The Glory of Mangan Monels

[Kevin Briggs]

Hi Everyone….

I recently (two days ago) put a set of medium (11.5-41) Mangan Monels on my mandolin. What a wonderful match!

Monels have never done it for me on a instrument I’ve owned. While they always sound nice, the phosphor bronze brashness was too alluring. I didn’t want to lose an edge off of that big chop and the bite. Interestingly, I’m finding that preference for the big brashness has also guided my playing, which can often be heavy handed which is not really the best match for Monels.

Well… for whatever reason my Hamlett two-point goes with Monels like lamb and tuna fish, or spaghetti and meatballs if you’re more comfortable with that analogy, haha. It actually seems to have gained a bit of volume, and while the bite is not as ferocious the tone is so exquisitely beautiful the more balanced bite is an after thought. Plus, they feel great to play. Very smooth.

Anyway… there’s a review for you. Isn’t it interesting how instruments respond to changes?

[Charles E.]

+1, very happy with them on my Girouard F-5.

[Jim Garber]

For some time a few years back the only Monels were Gibson Sam Bush strings and then Gibson discontinued them. Martin came out with Monels for guitar only and then there were Mangans and D’Addario and nickel bronze which is similar in tone. Nice that our string makers filled the gap.

[Drew Egerton]

I love these strings! I use the "Gabe Wiseman" signature set so it has the heavier A and E strings. They sounded great on my Kelley and great on my Northfield 4th gen.
I dabbled with the Martin and D'addario monels before that. To me, the D'addario were clearly better than the Martins (and twice the price). The CM's are at least as good as the D'addarios if not better for my tastes.

As someone that can turn Phosphor bronze strings green in one sitting, monels were a game changer. Thankfully, I also love the tone. I can go 2 months on a set depending on how much I play outside the house (not much lately!)

[addamr]

I'm with Drew. I'm on my second set of Curt Mangan Gabe Wiseman monels. Love the sound. Usually go two or three months before I change them out. The sound is always consistent from beginning until I change them out.

Adam

[Kevin Briggs]

I'm with Drew. I'm on my second set of Curt Mangan Gabe Wiseman monels. Love the sound. Usually go two or three months before I change them out. The sound is always consistent from beginning until I change them out.

Adam

Yeah, I'm really pleased with them, although I'm using the 11.5 - 41 standard heavy/medium set. The balance is what is striking. Phosphor bronze strings can sound awesome, but it can be a little bit of a roller coaster in terms of their life span: bright/brash -> balanced -> emerging flatness -> dead. Plus, somehow the monels stay in tune better. It's a marked difference. Any theories on that?

[nlopez]

I am still on my first set of Curt Mangan Gabe Wiseman monels. They made my Eastman 515 project more!

[lflngpicker]

So glad to know your perspective on those particular strings, Kevin! "Strings" is a subject with which an open mind is very important. Thank you so much, Dan

[grassrootphilosopher]

I love these strings!

As someone that can turn Phosphor bronze strings green in one sitting, monels were a game changer. Thankfully, I also love the tone. I can go 2 months on a set depending on how much I play outside the house (not much lately!)

Boy howdy what a price for strings (16,30 USD). Give it some additional bread for overhead, import tax, shipping etc. and you´ll probably wind up at about 20,- EUR. That begs the question of cost-benefit-relation.

I am a ruster too. David Grisman says he wears out a set of strings in one performance. So did I. I would like to try strings out. But I am reluctant to try out a set of strings (with a possible need for setup to accomodate the new strings) without a realistic chance of having a game changer.

So far I am playing strings until they practically fall apart (sometimes crying about the deterioration of sound).

I am happy for everyone for y´all. So far I am tempted but I don´t bite yet. I would like to try out an instrument with monel strings. I haven´t yet.

[Mandobar]

I think the problem with the Sam Bush strings was that the company that made the filament material just closed. I remember talking to Curt Mangan about this and asking him if he’d consider making some Monel strings. He said it was going to be hard to source the material. It took a while but he must have found a source. D’addario’s Monel mandolin strings are ok, but I prefer Curt’s.

[Kevin Briggs]

Boy howdy what a price for strings (16,30 USD). Give it some additional bread for overhead, import tax, shipping etc. and you´ll probably wind up at about 20,- EUR. That begs the question of cost-benefit-relation.

I am a ruster too. David Grisman says he wears out a set of strings in one performance. So did I. I would like to try strings out. But I am reluctant to try out a set of strings (with a possible need for setup to accomodate the new strings) without a realistic chance of having a game changer.

So far I am playing strings until they practically fall apart (sometimes crying about the deterioration of sound).

I am happy for everyone for y´all. So far I am tempted but I don´t bite yet. I would like to try out an instrument with monel strings. I haven´t yet.

I hear you here, Olaf. I give myself a pep talk to pay a bit more for strings. D’Addario doesn’t help the matter by offering a very good product for less money. It took me two decades to go for it. I figured at the very least I was paying to learn something, or find something out. To each his own though!

The fact that the monels are going strong even after being on for a little over a week is already creeping up on a savings. I’m looking to switch out J75s within 1.5 to 2 weeks. If the monels last twice that long they’ve more than justified they’re cost. Plus, I think they sound better.

