.012 - .042 strings for a MANDOCELLO??

[rcc56]

It would be in the neighborhood, but the D and the G might be a little floppy. Try 16, 28, 42, and 62 to start. You will have room to adjust one or two of the wound strings up one degree if necessary.

Whatever you do, do not put a D'addario EJ78 set on it [22 to 74]. They would exert 238 lbs. of tension on an instrument [much higher than the ~185 lbs a set of D'Addario mediums exerts on a flat top guitar, and enough to tear an old Gibson up before you get it up to pitch. And I've seen it happen. I'm not sure I'd feel safe putting such a set on any 'cello, unless it was built like a battleship.

[Mandobart]

I use Curt Mangan phosphor bronze mandocello lights on my built-this-century custom 10 string 25" mandocello. I recommend these for an older instrument too.

[tmsweeney]

I am using the Curt Mangan mandocello light, so far so good.

[mandocello8]

an obvious thing, but took me forever to figure out. CGDA mandocello GDA strings are same as same-scale-length GDA strings for GDAE octave mandolin. only the low-C need to be figured out. works for me. (and I confirm trouble with the d'addario mandocello set, it did not destroy my japanese-build mc, but the neck flexes too much - no truss rod. please tell me about this 15 years ago).

[meow-n-dolin]

Whatever you do, do not put a D'addario EJ78 set on it [22 to 74]. ..' I'm not sure I'd feel safe putting such a set on any 'cello, unless it was built like a battleship.

Good advice: They work just fine on my Eastman 'cello, though. For years now. Must be a battleship

[Jim Imhoff]

I now play a 1912 K4, but anyway the lightest strings I ever tried were .067 on the C (the rest were closer to standard, the C is the well-known challenge). They worked OK for practice, but when I went for more volume in orchestral playing they buzzed a bit too much. I settled on .070 and stick with that. As my teacher Fabio keeps reminding me, there is always a trade-off on pushing the string too hard and accepting a certain level of sound, so lighter strings are a bit easier but limit the range. By the way, these were custom Newtones, as mentioned above they will make to your specifications. Tried others, and I am sure you will see different thoughts in posts as this thread ramps up again.
Can't believe I started this 5 years ago with a ridiculously out-of-line gauge question!
jim

[wreded]

You could try emando.com. They have a page for ordering strings (http://emando.com/shop/strings_cello.htm). Next time I need strings for my Eastman 'cello that's where I'm going. The D'Addarios are just too thick for my taste.

[Colin Braithwaite]

I play a mandola tuned to D, A, E, B for Irish music. I had to select custom strings for this alternative tuning. My solution is to use the string tension calculator at https://www.mcdonaldstrings.com/stringxxiii.html. It's pretty self-explanatory, but you'll need to know your instrument's i) scale length, ii) tuning, and iii) an acceptable range of overall string tension for your instrument. This last bit of information can often be found printed on a set of strings made for your instrument in standard tuning, or on the manufacturer's website. For example, according to D'Addario my mandola is made for a set of strings exerting about 208 lbs. of tension. So this number becomes my target in the string calculator when I'm ordering a custom set (from Newtone). Then try the custom set and adjust as wanted.