Re: String change frequency
I'm mainly a bassist (blasphemy!), so we basically never change strings (even more blashphemy!). Well... I do about once a year - on all of my basses (which is quite costly, especially on the upright). So I'm following this with interest.
As far as mandolin goes, I haven't had my instrument long enough: I've changed strings twice so far - once to get rid of the strings that were on it when I bought it and once again after upgrading the bridge. I decided to try Monel strings (D'Addario EJM75C) last time around. I'm very pleased with the sound and the wound strings definitely last longer than phosphor bronze (must try them on my guitar sometime, too).
I'm not a fan of the sound of new phosphor-bronze strings (brassy-sounding), but the Monels kind of hit the sweet spot and stay there for a lot longer. I'll be able to judge better when I try them on my guitar.
But right now, with supply chains being disrupted due to COVID, it's a bit tricky to find these strings at a reasonable price, so I plan to squeeze out every last drop from these strings. I'd like to change them now due to a bad string that's throwing my intonation off, but I've only got one more set of Monels... just need to put up with it, at least until the single strings I recently ordered arrive. (Bought a set of E and A strings to swap out, and I'll leave the wound strings on a bit longer in the interest of science to see how long they go).
Last edited by Erin M; Aug-19-2020 at 2:35pm.
"Flow, river flow. Let your waters wash down, take me from this road, to some other town." - Roger McGuinn
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