I like wound 2nd courses on my mandola (D) and bouzouki (A) but I have some questions about tension and sourcing.
I would prefer a .017 but have been using a .018. I can get .018 nickel wound in bulk. I found some .017 nickel wound but they are listed as electric. Would they still work well for acoustic mandola and bouzouki?
I hear that nickel wound strings generate a little less tension than plain steel. I've been unable to plug them in on string tension calculators because most seem to not support wound strings below .020. The steel .018 run a little high but not off the charts so if the nickel really are less tension then I would be fine sticking with the .018.
.018 plain steel bouzouki is 23.41 pounds
.018 plain steel on 18 scale flat top mandola 20.7 pounds
Thanks!
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