I’ve had the pleasure of being introduced to a new product. Nicola Strings sent me two sets of their strings to try out. They sent me a medium gauge mandolin and Mandola set. On the Mandola that I use for this trial, a new Vessel, the Nicola strings were immediately an improvement. There was a better balance in tone quality throughout the four courses. There was no volume loss, and the feeling under the fingers was a little softer. The tone is beautiful, big and full.
The mandolin was a little different. At first they were not better than what I’d been using. Out of the package they were uneven in tonal balance. Some of that may have had to do with a very new mandolin setup that hadn’t been completely dialed in. After an hour or so they came to life. The balance and beauty of tone came, similar to the mandola strings. I’ve had the strings on for over two weeks now. The mandola has had little playing and still they sound like day 1. The mandolin has had its final setup tweaked and several hours of rehearsals and gigging. They are still great sounding strings.
The quality of the product was apparent when I opened them. The loops are a little smaller than the other companies but I prefer that.
Go to their website, they offer a good selection at very competitive prices. I’ll try these strings again, and might be my go to string from here on out. If I were to make a comparison I’d say that they are somewhere in between D’Addario and GHS. I plan to use the mandolin set until they are dead to get an idea of how they hold up. I hope some of you will try these strings and add your comments here too.
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