D'Addario - Seeking Mandolin Beta Testers

[wooq]

Man, I have them sitting on my shelf in their pretty black and gold packaging and am really excited to try them, but I have a set of EXP74's on and they just aren't wearing out (and as expensive as they are I don't want to throw them off while they're still alive!).

I hope there's not a deadline.

[GTison]

I'll trade you a set of EXP74s for them. PM me.

[Billgrass]

Don,

I am a beta tester and love the strings. Any idea when I will be able to acquire more?

Many thanks,

Bill Birrell

[Tim Griffin]

I put them on an oval A and really liked them. The first day I played about 5 hours. I'll buy them when they are available.

[jshane]

An Update-

After more than a week, I continue to have mixed emotions about the strings. Mostly I feel that they are a bit too "highendy".... if that makes sense. Maybe unidimensional is better. BUT they continue to be crisp, and responsive, and intonation has not even begun to suffer-- all positive points. It's funny-- I feel that I SHOULD like these strings better than I actually do, and I cant exactly figure out why.

[Mark Wilson]

Oddly enough - a black pack of the beta strings arrived in my mail yesterday(Nov 9) without any email notice. Guess I'll string them up this weekend.

[Prelude]

The ones I played were derived from flatware. Another bad cutlery reference.

Are we going to have to fork over a lot of cash for these?

Oh snap!

[Prelude]

Man, I have them sitting on my shelf in their pretty black and gold packaging and am really excited to try them, but I have a set of EXP74's on and they just aren't wearing out (and as expensive as they are I don't want to throw them off while they're still alive!).

Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

OK, granted, that's a little overkill for a decision to change strings, but it popped into my head. Sometimes you just gotta burn a set to get into the 'BETA' state!

[jshane]

I don't know if anyone is still interested in the evaluation of these strings---

But I just replaced them (with Elixir Nanoweb) and after really playing the heck out of them, have a couple final comments.

First, these strings retained their intonation for over a month of hard playing. That's a real plus.
Second, the strings retained their tone pretty well over that time-- another plus.

However, the strings have a real downside for me. And it took me quite awhile to figure out just why I wasn't impressed with the strings, given they have a number of good features. But here is the deal-breaker for me. I finally realized that I liked the strings when playing single-note passages-- leads, solos, fiddle tunes, etc. Bright, clear and bell-like. BUT, as soon as I played 2 or more notes simultaneously, the sound was really poor. Lifeless and tinny. I really don't know why, but the effect is real-- I had it confirmed by several others, once I had figured it out.

Anyway-- I added this final data point because I was really impressed with D'Addario's strategy of beta-testing, I applaud them for seeking widespread input, and I felt that to fulfill my part of the bargain I needed to add these last observations. I feel that some people will REALLY like these strings and their longevity and physical quality is really good. Others- like myself-- will find that these strings do not compliment the style of music that they play.

Thank you, D'Addario!

[Willie Poole]

I installed the Beta strings about a month ago and the first impression that I got was that these are great, however shortly after that I fell and broke my left hand and had not played any for three weeks, when I did get back to trying them yesterday they just didn`t seem like they had any life, whether that is from not being played remains to be seen as I will try playing them a lot more during this week...It could be that my mandolin just went dead from sitting for three weeks so I`ll play it more and see if things open up....

In past years I have always like steel strings but as many of us know they weren`t as available as the Ph-bronze strings were and they sort of got lost in the shuffle...

Willie

[Mandoplumb]

I play bluegrass gospel use a lot of double stops and I think they sound great. I think jshane's mandolin just don't like these strings. Willie you need to play the crap out of that mandolin till it wakes up.

[meado]

Count me in.

[biosplonk]

If y'all are still looking for testers I'm getting back into the game after a hiatus, but I realize I'm late to the party so no worries either way.

[wooq]

So I've had them on my flatiron for a couple weeks now, for a couple jams and rehearsals and a festival. They sound great. Different fundamentals and harmonics than J74s, more "scooped" sounding, they kind of bring out the woodiness of the instrument more. Very clean playing, and they last and last. I would pay for them, I think I prefer them to the standard phosphor bronze strings.

[RodCH]

I still have these strings on my Eastman MD504. Took it to California over Thanksgiving and played it a lot. Love these strings and hope they will be available to buy when it comes time to change the 504's strings once again.

[ccravens]

Well, it DID take me a while to get around to changing strings to the NB Beta strings on my Girouard A.



I've had a lot of experience with these same strings on my Leo Posch dreadnought guitar, and they act and sound similar. They are a little more fundamental and a little more mellow (but not in a weak, quiet, bad way) sounding. On my Posch, I alternate between PB (John Pearse) and the NBs. I like the different tone that each set brings out of the guitar.

