Forum - Banjo Ben Clark

What's up with tuning mandolin A-string?!?

Why is keeping my A-string in tune so $#@%! difficult?!? Sometimes it feels as if I don’t even have to twist the tuners at all, but even the most minor of pressure will move the turning.

I suspect it has something to do with how it’s similar to a G-string on a guitar in that it’s the unwound string that is adjacent to the wound strings, and there’s something about how the bridge handles the difference in tension? But it drives me crazy…any advice, or is it just a fact of life?

It’s the same way on my mandolin and practically any mandolin I’ve ever picked up. A strings are the worst of the four.

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