Re: The Quest for Better Tone - What Strings Do You Play??
The J74s have been my standard for over 10 years. I dabbled with the Thomastiks and many others including the FW74s but I always kept coming back to the J74s. I only own one mandolin. If I had two, I might string one up with flats of some sort for classical/recording and the other with PB roundwounds for bluegrass/choro/live/outdoor gigs. As it stands, I need one set to do it all and I've managed with the J74s just fine. Recently the J75s have found their way onto my instrument and I'm in love with them. I would say they are louder and have the potential to be warmer than the J74 or J62s.
Right now I'm favoring a Wegen M100 pick. For outdoor gigs I use an M150. I'm really into the Steffey/Hull sound right now and this is a perfect combo for me to approach that sound. With the M100 I can get all the smooth, puffy "air" but still have great clarity and it's easier to maneuver the lighter pick.
I also just joined the New York Mandolin Ensemble and now with an even wider array of repertoire, this is proving to be a great combo that enables me to get the most diversity of timbres out of the instrument with very little effort.
1999 Summit Artist F5 #132 - ToneGard - McClung Armrest - BaileyStrap
2021 Barros Vibrações Concertista Bandolim
Bourgeois, Santa Cruz, Martin, Velazquez, Cervantes guitars
Anton Krutz double bass, Pierre-Yves Fuchs bow
Roscoe, Fodera, Sadowsky, Fender basses
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