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Thread: Easy string changing

  1. #51
    Mediocre but OK with that Paul Busman's Avatar
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    Default Re: Easy string changing

    Quote Originally Posted by jesserules View Post
    Whatever way you're changing the strings, don't neglect the opportunity to lubricate the nut slots. Sam Bush recommends graphite (specifically, a no. 2 pencil).
    I hate to say it, but I've never done that. I'm not crazy about the black graphite on the white nut. Could you use something like teflon bike lube instead? Since it goes on wet (but still works once it's dry) you could apply it any time and it would wick under the strings. A small amount shouldn't gunk up the windings of the strings very much.
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  2. #52
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    Default Re: Easy string changing

    Quote Originally Posted by Paul Busman View Post
    I hate to say it, but I've never done that. I'm not crazy about the black graphite on the white nut. Could you use something like teflon bike lube instead? Since it goes on wet (but still works once it's dry) you could apply it any time and it would wick under the strings. A small amount shouldn't gunk up the windings of the strings very much.
    The strings will cover virtually all of the graphite in the slots of the nut. It works and I will even occasionally put a small amount on the slots of the bridge as well. Second, I wouldn't to "gunk of the windings of the strings" at all.
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  3. #53
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    Default Re: Easy string changing

    Quote Originally Posted by Paul Busman View Post
    I hate to say it, but I've never done that. I'm not crazy about the black graphite on the white nut. Could you use something like teflon bike lube instead? Since it goes on wet (but still works once it's dry) you could apply it any time and it would wick under the strings. A small amount shouldn't gunk up the windings of the strings very much.
    I was going to say something about that. I feel the same way about the graphite residue so I use a commercial product called "Nut Sauce", which is Teflon-based & clear. And it comes in a dispenser designed to make it easy to use on stringed instruments, which I'm assuming bike lube doesn't.

    I didn't mention it because somehow writing "Sam Bush recommends X, but I use Y" seemed like it would look so lame ….


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  4. #54
    but that's just me Bertram Henze's Avatar
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    Default Re: Easy string changing

    +1 for nut sauce.
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  5. #55
    Registered User Ranald's Avatar
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    Default Re: Easy string changing

    Thanks for that, Paul. I had put off replacing a broken string for a few days (I have more than one mandolin), and remembered this thread. I used your video, and found it helpful, and, yes, easier. I didn't shed any blood, though a neighbouring E-string nipped me. Now, I'll just have to see how it holds. The funny thing is that it's the same thing I've been doing with my fiddle for ages until I learned a "better" method for the mandolin.
    Robert Johnson's mother, describing blues musicians:
    "I never did have no trouble with him until he got big enough to be round with bigger boys and off from home. Then he used to follow all these harp blowers, mandoleen (sic) and guitar players."
    Lomax, Alan, The Land where The Blues Began, NY: Pantheon, 1993, p.14.

  6. #56
    Registered User J Mangio's Avatar
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    Default Re: Easy string changing

    In 28 years playing Mandolin, I have never lubricated the nut or the bridge slots, and all worked just fine. YMMV
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