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Thread: String Dampeners - What size grommets?

  1. #1
    small instrument, big fun Dan in NH's Avatar
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    Default String Dampeners - What size grommets?

    I’m looking to get some inexpensive string dampeners. What size rubber grommets work best, and where do you source yours?
    Eastman MD-514 (F body, Sitka & maple, oval hole)
    Klos Carbon Fiber (on order)

    And still saving my nickels & dimes & bottle caps & breakfast cereal box tops for my lifetime mandolin.

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    Default Re: String Dampeners - What size grommets?

    Bought a load from China via Amazon and they cost next to nothing. Can’t remember the size but they come sized in terms of the hole which an electrical cable is intended to pass through. As long as they’re big enough to hold in place, if they’re too large, they should compress.

    Now someone will come along and tell you to make sure they’re rubber and not vinyl!

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    Default Re: String Dampeners - What size grommets?

    interested here too - seems I can order a pack of 100 for $25 or pay ~$1 each from music retailers or Lowes. Ray do you remember exactly what you ordered? size descriptions on amazon are a bit sketchy...

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    Default Re: String Dampeners - What size grommets?

    Sorry, it was several years ago but I don’t think I’d have paid the Sterlingeuivalent of $25 for them; though times have changed!

    Edit - searching Amazon for “Rubber Grommets” turns up a packet of 3mm grommets for £3.50 including delivery by Saturday (it’s currentley 8.00 Thursday) so there must be an equivalent in the US.
    Last edited by Ray(T); Apr-19-2023 at 11:59am. Reason: Update

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    Default Re: String Dampeners - What size grommets?

    Have you a local hardware store...not of the Lowes/Home Depot variety, but the one that has aisles with rows with thousands of tiny drawers filled with fasteners and small plumbing parts of all variety? Measure the distance between the strings you wish to inflict these upon and select the grommets of a slightly larger dimension. Be sure to create a whimsical pattern of display, as is so popular with the adornment of these. Or...take a hunk of felt, soft (latigo) leather or sheet cork and jam it under the tailpiece cover where the strings exit the tailpiece...
    too many strings

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    Resident Hack
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    Default Re: String Dampeners - What size grommets?

    Just search Mandolin Grommets on eBay. They're like 2 or 3 sets for $6
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    Default Re: String Dampeners - What size grommets?


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    Default Re: String Dampeners - What size grommets?

    Quote Originally Posted by M19 View Post
    If someone is prepared to pay over a $ each for them, some might say that there’s one born every minute!

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    Tired & Cranky Monte Barnett's Avatar
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    Default Re: String Dampeners - What size grommets?

    Monte

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    Default Re: String Dampeners - What size grommets?

    FWIW - i was able to grab some at the nearest Ace hardware, for I think 44c each. I got the smallest size; they were marked 1/8" ID & 1/4" OD. They also had some slightly larger ones that I slotted in my OM:

    Click image for larger version. 

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  13. #11

    Default Re: String Dampeners - What size grommets?

    Quote Originally Posted by Ray(T) View Post
    If someone is prepared to pay over a $ each for them, some might say that there’s one born every minute!
    If someone wants to spend more than 2 minutes obtaining four $0.75 items, you might say that their labor isn't worth much, and that their priorities are a bit skewed. Time better spent playing, IMO.

  14. #12

    Default Re: String Dampeners - What size grommets?

    Quote Originally Posted by Melt_in_the_Sun View Post
    FWIW - i was able to grab some at the nearest Ace hardware, for I think 44c each. I got the smallest size; they were marked 1/8" ID & 1/4" OD. They also had some slightly larger ones that I slotted in my OM:

    Click image for larger version. 

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    Ray(T). so Melt saved 4 x $0.31 = $1.24 by DRIVING to the hardware store, finding them, buying them and DRIVING home. I clicked on a button and they showed up in the US mail 5 days later.

  15. #13
    small instrument, big fun Dan in NH's Avatar
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    Default Re: String Dampeners - What size grommets?

    Quote Originally Posted by Melt_in_the_Sun View Post
    FWIW - i was able to grab some at the nearest Ace hardware, for I think 44c each. I got the smallest size; they were marked 1/8" ID & 1/4" OD. They also had some slightly larger ones that I slotted in my OM:

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	20230421_122149.jpg 
Views:	80 
Size:	318.3 KB 
ID:	207154
    Yeah, I think that's the solution
    Eastman MD-514 (F body, Sitka & maple, oval hole)
    Klos Carbon Fiber (on order)

    And still saving my nickels & dimes & bottle caps & breakfast cereal box tops for my lifetime mandolin.