I’ll add, I don’t think monels sound better (to me) in general. They just work for my favorite mandolin. When I’ve switched strings around before I haven’t always liked it.

[Don Grieser]

All of Curt Mangan's strings give exceptional tone and long life in my experience. I get months out a set of his phosphor bronze sets too. Very little of the annoying jangle of new strings, settle in quickly and stay that way for a long time. I've used his monels too, but prefer his phosphor bronze sets.

[maxr]

Damn - I've been happy with D'Addario monels, but you're putting practical mando messing in front of me. On both my modest mandolins (Kentucky 250, Eastman 305), I suspect the Es are slightly weak compared to the other strings. that's using DAddario EJM 74s 11-40. I wonder if the CMs might fix that?

[pops1]

An 11 plain string is the same with any brand. It may change your G and D strings, but the E and A are plain strings, plain strings are plain strings.

[doc holiday]

All of Curt Mangan's strings give exceptional tone and long life in my experience. I get months out a set of his phosphor bronze sets too. Very little of the annoying jangle of new strings, settle in quickly and stay that way for a long time. I've used his monels too, but prefer his phosphor bronze sets.

There's no doubt in my mind that Curt Mangan makes great strings. I used to used Pyramid & Newtone 80/20 on guitar, but they disappeared off the N American market. In the last 3 or 4 years, Curt Mangan strings have become my strings of choice. They make great products and the customer service is top notch

[Mitch Stein]

I'm going to give this a shot. Most of the time, what Kevin's mandolin likes, my mandolin likes. I did try the Magan monel in the regular gauge and they had to go pretty fast. Their PB strings did fine and lasted well. I very much enjoyed having EJ75 on my Kelley, so 11.5 - 41 Monel Mangan on the way.

Unrelated: Feel my heartbreak! Put my set of custom gauge Mapes on yesterday and cut through one of the 11.5 E strings clipping off the excess. Also felt foolish explaining to my wife why there wasn't another string in my collection to replace it. Since I replaced it with a generic 11, I guess I now have the elusive 11.25 course.

[Bill McCall]

…..

Unrelated: Feel my heartbreak! Put my set of custom gauge Mapes on yesterday and cut through one of the 11.5 E strings clipping off the excess. Also felt foolish explaining to my wife why there wasn't another string in my collection to replace it. Since I replaced it with a generic 11, I guess I now have the elusive 11.25 course.

You’re not the first to play that guage

[mikerofone]

You lost me at lamb and tuna fish....

[Kevin Briggs]

You lost me at lamb and tuna fish....

[Drew Egerton]

Spurred on by this thread, I changed my strings to a new set of Gabe Wiseman monels this weekend. Unfortunately, the new set came with 3 A strings and only 1 E... oops! Luckily I had several sets so I stole an E from another. My first issue with them in the couple of years since I started using them. I'm sure they would send a new one out if I raised a stink, but not worth it for 1 string.

[standing.wav]

I've tried monels from Curt Mangan, D'Addario, and Martin. I think I preferred the tone of D'Addario slightly more than Curt Mangan, but they only come in one gauge (medium). To my ears, the D'Addario formula has just a touch more top-end sparkle. The Martins are... less than spectacular.

After testing my way through a whole slew of string brands, I'm revisiting Curt Mangan Monel, D'Addario Monel, and D'Addario Nickel Bronze. Right now, I'm playing Curt Mangan monels. They are very well-suited to the classical/baroque rep that I play.

[onassis]

Spurred on by this thread, I changed my strings to a new set of Gabe Wiseman monels this weekend. Unfortunately, the new set came with 3 A strings and only 1 E... oops! Luckily I had several sets so I stole an E from another. My first issue with them in the couple of years since I started using them. I'm sure they would send a new one out if I raised a stink, but not worth it for 1 string.

I would reach out to them. I ordered some Monel Lights from them a while back, and when I opened the first package I discovered PB's instead of Monel. Someone had put the wrong cover slip in the package. Tried another (I had gotten 4 packs), same result. I contacted them and they immediately sent out replacements. Seems to me they would like to know about any quality control issues.

[Kevin Briggs]

Thanks so much for the interest and discussion regarding this thread. As a result of some of the replies, I think I owe it to the mandolin god(s) to give D'Addario monels and nickel a try. Although I'm finding I have a bias for Mangans all of a sudden, the tinge of extra brightness in the D'Addarios intrigues me.

In the meantime. It's been over two weeks and the Mangan monels I'm using are going strong and I've been playing a ton, no doubt thanks in part to loving the sound and feel of the monels. We have a gig this Friday so I'll be practicing a bunch this week and then playing a bunch Friday night. It seems like the monels will last until then at the very least, but possibly longer. For me, that's a long time. If I was using J75s I'd be looking at a stringing up a third set in the same amount of time the day before the gig.

[grassrootphilosopher]

Was there a need to tweak the setup after stringing the mando up with monels?

[Mandobar]

I think Curt would like to know if there are issues. He is really responsive and accidents do happen. His is a family-run business and he is always open to feedback. I believe his daughter does the website, and he is there in the factory all the time. If you have had an issue, drop him a line or give them a call.