Which strings for DGDG mandola, irish music

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iamalaser
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Which strings for DGDG mandola, irish music

Post by iamalaser »

Hey all,

Just wondering if anyone has any advice on which strings to use on a mandola tuned DGDG. I play ADAD zouk, and with the capo on the 5th it works right well for both melody and backing, but I find I have a much harder time on the mandola because the standard strings are so damn thick that it really slows me down.

I don't want to use too thin of strings though, for fear that volume/ neck tension might suffer.

I have also considered just getting rid of one of each of the 2 lowest courses and just having them be single strings with the thick gauges, but would this be a problem with not giving the neck enough tension on that side? It certainly would make the playing easier.

Either way, the thing is probably too quiet to be heard in a session so maybe volume isn't even much of an issue...

Thanks
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