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    Default Re: String Dampeners - What size grommets?

    Quote Originally Posted by M19 View Post
    Ray(T). so Melt saved 4 x $0.31 = $1.24 by DRIVING to the hardware store, finding them, buying them and DRIVING home. I clicked on a button and they showed up in the US mail 5 days later.
    S’pose it depends on whether you’re prone to breaking strings. If you are, you’ll likely need a few spares as they tend to ping off into the audience never to be seen again.

  17. #15

    Default Re: String Dampeners - What size grommets?

    Gosh, nobody chimed in this time with the existential danger of vinyl grommets this time, or even mentioned how they skitter away if you break or try to change a string without premeditation. Or how to tell vinyl from other elastomers. Or what happens when they escape and the cat or infant eats them. Or that you can not only size them for between courses, but between strings in a course, for different decorative effect.
    In another current thread, a period ad for the famous L&H two-pointer with violin scroll is posted showing how the harmonics aft of the bridge are a carefully designed feature (!).
    With so many rabbit holes, there must be some rabbits, to paraphrase a vulgar saying.

  18. #16

    Default Re: String Dampeners - What size grommets?

    You can get them very cheaply at any electrical goods shop here in the UK


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    Default Re: String Dampeners - What size grommets?

    Fascinating!!!

  20. #18
    Registered User John Flynn's Avatar
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    Default Re: String Dampeners - What size grommets?

    Deleted - duplicate

  21. #19
    Registered User John Flynn's Avatar
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    Default Re: String Dampeners - What size grommets?

    I was at a jam and some mandolin player I didn't particularly like asked what the grommets were for and I told him. I had them on my tail strings in random positions. Then he asked why they were in the positions they were in.

    I was in a mischievous mood and told him you can move them to change the tone. He bought it. I got a kick out thinking he would make the same explanation to someone else at a jam someday when there were people around who knew better.

    FWIW. the only instrument I use them on is my Rigel A+ Deluxe. When it was new, it had a bad characteristic where the course adjacent to the one you were playing would sometimes sound an unwanted overtone. The grommets didn't completely cure it, but they helped. Eventually, the problem went away as the instrument aged, but I still use the grommets.

  22. #20
    small instrument, big fun Dan in NH's Avatar
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    Default Re: String Dampeners - What size grommets?

    I bought a bag of 300 3mm rubber grommets off of Amazon for $7.00. I figure that's a lifetime supply.
    Eastman MD-514 (F body, Sitka & maple, oval hole)
    Klos Carbon Fiber (on order)

    And still saving my nickels & dimes & bottle caps & breakfast cereal box tops for my lifetime mandolin.

  23. #21
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    Default Re: String Dampeners - What size grommets?

    If that was recent, could you share a link? (if that's allowed here?)

    All the amazon listings I saw were much more $ and sketchy re: the sizing...

  24. #22
    small instrument, big fun Dan in NH's Avatar
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    Default Re: String Dampeners - What size grommets?

    “Installed” four of them on my 514 yesterday. Work great, look great


    https://www.amazon.com/Uxcell-a14061...89968919&psc=1

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  26. #23
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    Default Re: String Dampeners - What size grommets?

    $ 6.95 for 180 pc. About 30 of them will be the right size. Then you about 150 that don't fit to figure out what you may use them for.
    Big Muddy EM8 solid body (Mike Dulak's final EM8 build)
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    Default Re: String Dampeners - What size grommets?

    Quote Originally Posted by Pittsburgh Bill View Post
    Then you about 150 that don't fit to figure out what you may use them for.
    You need to buy a mandola, an OM and a ‘cello to use up some of the spares!

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  29. #25
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    Default Re: String Dampeners - What size grommets?

    Quote Originally Posted by Ray(T) View Post
    You need to buy a mandola, an OM and a ‘cello to use up some of the spares!
    https://www.amazon.com/180-Piece-Rub.../dp/B01GGWE2BS

    Add a stand up base mando and you may be able to use all of them!
    Big Muddy EM8 solid body (Mike Dulak's final EM8 build)
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