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Thread: Strings for a 16.75 inch neck Stephen Owsley Smith Cittern

  1. #1
    Registered User russelshack's Avatar
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    Default Strings for a 16.75 inch neck Stephen Owsley Smith Cittern

    Good Morning!

    Seeking out the hive mind for some string advice for a Stephen Owsley Smith cittern that has recently come into my possession and I've had the joy of playing.

    When this cittern was shipped from humid Hawaii to cold & dry New England it suffered, and accordingly the neck has had some issues ever since.

    Working with a local luthier, he advised playing it half a step down from GDADA tuning. Of course I didn't listen (some of the time anyways) and when tuning up this morning the middle A string snapped.

    Do you all have any advice for strings to best accommodate this instrument. The neck is 16.75 inches.

    Pictures of the strings in current use are attached (always fun to break a Thomastik)
    Thank you in advance!
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  2. #2
    Registered User Marcus CA's Avatar
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    Default Re: Strings for a 16.75 inch neck Stephen Owsley Smith Cittern

    With that fretboard inlay and that pickguard (and that builder), that instrument should have plenty of mojo!

    Which octave is that G string tuned to? I'm asking because a 16.75" scale length is basically at the long end of mandola scale, so it would be too long for a mandolin, but too short for an octave mandolin. That 22 that you broke matches the A string in D'Addario's OM set, so if you were tuning your cittern to the OM's octave, it shouldn't have broken, but if you were tuning it to the mandolin's octave, ...

    If you like playing in the GDADA tuning, you could approach the instrument as a cross between an OM on the lower three strings and a mandola on the top two. Given your cittern's scale length, I think that the D'Addario light-gauge mandola set (14-23-34-49) would be a good starting point for your custom set. Since your instrument has a fifth course, you many need to use thinner strings --- although not necessarily as thin as those in your Thomastik set . Also, since you'd be tuning the C and G strings up to D and A, you'd probably want to use even thinner strings for those. For that low G string, maybe stick with that 52, if its tension felt at the right level for you.

    I hope you'll post a video once you have the cittern set up the way you want it. It should sound really good!
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