Flat wound strings

[Soundfarmer Pete]

I`ve a couple of instruments on the go, a mandolin and tenor mandola and the customer has requested lightish flat wound strings. Normally I use D`Addario round wounds so this is unfamiliar territory....any comments welcome.....
I`ve looked at the tension charts on the D`Addario website and was thinking of XL Chromes - 10,14,22,38 on the mandolin and 12,20,32,46 on the mandola

[craig.collas]

seems Thomastic do a good job in this area

[mandrian]

Pete,

I am using JazzMando JM-10B's on that tele that you made for me. I'm happy with them. The gauges are .010, .014, .024, .035.

I was going to use Thomastik ball ends, but they're hard to get. Only place I know is Elderly in the US and they would work out at about £40 a set!

Regards

[Bob Clark]

I like JazzMandos on my mandolin. Great sound and nice under the fingers. I like Thomastics on my OM, but I would use JazzMandos instead, if they made OM strings. In my opinion, JazzMandos are nice strings at a nice price. They last well, too. Plus, they're put out by one of the Cafe's fearless leaders (Ted E.), so I like to support his business.

[Tom Cherubini]

Would someone compare Jazzmando flat wounds with D'addario flat wounds for diameters, response, manufacturing source (for the jazzman's)?

[Soundfarmer Pete]

Pete,

I am using JazzMando JM-10B's on that tele that you made for me. I'm happy with them. The gauges are .010, .014, .024, .035.

I was going to use Thomastik ball ends, but they're hard to get. Only place I know is Elderly in the US and they would work out at about £40 a set!

Regards

Thanks Mandrian, do you ever get stung for import duty or the good old Post Office holding them to ransom for the handling fee?
Cheers,
Pete

[Eddie Sheehy]

Thomastik is an Austrian Company, they should have European distributors - http://www.thomastik-infeld.com
D'Addario also make FW and FT sets (flat wound and flat tops).

[mandrian]

Hi Pete,

Yes, that's how I get from the 39 dollars Elderly would charge to the £40 total cost, ie you need to allow for postage, VAT, duties and admin fee! I did buy a tenor last year from the US and they did not charge VAT, but I could never understand why. I think I just got lucky. By the way, still loving the mando.

Regards

[Ted Eschliman]

Would someone compare Jazzmando flat wounds with D'addario flat wounds for diameters, response, manufacturing source (for the jazzman's)?

Click: The origin of a new string: D'addario FW74
No need to reinvent the wheel: Build your own flatwound string sets

[kmmando]

So how much longer do they last given they shouldn't get gunged like wound strings? Do they work on electric instruments? Should they be flat nickel only to work with pickups?

Kevin

[Tom Sailor]

Hi Pete,
I use D'Addario Chromes Medium Flat wound strings on my Mandola (which is also tuned one tone lower than usual) and I use a heavy string gauge: 0.17 - 0.26 - 0.45 - 0.56. They're giving a fat sound. The string gauge seems to be a little higher than round-wounded strings (my guitar luthier friend told me this). Maybe mine is a little too high though... but working quite well.
Tom

[Bill Stokes]

Another Chromes user here. I just use the guitar singles; mandobird = 10, 14, 20, 38 and (15" scale) mandola = 14, 22, 38, 50

Flat-wounds are the closest I've found to violin strings. I can play for hours without getting finger trauma, unlike round-wound finger-file strings.

[Verne Andru]

I originally used D'addario's on my guitars then switched to Thomatiks, which I found to be a much superior. I've since gone back to D'addario's and have been pleasantly surprised to find they've really picked up their game and are making flat's that almost rival Thomastiks.

So I'm currently using D'addario chromes on my emando. Thomastiks are the bomb, but they are more expensive and you can't mix and match strings. My local shop sells Chromes in packages and as singles so I buy a package [my emando is a 5-string] and they are more than happy to swap out strings so I get the gauges I'm looking for.

[Barry Wilson]

Well I have fallen in love with the flat tops. those ft74's are almost as bright as j74's and last 4 times as long for me