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Thread: What strings for 10 string Bandolim?

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    Default What strings for 10 string Bandolim?

    Is there a serious player of high-end ten string bandolims here who can advise me on what strings to use? Thanks.

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    Registered User Tom Wright's Avatar
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    Default Re: What strings for 10 string Bandolim?

    I would use .010, .015, .022w, .034, .048. One of my 10s likes a .011, another likes .009. My Buchanan’s scale length is 14.25”, or 360mm, and I believe the Brazilian 10s are similar, perhaps only 14”. The above set will certainly be safe, not too high-tension

    I buy phosphor/bronze in bulk from JustStrings. Plain strings, 12 at a time, cost about 25 cents each, wound ones about 75 cents ea. A set of five dozens is around $30, and yields 6 sets, thus $5/set. Strings are supplied straight, not coiled, in sealed sleeves.

    Some players use normal 8-string sets and something different for the low C. I prefer to choose my own gauges. The above set is on the light side and helps to make good use of all ten strings. It also allows my non-truss-rod neck remain straight.
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    Default Re: What strings for 10 string Bandolim?

    Thanks for your suggestions, Tom. Very helpful. A friend recommended Gianinni mandolin strings of a sort I can’t find, but I found Gianinni Canario strings on eBay for a good price and also bought a couple .048 and a couple .053 D’Addario phosphor bronze strings. I received a used 10 string Rogério Santos Bandolim from Rio in the mail. It’s a great mandolin with a very loud, focused sound. Jacaranda sides and back. The Canarios sound great, too, but I don’t like the D’Addario C strings at all, either set. They sound tubby and very different from the other strings, which are silvered.

    Then, a couple days ago, I bought an old eight string da Souto from Ronaldo do Bandolim. (Da Souto was an apprentice to the Bandolim de Ouro luthier who made Jacob do Bandolim’s #1 to his specifications at the time it was made, with the same wood, so this is pretty close to Jacob’s instrument.) The luthier who built this helped build Jacob’s. Curly Sycamore (plane tree) sides and back. Superb tone, less focused, but perfect for choro.G strings silvered, D strings bronze, perhaps whatever he had on hand, and not new strings by any means. Both great bandolims, but different tone from each other. So last night I measured the thickness of both sets of strings with a digital caliper. Same size strings on both! G: .035, D: .023, A: .013, E: .009. So, as you are using very similar gauges, this establishes for me that unless one knows differently for a specific instrument, bandolims should be strung with light gauge strings at most, and actually lighter than many light gauge sets available. These are very loud, full, ringing instruments, and they definitely don’t need anything heavier. They respond well to a variety of pick attacks, and both bandolims have full, rich tone on the GDAE strings, not at all thin.

    So, it occurred to me that if one doesn’t want to buy bulk strings (I have a lot of bulk strings, myself), it might be worth looking at JustStrings for sets of Mandola strings rather than mandolin strings, for a matched set of wound strings, then just add a couple generic .009 strings. GHS has a set in-between its light and its ultralight (which is what I recommend for bowlback mandolins). John Pearse has a couple sets of mandola strings that are very close. There are also a couple sets of silvered Argentines that are the right size. I’m going to try them all.

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    Default Re: What strings for 10 string Bandolim?

    I’ve just tried a couple Savarez Argentine loop end silvered guitar E strings from Just Strings on my ten string Bandolim. The gauge is only .0046, but they don’t feel at all floppy, and they ring clearly and sound really good in chords. I’m sold.

    I’d now recommend a set of Savarez Argentine silvered Mandola strings along with a couple bulk generic .009 E strings for a ten string Bandolim. Click image for larger version. 

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    Default Re: What strings for 10 string Bandolim?

    For the record, Hamilton de Holanda uses Elixir strings (0.11) and also Elixir (0.53) for the low C.
    https://www.elixirstrings.com/guitar...anoweb-coating
    https://www.stringsbymail.com/elixir...ring-4764.html

    I personally use Elixir (0.10 Light gauge) for the high strings, and Elixir 0.11 for the low strings on mine.

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