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1 Attachment(s)
String comparison forthcoming...
Attachment 189360
L to R: D'Addario Nickel Bronze, La Bella Silver, Martin Monel, GHS Pure Nickel, D'Addario Monel
Got a bunch of new strings in the mail yesterday! I'm excited to try these out over the next few months, and I'll make a longer comparison post later if people are interested.
Of these, I've tried the GHS Pure Nickel and D'Addario Monel on my last instrument, which was an F-hole. (Monel was by far my favorite.)
Now that I'm playing an oval hole, though, we'll see how these sound. I'm curious what other oval hole players like to use...
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Re: String comparison forthcoming...
I have been using NBs on practically all my fretted instruments, mandolins and guitars. I don't use them on my Lyon & Healy or any of my bowlbacks. I loved the Monels but find the NB a wee bit warmer. No PB for me any more.
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Re: String comparison forthcoming...
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Jim Garber
I have been using NBs on practically all my fretted instruments, mandolins and guitars. I don't use them on my Lyon & Healy or any of my bowlbacks. I loved the Monels but find the NB a wee bit warmer. No PB for me any more.
Ah, good to know. I'll probably try the NBs next. What do you use on your Lyon & Healy?
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I have a '23 AJr with the GHS Pure Nickel on them right now - really been digging that combo. For my Collings oval my 2 favorites are GHS silk and steel and monels. Next up is Thomastiks.
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Re: String comparison forthcoming...
Quote:
Originally Posted by
standing.wav
Attachment 189360
L to R: D'Addario Nickel Bronze, La Bella Silver, Martin Monel, GHS Pure Nickel, D'Addario Monel
Got a bunch of new strings in the mail yesterday! I'm excited to try these out over the next few months, and I'll make a longer comparison post later if people are interested.
Of these, I've tried the GHS Pure Nickel and D'Addario Monel on my last instrument, which was an F-hole. (Monel was by far my favorite.)
Now that I'm playing an oval hole, though, we'll see how these sound. I'm curious what other oval hole players like to use...
Tried the D’Addario and Martin Monels on my Girouard ovals and didn’t like the sound . I love the sound of the Curt Mangan Monels however ! On my F Ellis mandolins I still prefer GHS A 270’s
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Re: String comparison forthcoming...
Quote:
Originally Posted by
standing.wav
Ah, good to know. I'll probably try the NBs next. What do you use on your Lyon & Healy?
Thomastiks on the L&H— never liked them on any other mandolin. Dogal Calace Round sounds on bowlbacks mostly.
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Re: String comparison forthcoming...
Quote:
Originally Posted by
yankees1
Tried the D’Addario and Martin Monels on my Girouard ovals and didn’t like the sound . I love the sound of the Curt Mangan Monels however ! On my F Ellis mandolins I still prefer GHS A 270’s
Interesting, I hadn't come across Curt Mangan strings yet. (I mostly shop Strings by Mail.) What were the differences with the three different monels?
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Re: String comparison forthcoming...
Quote:
Originally Posted by
ColdBeerGoCubs
I have a '23 AJr with the GHS Pure Nickel on them right now - really been digging that combo. For my Collings oval my 2 favorites are GHS silk and steel and monels. Next up is Thomastiks.
I liked the sound of the Pure Nickels when I tried them on my last instrument. My only issues were (a) the 41-gauge G strings were too big to fret comfortably, and (b) the A and E strings tarnished really quickly. I'm trying the same gauge again on my Eastman, and I'll see if that instrument's larger frets make a difference. Depending on how that goes, I might give them another shot on the med-light gauge.
I haven't worked up the courage to shell out for Thomastiks yet!
How are the silk and steels?
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Thanks for all the responses, everyone! Has anyone tried Optima strings? I tried searching on here but didn't find much, and they're a tad pricy to just go out on a limb...
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Re: String comparison forthcoming...
Quote:
Originally Posted by
standing.wav
Interesting, I hadn't come across Curt Mangan strings yet. (I mostly shop Strings by Mail.) What were the differences with the three different monels?
I did not like the sound of the Martin to my ears, the D’Addario sounded good initially but didn’t last long ! The CM Monels sounded great from the beginning and last a LONG time of playing !
