That’s great to hear!
Favorite Strings
I just changed the strings on my mandolin. I must have had J74s on before. The new ones are J75 and found the A and E strings to border on cheese cutters, with my fingers being the cheese. I think I can build up tougher callous to handle the tension, but I find they are less forgiving on finger placement at the fret. If I don’t hit the sweet spot I get string buzz on the E and A. Also, it seems like it messes up my timing, because I have to use more force to pick the string. I don’t think I have ever tried J73, but I may try getting more J74 strings and just replacing the E and A. Is that okay to do? Also, I have always bought D’darrio strings because they are easy to find, but any suggestions on other brands that you like? By the way the set of strings I just put on had two envelopes marked G .041, but one pair was obviously the correct D, .026, just in the wrong envelope.
You can do whatever you want in regards to string tension. Some people mix and match strings from different sets for various reasons.
With that said, I would suggest giving them a try for a few days. I suspect you will get to where you don’t notice the difference, and if encourages one to get more accurate on placement, that is certainly not a bad thing. It may not turn out to be so bad if you give them a little more of a chance. You can always change it later if it still bothers you.
Good advice. I already like them a better today. I did change how I hold the pick. Instead of holding the pick more or less gripped between the side of my index finger and my thumb, now I hold the pick with the pad of my index finger and thumb. Seems to help.
I agree with Mike. Try to stick with the J-75’s. They are what I use and I haven’t found anything better tonewise for the price.
You may want to try the EXP-75’s. This is a coated version and may be a little easier on the fingers and will also last longer. I’m not a fan of coated strings for guitar, but on mandolin I do like them and in your case, it may be worth a try.
I would also make sure that your mandolin has a proper set-up. This will make all the difference. There should only be a slight rise in action going up the neck (kinda like an electric guitar). If your action goes up like an acoustic guitar and the strings are significantly higher off the fretboard, you may need to cut down the bottom of your bridge or possibly even need a neck re-set. I think you said in an earlier post that your bridge was already adjusted all the way down.
Check these things out and good luck.
J.W.
Super55, how are the 75’s treating you? There’s no wrong or right answer on string tension. It comes down to what works best for you.
As always, JW has some great advice. I don’t know if you have heard him on the collaboratives, but JW has wonderful tone. With that said, that’s his mando with his technique… for other players and sometimes instruments, it’s might be different. J74s (and related gauges from D’Addario) are about as popular as anything I know of, and I haven’t really played any other strings I would suggest. It’s kind of fun to try different strings from time to time, so there’s no harm to experimenting.
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Good advice. I already like them a better today. I did change how I hold the pick. Instead of holding the pick more or less gripped between the side of my index finger and my thumb, now I hold the pick with the pad of my index finger and thumb. Seems to help.
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That’s interesting, because I’ve just started doing the opposite approach. And I’m exposing less of the pick than I used to. It has helped my speed some what, but also has ruined whatever tone I used to have at the same time. I just read a Mike Compton interview that was linked to the mandolin.cafe and he was talking about ‘rubbing’ the strings instead of picking them. I’m not quite sure what that means, but I’ve started playing around with that too. The holy grail is in there somewhere, I just know it. I don’t remember ever having to spend so much time on technique with the guitar, but it seems huge with the mandolin.
Switching topics a little, something Mike said earlier here, I went looking at the collaboration forum, and since I’ve been working on ‘Nine Pound Hammer’ myself, started there. That final version was phenomenal, I’m going to have to read all 20 pages to see how it came together. Is that you on Mandolin Mike? That was an amazing break. What are you doing here, you should be in Nashville! The whole thing was great.
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Is that you on Mandolin Mike? That was an amazing break.
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I wish I could claim credit, but the mandolin break was by Ben. We wanted to give the youngsters a chance to get involved 
I was just the rhythm mando. Ben graciously loaned his talents to the song for the mando and banjo breaks
I went back and listened. I think might have also done rhythm guitar and backing vocals on that one. I just say that so someone else won’t get the blame for my parts.
Well everyone that participated did a great job. I’m reading through the entire thread trying to understand how it all was put together, that’s fascinating all by itself.
Jim if you are interested in doing a collaborative, just make a little noise. I suspect you’d easily get others that would be interested as well.
I’d love to, but I’m not sure I currently have the chops that you guys have. I’ll definitely keep it in mind though. Have you guys ever done any original tunes? I’ve got one, really a ‘cousin’ song to that John Prine tune ‘Paradise’ that I wrote for my wife that I’m trying to spruce up. It’s only 3 verses, chorus after each. And 3 simple chords, but I’d love to get some better musicians around it.
Hey Jim. I’ve heard you play and I think you do great. With that said, we have all different levels of chops involved in the collabs… that’s part of the fun. My thought is that one doesn’t have to be great at an instrument to make great music. The original song would be fun to do. I’d suggest posting a a new thread in the collaborative and see who might be interested.
Thanks for the kind words Mike. It’s the speed of bluegrass as much as anything that I’m still a little intimidated by. Plus, I’d want to sing the tune, got a bunch of local references in it, and I’m not a great singer. But I’m thinking you talked me into it. I think my wife would love it too. I’ll try to put a scratch track together over the weekend and put it up over there and see if anyone bites.
But first, gearing up for the big Patriots game tomorrow afternoon. You guys are all Pats fans right? 
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But first, gearing up for the big Patriots game tomorrow afternoon. You guys are all Pats fans right?
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Congrats on the win tonight! 
It was quite a game. I’m a Browns fan so I have lots of time to pick during the playoffs each year. 
J.W.
Congratulations on the Pats win. Sad to say, I didn’t know the outcome until I saw JW’s post. I lose (more) testosterone points. I did actually see about 30 minutes of the game while I was eating, so do I win a few back?
Looking forward to hearing your song!
There is a lot of difference in tempo in bluegrass…not everything is breakdowns.
*Ocean of Diamonds, *Sitting Alone in the Moonlight**, It Takes One to Know One and many others can be done near the speed of Paradise for instance…
A lot of old Country stuff has been done as bluegrass also…Check out I’m Blue, I’m Lonesome Too or Cry, Cry Darling sometime