I can see doing the same with my mando strings, alternating between my favorite PBs (DRs) and these new NBs.

They seem to be in the middle sonically between the PB strings and the Sam Bush Monels; a little brighter than the Monels, but a little more mellower and fundamental than the PBs.

I'll definitely buy them if/when they come to market.

[Bill McCall]

I thought I saw Elderly would have them in early January.

[Chanmandolin]

Put mine on a couple weeks ago. Didn't last long. Maybe it's where I'm so used to Elixirs, but they just seemed like they had very little life in them. Dull and dead sounding to me. But hey, I appreciate the company doing this run for the mandolin community and they make some wonderful products!

[Willie Poole]

It`s been one month since my last posting about these strings and here is my latest report...

I played them just about every day for at least an hour each day and most days a lot more, anyway they have not started sounding any better than they did a month ago ....I will say that I am not about to change from my usual strings, GHS A-270`s....I know a lot of people on here don`t want to say bad things about a product but if I am asked I am going to tell it like it is in my mind...when I first installed them I thought these are great but it didn`t take long for them to die a lot...I know, as most of you do, that no one brand of string will be right for all mandolins and all kinds of music so I say give them a try and if you like what you hear that is fine, but for me and a bluegrass sound I just can`t say that they are "the one"

Willie

[Mark Gunter]

I know a lot of people on here don`t want to say bad things about a product but if I am asked I am going to tell it like it is in my mind

Willie, I don't think that giving your honest opinion about the beta strings is "saying bad things" even if you don't like them. The whole purpose of a beta test is to test them and give an honest opinion whether positive or negative. It may be that some folk do not get that, who knows? The point is not to "get a free set of strings" then be grateful because you got free strings. The point is to try the strings, then fill out the form with your honest opinion. This thread is of entertainment and maybe educational value to others here at the forum, but what D'Addario expects from the testers is to fill out the feedback form.

FWIW, I didn't like these strings as compared to my usual D'Addario EXP74CMs on my Eastman within a week of using them. They are still on that mandolin, I'm still playing them, and I still don't like them. (Gradually, I began to play my backup mandolin more and more, so the strings will probably last a long time on the Eastman.) Others will love the beta strings. The important thing was to fill out the form, whether you post about your impressions here or not.

[soliver]

My set of beta's showed up later than most other peoples' and about a day or 2 after I had just put on a new set of EJ74's so I haven't been motivated yet to put on the beta's, but that set of EJ74's is at the end of its life now, so I'm finally about to give them a try.... I'll check in with my opinion as soon as I can, but wifey' got me remodeling the kitchen so time is very hard to find for pickin'.

[Ken Berner]

"Truer words were never spoken through falser teeth"

[Willie Poole]

Mark, You are so correct about using the term "BAD THINGS"....I know a lot of the pickers that tried them and posted that they liked them are maybe people that have only tried one brand of strings and don`t really know how to compare the Betas to all of the brands that are out there...Also if a person tries them that plays in a band about three times a week tries them he will get a better idea of how long they sound good which in my case wasn`t very long after my broken hand healed enough for me to play again, at first I loved them but it didn`t take much playing for me to dislike them either...Last night they were even worse than two days ago...I am not knocking the product, I am just saying what I found, if others love them and want to buy more sets so be it, Those string alloys were originally made for guitar strings and as we all know guitars have a longer scale length and the quality of a string just doesn`t seem to be as important as the ones for a mandolin due to the shorter scale and are tuned to a higher tension...The A strings just gave up and sounds like a rubber band on my mandolin, I had to tune them every song that I played and the one D string didn`t sound right either, I have used another brand of strings for over 20 years and never had a problem with them like I did with the Betas...So if D`Addario wants me to fill out that form, which i didn`t get, it might hurt their sales for those strings, I can understand the reason they want the feedback because if mandolin pickers aren`t happy with them then D`Addario will not make them and offering many different kind of strings can run into a lot of expense if they aren`t selling...

Willie

[Mandobar]

The strings are being released at the end of the month (January) to retail outlets. Amazon lists them as out of stock as well as Strings and Beyond.

[Mark Gunter]

Willie, the feedback form is online at the D'Addario website. Click here to fill it out: https://daddario.formstack.com/forms...urce=347050914

A Beta test is not a 'scientific' test! It is merely a tool for marketing analysis. The company will take note of how a cross section of actual users, of all levels, rate these strings. They may be interested in results by age group, skill level, and preferred brand the player currently uses in comparison with the Beta strings, etc.