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:popcorn:
I've tried three of those on my F5S and Kimble A. Interested to hear your impressions.
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I’m a big fan of silk and steel on the ovals. Really like them.
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I am looking for string suggestions for my Collings MTO! I am using it mainly for Celtic and Classical! I play throughout the fretboard if that helps, so I need strings which are responsive at different finger positions.
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Re: String comparison forthcoming...
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Barry Canada
I am looking for string suggestions for my Collings MTO! I am using it mainly for Celtic and Classical! I play throughout the fretboard if that helps, so I need strings which are responsive at different finger positions.
I would consider Curt Mangan Monels !
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Re: String comparison forthcoming...
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Barry Canada
I am looking for string suggestions for my Collings MTO! I am using it mainly for Celtic and Classical! I play throughout the fretboard if that helps, so I need strings which are responsive at different finger positions.
Monels and Silk and Steel are favorites on my MTO.
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I'd agree with the recommendation for the Curt Mangan Monels. I found very little competition between the Martin Monels (a bit blah) and the CM Monels (really nice).
Feel, tone, volume, overall dynamism and articulation seemed much better on a Flatiron F with the CMs than the Martins. I bought a couple more sets of the CM right away, but no more of the Martin ones.
The mail order strings places have them. They can be had from CM directly too, and a member here has on occasion put up a discount code in the Classifieds. Might be worth looking into to see if it's still working.
Enjoy!
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Its all quite subjective .. Nickel and Monel both contain nickel. and other elements..
Bronze alloying agents vary..
But winter is long and now we will shelter in place a lot, so its something to do..
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1 Attachment(s)
Re: String comparison forthcoming...
I'm a big fan of Curt Mangan strings as well, but I've settled into a phosphor bronze set that I prefer. Tried the monel, great strings but not my flavor. Ended up with 3 extra sets of CM monel mediums. If one of y'all want'em, I can do $30 shipped in the US (extra for int'l shipping).
Attachment 189438
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Re: String comparison forthcoming...
Quote:
Originally Posted by
bradeasley
I'm a big fan of Curt Mangan strings as well, but I've settled into a phosphor bronze set that I prefer. Tried the monel, great strings but not my flavor. Ended up with 3 extra sets of CM monel mediums. If one of y'all want'em, I can do $30 shipped in the US (extra for int'l shipping).
Attachment 189438
Per MC rules. you should probably move this post to the Classifieds, in the Mandolin Accessories section. Thanks!
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Re: String comparison forthcoming...
Quote:
Originally Posted by
sblock
Per MC rules. you should probably move this post to the Classifieds, in the Mandolin Accessories section. Thanks!
Thanks, sblock. Just hadn't thought about doing anything with them until seeing a thread were some folks mentioned liking them. Disregard for sale comment, all.
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1 Attachment(s)
Re: String comparison forthcoming...
When I first started, I had the default D'addario strings that come on most beginner instruments, then tried one gauge higher of the same line. After that my 3rd set of strings were the Nickel Bronze and I loved loved loved them and swore by them for the next year and a half.
I just got a new (to me) instrument last month. It's very different and much better (it's what most MCFers call a "beginner" but it's loads better than my starter instrument). It's an oval hole/mahogany. I'm looking to change strings - I read low-action can sound better with heavier strings so I was on the fence between ordering the heavier set of NB or trying something new. I considered the Thomastik. Then I picked up my phone at 4 am when it was too early to get up and too late to take a z-quill and idk what happened but I went with something totally unrelated and in the light of day I can't recall what my logic was. So... tomorrow I'll be trying these:
Attachment 189510
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Re: String comparison forthcoming...
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Heady
When I first started, I had the default D'addario strings that come on most beginner instruments, then tried one gauge higher of the same line. After that my 3rd set of strings were the Nickel Bronze and I loved loved loved them and swore by them for the next year and a half.
