How to make top E less bright?

[TheRealRogerJackson]

My lovely Kristofek F5 has a lovely woody sound until you get to the top E which rings disproportionately bright. I've been trying to address it by improving RH technique, but wonder if anyone has any other tips - is there an adjustment to the saddle or the nut perhaps which might help this?

Thanks for your experience and advice

[Tobin]

Have you tried a thicker gauge string? Some mandolins just sound shrill or twangy on the E string using certain gauges. I fought that battle on an imported mandolin when I was using standard .010 E strings. When I went to .011 or .0115 gauge strings, the problem largely went away.

[Mark Wilson]

I used a golden gate mandolin pick on my first mandolin because it negated some of it's thin E sound

Same pick sounds dull now

[Willie Poole]

I can just give my opinion on this but I find that as the E strings get older they lose the tinny sound, just play the fire out of it and see if that cures it, I have never tried a .11.5 string but will soon...I too use a Golden Gate pick and love it on one mandolin....

Willie

[Hany Hayek]

+1 for Willie. I was going to suggest you use old strings, but was afraid I would be criticized.

[DavidKOS]

+1 for Willie. I was going to suggest you use old strings, but was afraid I would be criticized.

You're afraid of criticism - I was going to say that "it's a mandolin, of course the E string is 'bright' sounding!".

tiny and high pitched...etc.

[Bob A]

Pre-owned E strings; if that doesn't work, consider a mandola?

[gtani7]

brightness is usually a positive, as in "cut through the mix" and "be heard over the drummer".

You could try the mando mute, a rolled up washcloth, under the e: http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/ar...p/t-21744.html

Depending on how much washcloth, you could be completely silent, or just be soft with no sustain

[jimmy powells]

Have a look at the top of the bridge. If the string is sitting on a very thin pinacle this often affects the tone and makes it more trebly. By sanding just a minute bit and making the string sit on "more wood" often works and I've done it where necessary. We are talking about taking a TINY amount off the top and not enough to cause any other imbalance. It's amazing how it can warm up the tone.

Jimmy

Uk

[foldedpath]

+1 for Willie. I was going to suggest you use old strings, but was afraid I would be criticized.

Very mild criticism here....

The problem with using old strings is that they're likely to intonate very poorly, due to differential mechanical wear against the frets. All those little nicks and dings that build up below the 12th fret. After a few weeks or months (depending on how often you play), that means the string is no longer a "perfect" vibrating string from end-to-end, like it was when you first strung them up on your mandolin. The first week or two after putting on fresh strings is the only time your mandolin is actually intonating notes as well as it theoretically can, within the limits of fret placement, bridge placement, and action height.

We all have different tolerances for intonation going out, but it can sneak up on you, if you keep strings on for a long time. For me, it's really noticeable on old, tired strings that have been on for a year or more. They just don't play in tune.

Regarding the OP's bright E strings:

One thing you might try, is angling the pick more than you're doing now, with the thumb pointing down a bit instead of hitting the strings flat-on. It's almost like "fiddle bowing" the edge of the pick against the strings, and it can darken and thicken the tone up a bit. Also, if you're using the sharp pointed end of your pick, then try using the rounded corner edge instead. That's another way to beef up the tone on the E strings.

[Benski]

I find the slightly larger gauge .0115 E strings as found in the D'Addario EJ75's or the new EXP74CM's reduce some of that too-bright pingy-ness and actually sound much nicer overall. I don't feel any difference when playing with them. I'd definitely suggest giving them a try. Thicker picks with rounded edges and a different attack all can help as well.

As mentioned above, some folks actually prefer an "active" E string. I'm not one of them, however.

Cheers..

[Ivan Kelsall]

First off - what brand & gauges of string are you using ?. As a few previous posts suggest,thinner string gauges can sound a bit thin & tinny. I've played a couple of Kristufek mandolins & they were anything but bright on the E strings (or on any other string). Let's assume that you're using a string that's possibly the widest used string on the market,D'Addario J74's or similar - which,on a Kristufek,i'd say were the correct gauges for a Bluegrass orientated mandolin. I'll assume also that your action is where you want it to be ?. One thing that some folk have a problem with is 'lack of brightness / volume' on the E strings,usually because the action is 'too low'. Just check the height of the E strings at the 12th fret & make sure they're not a bit too high (which i doubt). Another thing that you could do,is to slacken off the E strings,lift them out of the bridge slots & polish the slots using a piece writing paper folded once to give a 'rounded' edge. Sometimes if a bridge or nut slot is a bit tight,the string can get a bit 'pinched' & it can effect the way the string vibrates in the slot. You can do the same to the nut slots as well. The paper won't remove any material,simply give a smooth surface to the slots.
If that doesn't work,then try a different brand of string of a similar gauge - or have you already done this ?. If this problem persists,then a trip to a decent luthier might be on the cards. Those guys are usually very experienced in all sorts of niggling faults
& could put things right sooner, rather than after lots of trials & errors,
Ivan

[Toni Schula]

Eda Kristufek recommended 11.5 strings for my Garnet F model.

With these strings I have the impression that new ee strings sound well balanced. But when they get older the bright part still is there but the bark of the fundamental tone decays.

Anyhow I have to take care not to pick the ee too close to the bridge and also to angle the pick well.

[allowishish]

I notice that the high E is "annoying" to me only when playing open chords. Mostly it is the constant almost non stop ringing of it.

[pops1]

I notice when my E string sounds bright it is 1. either out of tune with each other or 2. not intonated correctly. When both of these happen the E settles down and sounds warm, but if one changes slightly then i notice it gets brighter. Seems to not make sense as you would think two string slightly out of tune would compete with each other, but it's what i notice.

[JeffK]

I broke both my E strings while setting the intonation a while back - slacked them, tightened them, then they each popped at the tuners as I was bringing them back up to pitch. I don't know what strings they were, they came with my Breedlove premier OF, but I replaced them with new GHS 11's. Boom, the E's are now quite noticeably louder and brighter. The old strings were also 11's, and hadn't been played all that much, maybe a month of an hour an evening sort of playing. I know from guitar experience that new strings tend to sound bright, especially wound strings, but that fades pretty quickly, so I don't know why the difference is so noticeable.