String Preference for CDGA

**tashook** · Sep-19-2012, 10:40am

Lately I find myself playing my tenor more than my mando. But for some reason the tenor strings are cutting into my finger tips more than my mando strings. I play enough where my finger tips are fairly calloused. But after 2 or 3 hours of playing I need to stop on the tenor where I could play all night on the mando. I would appreciate any advice on string choice you veteran tenor players might have. Thanks in advance.

**Jayyj** · Sep-19-2012, 12:44pm

Tenor guitars are pretty low tension as steel string instruments go - how is the set up of your tenor? It may be the action / neck relief needs tweaking. Most of the mainstream commercial tenors I've played benefit from some tlc to get them playing at their best.

On the question of string gauges, another forum member kindly posted this comparison chart of commercially available tenor string sets which deserves another mention: http://rycooder.nl/pages/tenor_gauges.htm

My personal preference is 36-26-16-10, tuned down a step, or if I'm planning on tuning to pitch I'll use a 9 on the top string. As you'll see on the chart you can go a fair bit lighter than this.

**tashook** · Sep-19-2012, 3:17pm

Jayyj, Thanks for the input. Its a Blue Ridge BR-40T purchased new from Elderly. I assumed it was set up properly, but I really don't know. It sounds good so I never thought to question it. Perhaps I need to find a luthier and have it looked at? Thanks for the string guage info. I'll put some study into it and determine if I should try different strings.

**Jayyj** · Sep-20-2012, 3:54pm

One would expect good things from Elderly - I've only bought from them once but it was a pleasant (if expensive!) experience , and they have a good reputation. Still, no harm in getting it checked over. Guitars can also need a little tweak after they've had a chance to settle now you had it a while, so there's a possibility may not be as well set up now as when it left the store, and even if it's perfect now it will undoubtably need a set up sometime in the future.