# Instruments and Equipment > Equipment >  Best Strings for Mandolin

## 44moose

What are some good light strings for a mandolin? Lights? Extra Light? 
Thanks...

----------


## 44moose

anyone?  I'm a new mando player Fender FM 52e, and need to get new strings- any suggestions on brands..GHS, D'Addarrio, are Elixer worth it?  80/20's?  thanks

----------


## nickster

I like D'Addarrio EXP 75's. They are medium strings and it is what Adam Steffey plays with. I like that they last longer than the uncoated strings.

----------


## JEStanek

Welcome to the Cafe.  For a little bit lighter gauge, long life (3-4x normal phosphor bronze strings) and very smooth on the fingertips feel, try the Jazzmando JM11s.  

Jamie

----------


## Onesound

I've tried quite a number of different strings over the years but always keep coming back to D'Addario J74s.  You can get lighter sets, if you're just starting on mandolin, but you'll discover (in most situations) a major improvement in tone and volume with medium gauge and heavier strings (as long as your fingers and mandolin can take the extra tension).  Any quality built carved top mando can handle medium and heavy gauge strings.  Some flat top instruments are designed to handle the tension of no more than medium gauge....

I've tried coated and flat wounds but find the G and D pairs usually sound nearly dead right out of the pack to my ears.  Funny thing, though, your ears will adjust to the sound of a set and you'll think, after a while that they sound pretty good.  That is, until you restring with a new set and realize how dead even the most lively set becomes after time and hard picking.  YMMV.

----------


## 44moose

thanks will work through those strings...

----------


## Jesse Harmon

Just getting ready to start a thread on strings in general, glad I found this.  I hope more people weigh in on this for the new members like myself.  Hopefully without the  "never is heard a discouraging word"  type posts found on some mando posts.  Opinions can be helpful even if someone hasn't played that long.  Seasoned opinions are priceless even if they sometimes can represent someone stuck in a rut.

----------


## Tim2723

> thanks will work through those strings...


Sorry Jesse, but the comment from 44moose is the actual secret, like it or not.  There is no such thing as a 'best string'.  It doesn't exist and never will.  You must find the best for you; your style, your sound, your present ability, and of course, your mandolin of the moment.  It isn't a definite quantity. The strings you like today will be supplanted by another for many reasons.  There are a great many threads and posts on the subject, but they all turn out the same in the end.  Try them all, and temper those choices with good advice.  It's the best any of us can do.  But you have to find 'your' strings.  It will change as surely as you will change, and be ready to accept that.

----------


## Jesse Harmon

Another mystery I have to live with, Oh Well,  Thanks anyway.

----------


## Charley wild

Good advice from Tim! I favor J74's but now I have GHS Silk & Steels on to try and calm my mandolin down a bit. I may try something else after these. The point is; J74's are my constant when I'm not trying somthing else. You may find two or three different types that suit you at various times. I wouldn't hesitate recommending J74's to start with but keep an open mind, there are a lot of good strings out there!

----------


## Tim2723

> Another mystery I have to live with, Oh Well,  Thanks anyway.


Not a mystery, my friend, but a continuing process we all pursue.  Charley's point is a very good one indeed.  The J-74 set serves as a standard from which we judge other choices.  Even though they might not be the best string for all needs, they serve as a standard.  Once you understand how you and your instrument react to them, then you can say "I need this" or "need that", as compared to J-74s to get where you want to be.  From that common starting point advice can be useful.  It's a matter of establishing a common ground for others to react to.

----------


## mandroid

44moose .. on that 52e,  e as in electric with a magnetic pickup,  will need an electric nickel wound string, 
to be seen by the pickup.

JM 11 or a lighter 10 should be a good start. there are electric mandolin string sets, too.
generally, roundwound = lower cost.

52E's 
http://www.fender.com/products/search.php?partno=0955205032"

 are laminated tops, so they are overbuilt for that pickup hole to be cut, are they not, still ?
 :Coffee: 
If so, not the best acoustic soundboard , but will , nonetheless, 
have all the same notes to play  the music on.
so practice may continue..

----------


## yankees1

> Sorry Jesse, but the comment from 44moose is the actual secret, like it or not.  There is no such thing as a 'best string'.  It doesn't exist and never will.  You must find the best for you; your style, your sound, your present ability, and of course, your mandolin of the moment.  It isn't a definite quantity. The strings you like today will be supplanted by another for many reasons.  There are a great many threads and posts on the subject, but they all turn out the same in the end.  Try them all, and temper those choices with good advice.  It's the best any of us can do.  But you have to find 'your' strings.  It will change as surely as you will change, and be ready to accept that.


  Same logic goes for, "which mandolin is best" ?

----------


## Tim2723

Yeah, pretty much.

----------


## lottarope

Another vote for J74s I like how they sound when they work . I have a lot of problems with the loop on the E string coming unwound, anyone else having this problem? Any cures for it?

----------


## Tim2723

It's natural to get a clunker string from time to time; they're manufactured in the millions, but if you're having a continuing problem perhaps you've gotten some of the counterfeit strings that were reported about?

----------


## mandroid

the loop winding on some electric guitar plain strings is soldered , you could crush the ball out of those .. 

if the helical winding of the loop is finished off with 3 tight wraps around the wire, at a right angle to the rest of the string

then it should hold better..   DIY a dab of solder?

 slipping loops is why you see 12 hooks on your stamped Gibson type tailpieces.


for 44moose , like I say you have a magnetic pickup on that 52E, so an appropriate string 
is like this one: http://store.daddario.com/category/1...l_Medium_11-39

but then again if there is no plugging in a bronze wound string is fine..
magnetic pickup will only sense the core wire , then, as bronze is not magnetic..

----------


## JeffD

Also what works for me on my mandolin may not work for you on your mandolin.

----------


## lottarope

Thanks folks the info on the loop ends, it has been helpful. Does anyone know if this problem runs in some types of strings more than others? I don't think my J74 strings are counterfits. They sound good when the twists hold. I had wondered about that drop of solder, but thought it might effect the temper of the wire and deaden them. Are strings tempered? Even if they are you could use a potato for a heatsink.

----------


## mandroid

if you have your soldering chops up,  the melting point of solder , acid core, for steel,
 is so much lower  than  steel  its a  second or 2 long job , 
and tone is the part between the bridge and nut , not the loop at the tailpiece.

particularly the grommet fans , that dampen the part of their strings past the bridge , 
to stop the 'chop' from having an echo.

----------


## Tim2723

Yeah, what 'Droid said.  I was just wondering what other problem you might have if you're breaking that many strings.  Winding at the loop isn't that common a complaint.  It's usually breaking at the bridge or nut that folks write in about.

----------


## Ronnie L

I have crushed the grommet out of guitar strings in an emergency and it does work.

Recently I have changed to using JS74's Stainless steel wound. If finding them a bit more grippy and positive during leads and to me more stable when new. I love em!

----------


## Rick Schmidlin

I use J74's

 Ricky Skaggs picks this set and so do I  :Smile:

----------


## epicentre

I have used J 74's and 75's, with J 74's the choice on the flat top, with X bracing and J 75's for the tone bar bracing on the carved top A with ff holes.  Having just scored a good deal on a Kentucky oval hole, I'm wondering if the bracing in it is sufficient to handle the J 74's.

I like an old timey sound vs. the dry chop, so, if anyone has some ideas, I'm all ears...........er.......eyes. 

Thanks.

----------


## banjer23

I have simply soldered the ends on the unwound J74s,,simple to do,,takes less than a minute to do four strings,,never had any trouble with them after that.

----------

