Strings for and F5

  1. briant50
    briant50
    Hi folks.... i am a recently new owner of a Gibson F5 Fern....beautiful instrument....previously had an A model 1916.....
    i am looking for advice on strings..... was using light guage and tried a few brands .....getting a weird sort of buzz on my A strings
    have switched to heavier guage (Ricky Scaggs) and lost some of buzz ...also gone to heavier pick
    but interested what others have found as the optimum strings for an F5
    thanks
  2. evanreilly
    evanreilly
    All my F-5 and other mandolins chose from the same menu: JustStrings bulk strings in 40, 26, 16 & 12 flavors. They all very happy with that menu.
  3. Benski
    Benski
    After trying a number of different strings over the past 2 years on my F5Goldrush, I've settled on the Sam Bush monels from Gibson. You might want to try them. They have a nice deep sound and seem to last forever. Good luck.
  4. Tony Sz
    Tony Sz
    I've also found that monels sound great and last a long time. I've been using them on an F5-G. I've also been impressed with Firewires, although they're not cheap. I like the slightly heavier .11 E string and .41 G, as opposed to a .10 E and .40 G that you find on many sets.
  5. Mike Snyder
    Mike Snyder
    It's a pain, but I change out the .014s and .011s in the Sam Bush strings for bulk .015s and .012s. Love those monel wound strings.
  6. Tom Mullen
    Tom Mullen
    My J74's were dead in a week. I will try the monels. I have used some strings that are real good after they have been dead a while, as the tone gets deep. The humdity here 65 percent, does seem to kill the sound (at least for me)
  7. mandolinken
    mandolinken
    I use elixir nanoweb 11-40's on my fern. After my hand surgery I went with the 10-38's but they were way too light. Great for around the house but I had more volume with the 11-47. I tried the D'addario EXP's and didn't care for them as much. I don't particularly like to change strings all the time and these seem to hold their tone longer. Of course they can run $18 a set. I started with the J74's but they only lasted a week or 2.
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