Flatwound mandola A strings

[bratsche]

Are there any flatwounds that I could buy as separate single strings to swap out for the plain A strings in the JazzDola set? I am really not liking their twangy sound, that distinctly stands out from the rest of the JazzDolas, which are quite nice. It would be great to find some flatwound A strings that would work!

bratsche

[Tom Wright]

Tried Thomastik yet? Pricey but they last forever. Medium-gauge flatwound A is .024.

http://www.stringsandbeyond.com/thinflocmast.html

Just Strings wants $17 for the A alone.

[bratsche]

Hi Tom - I believe that would be the A for the 2nd course of the octave set for $17, if it's the same as in the set you linked to. Last I checked, Just Strings doesn't carry regular (tenor) mandola strings. But Elderly does.

I'm looking for a first course replacement for CGDA tuning. And yes, I'm a big Thomastik fan (I use the "Alt Mandoline" 164 CGDA set on my 15.5" scale mandolas), but was looking for something flatwound and less expensive to complete the JazzDola set that's on my 17" scale mandola.

bratsche

[Tom Wright]

Strings and Beyond had a proper Thomastik mandola set, and I did mention the wrong one, it's 15w for A in that set.

Maybe it's time to get out the pliers and strip out the ball end from some guitar strings.

[bratsche]

Yeah, I'd do that, for sure - if I knew which guitar strings to get. ;-)

bratsche

[bratsche]

To further elaborate... my problem is that I know nothing about guitars, other than that they have an A string (but which octave is it? Is it the same as the mandola A, or an octave lower... or???,) and I know that their scale is considerably longer than 17" (that of my mandola I'm for which searching for A strings).
... and I know nothing about the properties of guitar strings, either. For example, when I go to Just Strings and look at their Single Guitar Strings page, I notice that some strings are described as "wound" and some as "round wound". I haven't seen any described as "flat wound," though. So I don't really know what they're selling when they say "wound".
...and then there is the whole gauge thing. I don't understand that, and how it relates to scale length - or if it even does.

In short, I'm absolutely clueless when it comes to guitar strings and their potential adaptability to a mandola!

bratsche

[Eddie Sheehy]

Guitars are in the OM range - an octave below a mandola - even though guitar music references the the Mandola scales (an octave higher) to keep the guitar in the Treble Clef. Strings are strings - just select them by width (size) not length or Note... and watch out for that tension...

[bratsche]

Okay, so what gauge of a flatwound string would correspond closest in tension to a 0.013 plain, non-wound string? And who makes such an animal?

What about this one? (Very little I am finding at narrow widths is even wound at all!) Might it work? What is the "rope core" likely to be? http://www.juststrings.com/toi-kf14.html

bratsche

[Eddie Sheehy]

Might be just me but I haven't seen any wound string less than a .021.

[Tom Wright]

Thomastik. When they skip the roundwire layer it can be really thin. Dominant (Thomastik) violin strings have a wound E, total gauge maybe .012. Mandolin light-gauge set is wound A .014.

I think the reason for wound here is to have a brighter, more accurate overtone set. At least, the Dominant violin wound E is thinner in tone than a beefy plain E. And my Thomastik wound mandolin A is not dark at all.

[bratsche]

I love the sound of the Thomastik strings (with wound A) on my shorter scaled mandolas, and will likely use them on this longer scale one in the future. The A course sound blends well and merges seamlessly with the D course. I don't know how thick they are, though - that information, for some reason, isn't on the packaging, and, even more strangely, Thomastik's site doesn't even acknowledge the existence of the 164 set. Meanwhile, I am just trying to get through the life span of these JazzDola strings, and since they're still pretty new, I'd like something better sounding on the top end. I'm too much of a pauper to toss out good strings just because I hate one pair. ;-)

bratsche

[Tom Wright]

I would try a thicker plain string. Loop ends available from Ernie Ball up to .017. If you're willing to strip out the ball you can go up to .024. They will be less twangy than wound of equivalent gauge.

The Thomastik thickness info is available at Just Strings.

[bratsche]

Yeah, but the only site (that I've seen) to give Thomastik thickness info doesn't carry the 164 set. (Didn't I say that before up-topic?)

I hadn't considered thicker plain strings, figuring twanginess came with the territory of non-wound wire (I don't like the plain As on mandolins either, though it's okay for the Es). That would certainly be the cheapest option, I'd think. But you're not suggesting an A course of thicker gauge (.024) than the D course (.023), are you?? I'd imagine .017 would be plenty thick - maybe .018 - and stripping out the ball isn't even the issue, as I've had to do that on violin strings before...

bratsche

[Tom Wright]

No, of course not a .024. I'd sneak up with a .014 plain first. That's a light string at 14" mando scale, but if you are 17" that will already be stout. It will roughly the same tension but punchier, I'd think.

You can buy a digital caliper set for about $25 these days. Since I got one at the local hardware I keep finding uses for it.

[mandroid]

core wire of a wound .0140" A would be darned thin,
Flattop half round A on D'Add mandolin set was good for about 4 hours of playing. then it broke .

[Tom Wright]

My Thomastik set has only lost one (plain) E string in a few years, admittedly only occasional playing. That string broke when I was taking them down and back up with bridge adjustments. The two A's (.014) are fine. D'Addario might need to tinker with the flattop design specs.

[bratsche]

I have a decent metric micrometer I hadn't thought to use before, but got it out just now and my favorite Thomastik 164 set measures .33, .50, .72 and 1.13; which converts to 0.012992, 0.019685, 0.028346 and 0.044488.

I've been lucky to have never broken a string in just under 15 years of plucking, even with many adjustments and changes of bridges and tailpiece requiring tuning up and down and even removing and reinstalling them altogether. The only exception was when one of my short scale mandolas was shipped to me strung as a large mandolin, and I couldn't tune the E strings to pitch and they both broke (it was never meant to be a mandolin anyway!) I've used D'Addario flattops on both mandolin and mandola, but I just personally do not enjoy the bronze sound nearly as well as the Thomastiks.


bratsche