I love them, but note these:
* they are very expensive (as with any strings it is kind of a crap shoot so I put off trying them for years but glad i finally did, but YMMV)
* they are thicker gauge than D'Addario EJ80, which I think improves tone but your mandolin needs to be able to take the xtra tension...I haven't found fingering to be harder but my octave has adjustable saddle so I can set the action lower to compensate
* they barely fit on my 20" scale, so don't get them if your octave is longer scale
* they are flat wound and definitely have more of a violin feel, which is why I though the OP should consider them
If you're still shopping, I'd grab the Fylde in Canada (Not the one with the pin bridge in Montana). I passed on one a while back that one of my students bought from another and I've regretted it. I wound up with a Peterson level 1, which sounds nice and is very well built. I have an issue with the fretboard, which is narrow and flat, but that's a personal preference.
Steve
Happy with my Fylde Touchstone, never looked elsewhere again.
the world is better off without bad ideas, good ideas are better off without the world
I bought a 20" scale Weber octave from a forum member earlier in the year and it has TI flatwounds on... its not something I'd ever considered doing buts its a pretty magical combination - it brings out my inner cellist and I start mangling bits of Bach!
Well, the D string made it to the string post of my mdo-305, but the G strings were too short to make the distance!
I'd love to have T-I's on my octave; but. . .
f-d
ˇpapá gordo ain’t no madre flaca!
'20 A3, '30 L-1, '97 914, 2012 Cohen A5, 2012 Muth A5, '14 OM28A
This is the same octave mandolin that I play (check Song a Week Social group in the FORUMS) except that this is the deluxe model, AND it’s on sale…
https://hobgoblin.com/gr32017-ashbur...octave-mandola
I do have to trim the silk on some of the strings so that it does not go over the nut. It works fine for me, but there is a limit where the flat wound of the strings ends so that would determine the max scale length. I can take some pictures of the trimmed silk and measure the exact distance of useable string length if you want, but I am guessing that trimming the silk gives you about an extra centimeter of string length.
ˇpapá gordo ain’t no madre flaca!
'20 A3, '30 L-1, '97 914, 2012 Cohen A5, 2012 Muth A5, '14 OM28A
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