As an almost complete newbie on mandolins, I can pitch in a few opinions.
- As verneq said, since you are more often than not playing closed chords (no open strings) you don’t need a capo for grass. If you play alternate styles with open chords then a capo would be handy for odd keys. As far as the controversy of it… if it gets you the sound you want and you are happy… who cares what others think. A capo can be thought of as a crutch, and it’s a fair assessment. On the other hand, it can be thought of as a tool. I think that is also a fair assessment when properly used.
2)On changing out to Elixirs. My mando came with J73s. I just changed out to Elixir lights. To be honest, I like the J73s better “out of the box.” They had a livelier overall tone. The Elixirs do have a better balance between strings (the E is a bit wimpy on the 73s). I suspect I’ll like the Elixirs better than the J73s with 20 hours on them, but we’ll see.
One thing I suggest since you are new to mandolins… when doing a string change do not remove all the strings on your mando at the same time until you want to set the bridge position for intonation. It’s not glued on there and is held by string tension. If you leave a few strings on while replacing others, it holds it in place. With that said, setting the intonation is not the end of the world, but a non-fixed bridge is not something you run into on a flat top guitar.