non-standard" string sizes.

I'm surprised Luk could get an .034 to work. I thought it would be too light. Assuming you avatar is the emando in question, you will need to consider the amount of movement in your saddles for intonation when choosing strings. .034 is light and will require the saddles to be moved aft a considerable amount compared to .038 or .040.

[vwfye]

yes, my scale is different because of the uke, but i have been curious to this prior. when i see pictures with my poor eyesight, the strings don't look wound on the fender. but, even if i blow them up, my vision is too limited to tell.

[Verne Andru]

I've been using guitar strings on my emando without any being wound. Are any of you using a wound G, D or just G? If so, what is the advantage and/or drawback?

As always, thanks!

I had a wound D on my 5-string but had a volume drop because of the smaller core. Changed to a heavy unwound and that evened the volume across the strings. I prefer the tone of the wound better, but the trade-off is okay.

[mandroid]

3 of mine are wound since im tuning it down to Viola pitch . all windings are magnetic nickel ferrous .

[vwfye]

I am going to try the a set of 'beefy slinkys' with a 0.11 as the E string and see how they do. This would give both my G and my D strings wound strings. If they don't work, it is easy enough to go back.

[CES]

I buy slinky 9s and 10s and combine them to get as close to the gauges in the set Ted used to sell at jazzmando (and Martin may still be selling, haven't checked in a while). They're cheAp and available enough that it's not an issue for me, and I get to support my local shops, at least a little...G and D are both wound that way. Mandobird IV.

[Soundfarmer Pete]

I`ve a feeling skinny little mandolin frets won`t last long with Ernie Balls.....When I get a guitar in for setup work, I can tell at a glance if the player uses them - parallel scoring along the fret crown caused by the rough windings!

[vwfye]

I tried a different set of strings all together on the recommendation of the local shop's luthier... HORRIBLE! They are so tinny sounding that they make my ears hurt. Back to the superslinkys until I find something else.

[thistle3585]

You can try a new capacitor to help cut the treble highs. What is your scale length.

[vwfye]

no, this is a string issue. they sound awful just strumming unplugged.

[mandroid]

D'Addario's FW-74 is wound with a magnetic sensed ribbon , isn't it. ?

A & E are plain steel in most mandolin sets , those are the fret notch wearing ones ,
no way to get around that ..

but re fretting with something really hard.

[Ron McMillan]

I'm now using flatwound D'Addario Chromes on the G and D courses on my 8-stringer. I love 'em. I have 0.024s on the D course and 0.038s on the G course.

[vwfye]

replaced the strings with my usual super slinkys and the sound is much better again!