I just got a new (to me) instrument last month. It's very different and much better (it's what most MCFers call a "beginner" but it's loads better than my starter instrument). It's an oval hole/mahogany. I'm looking to change strings - I read low-action can sound better with heavier strings so I was on the fence between ordering the heavier set of NB or trying something new. I considered the Thomastik. Then I picked up my phone at 4 am when it was too early to get up and too late to take a z-quill and idk what happened but I went with something totally unrelated and in the light of day I can't recall what my logic was. So... tomorrow I'll be trying these:
Attachment 189510
Oval hole/mahogany? My guess is Eastman MD404. In any case, I am curious to hear how mahogany sounds on a mandolin; I'm so used to the typical spruce/maple combo.
I've only played medium-gauge strings, and with my new oval, I feel like medium might in some cases be too loud (the default PBs are pretty harsh-sounding IMO). Depending on how all these medium strings work out, I may even try med-light. What drew you to heavy strings?
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If we are going to participate and share information in a thread about strings, I don’t understand the reasoning of keeping the make and model of a mandolin a mystery. Just tell us what it is and we can get a better sense if these are strings we might want to try.
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Re: String comparison forthcoming...
I wasn't being cryptic on purpose, I just have imposter syndrome and try not to overshare. It is indeed a 404.
I tried heavy strings because there's an intermittent buzz on the G and read that you can either raise the action or try heavier strings, and I'm still scared when I change the strings, so years away from futzing with the bridge.
As suspected by others, I do not love these strings :( They aren't really getting a fair shot because I found them a little stiffer (not a surprise since that's what I chose) and harder to change so I didn't really get 2 of them satisfyingly snug to the peg at first and it's hard to fix.
Feel free to laugh at me for this part but... what made me try this particular set was I looked at the strings I loved on my old mandolin (the Nickel Bronze in medium on the $60 Rogue that Santa put in my stocking a few years ago before I was ready to commit), and I looked at the strings this instrument came with (EJ74 I think), and this set was half-way between them on D'addario's "bright-mellow" spectrum. Not very scientific - I just wanted to try to cut the difference for comparison.
They do not sound too harsh, but actually just kind of dead. I have a set of the "custom medium" Nickel Bronze left over from my old instrument before I discovered I preferred the regular medium. I think I'm just going to change them again tomorrow to the custom-medium. I really like the nickel bronze a lot.
:)
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Re: String comparison forthcoming...
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Heady
I wasn't being cryptic on purpose, I just have imposter syndrome and try not to overshare. It is indeed a 404.
I tried heavy strings because there's an intermittent buzz on the G and read that you can either raise the action or try heavier strings, and I'm still scared when I change the strings, so years away from futzing with the bridge.
As suspected by others, I do not love these strings :( They aren't really getting a fair shot because I found them a little stiffer (not a surprise since that's what I chose) and harder to change so I didn't really get 2 of them satisfyingly snug to the peg at first and it's hard to fix.
Feel free to laugh at me for this part but... what made me try this particular set was I looked at the strings I loved on my old mandolin (the Nickel Bronze in medium on the $60 Rogue that Santa put in my stocking a few years ago before I was ready to commit), and I looked at the strings this instrument came with (EJ74 I think), and this set was half-way between them on D'addario's "bright-mellow" spectrum. Not very scientific - I just wanted to try to cut the difference for comparison.
They do not sound too harsh, but actually just kind of dead. I have a set of the "custom medium" Nickel Bronze left over from my old instrument before I discovered I preferred the regular medium. I think I'm just going to change them again tomorrow to the custom-medium. I really like the nickel bronze a lot.
:)
That's OK, I'm also too scared to change strings or the action height myself! I have a great luthier a couple miles away from me, so I just take my mandolin to him whenever I want anything done, including re-strings. Maybe someday I'll bother learning how to do it myself...
Speaking of, I'll probably have my mandolin restrung with the La Bella silvers this weekend, so I will let you all know my impressions.
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Re: String comparison forthcoming...
Quote:
Originally Posted by
standing.wav
That's OK, I'm also too scared to change strings or the action height myself! I have a great luthier a couple miles away from me, so I just take my mandolin to him whenever I want anything done, including re-strings. Maybe someday I'll bother learning how to do it myself...
When I change strings I do it one at a time, replacing before removing the next. Preserves the set up.
I do not do my own set ups. That is a bridge too far.