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Joined:
June 2004
Posts: 1
Location: Nosara, Costa Rica | Hi, I'm considering an Ovation mandolin. I need some input from owners. I own an ovation guitar and love it but the mandolin is a new thing and I'm not sure about it. The strings don't look the same and aconventional mandolin. Are the strings prapriatory (sorry about the spelling)? Are they readily available? I don't see any Ovation mandolin strings on the Musicians Friend site. Can anyone help me? |
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Joined:
January 2004
Posts: 648
Location: Florida | There are a few sets out there with ball ends, like a guitar string. The Adamas strings are ball end. I think there's a set or two by D'Addario and maybe one by Ernie Ball.
Of course... there are ways around not having any balls.
You can save the balls from guitar strings, and just wind them into the loops on regular mandolin strings. I think Frank Ford shows something like that over on his http://www.frets.com website (someplace over there.... its got a lot of info so keep looking). |
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Joined:
June 2002
Posts: 6202
Location: Phoenix AZ | Ovation mandolins use ball-end strings (most other mandos use loop end). Yes ball end are available, but a bit harder to find than loop end. I use Adamas 8080 strings, which are available from several mail order sources here in the US. You can also make up your own sets by buying individual guitars strings of the proper guage. Another option is to use loop end strings, but use a small piece of metal rod, approx 2mm x 30mm to place through all the loops and stop them against the bridge. |
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Joined:
July 2003
Posts: 1922
Location: Canton (Detroit), MI | I don't own an Ovation mando, but when I looked at a MM68 online just now, they appear to require ball-end strings(loop-end are common, as you probably know). I see that D'Addario and Adamas make them and you can get them here:
http://www.juststrings.com/mandolin.html
I've dealt with them online and have been very happy, the order arrived in 3 days(to MI). It didn't look like there was a lot of choice in string gauge for the ball-ends, unfortunately.
If you are considering a new mandolin in the under $1500 range, I would also consider Epiphones (I have a MM30 and MM50), or Breedloves, depending on how much you wish to spend. They use standard loop-end strings.
Roger |
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Joined:
January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | Just get the ones with balls. The Ovation mando would be a great addition. It's got balls too. |
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Joined:
February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | CharlieB is right, D'Addario set E70 are ball-end mando stings. The factory set is the Adamas 8080. I just bought a couple of dozen sets of these from Al, so if you can't find then locally talk to him. As alternatives, Breezy Ridge make a contraption called the "string Wizard" which can be handy, if a little fiddly, or as Dave said you can take a length of brass-rod and install regular loop-end stings on an Ovation Mando. The only downside to that is if you break a string on-stage it's a nightmare.
http://www.jpstrings.com/braccess.htm#Wizard |
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Joined:
June 2003
Posts: 35
Location: Lincoln, Nebraska | At the risk of overstaying my welcome, I'll offer my own mando "expertise" (such as it is...) I've been an Ovation mando fan long enough to have my very own custom Adamas Mandolin built for me.
I've also been around the block, searching for the ultimate ball end mando strings. Never satisfied with the Adamas 8080s, I used guitar singles, touring the Elixirs, the Martin SP, the D'addario EXPs, all simply by ordering the appropriate gauge in strings. (Being a music store owner helps...)
My string of choice is the Ball end Thomastik 154K, expensive string but not when you consider they wear three-four times as long, and sound like butter on an Ovation. (Really warms up that plastic...)
They're hard to get unless you know the right people, or the right website: 154Kreallycheap.com
It's also true that in the last couple months, D'addario announced a ball end mando string, the
EJ70 11-38 gg.
I know a well established independent music store that carries these as well; I'd be happy to hook you up.
With all this opportunity, seems like a lot of work to make your own out of loop end, but that's just me. |
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Joined:
August 2003
Posts: 4619
Location: SoCal | re: "overstaying my welcome" ?? Ted,, with 27 posts, you are not overstaying...c'mon, we need your expertise.
Ted turned me on to just wonderful Austrian strings for the MM68. The strings felt like silk and play better than they look. Talk to him, expensive but your O deserves the best.
When I got the MM68, took my 'A' style and tuned what I saw described Nashville (guitar tuning.) Relegated the 'A' to primarily a "wall hanger." |
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Joined:
February 2002
Posts: 1817
Location: Minden, Nebraska | Ted,
Is that music store named Dietze?
Paul |
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Joined:
June 2002
Posts: 1614
Location: Converse, Texas | Originally posted by mandohack:
and sound like butter on an Ovation. (Really warms up that plastic...)
PLASTIC?!?!? Them's fightin words on this website!
Seriously, I just bouught an MM68 and LOVE it. Need to put new strings on it though. |
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Joined:
April 2003
Posts: 2503
Location: Fayetteville, NC | Hizz,
Congrats on your New mando. It'll give you years of enjoyment. Get those strings and pick away!! |
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Joined:
June 2002
Posts: 1614
Location: Converse, Texas | I plan on trying the Adamas 8080. |
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Joined:
June 2003
Posts: 35
Location: Lincoln, Nebraska | PLASTIC?!?!? Them's fightin words on this website!
Oops. Now this IS ironic. I'm the one with the bruises and scratches from defending the MM68 for the last four years on the www.mandolincafe.net website.
My quote: "The right tool for the right job." And as far as the MM68 in sonically hostile environments (Marshall stacks, 18" china cymbals, trombone section), you'll find no bigger fan than me.
Sorry if my teasing came off like the slap of a wet towell on the butt in a Jr. High Boys PE class shower room...
I tell me Loar Nazi purist friends, "The world is round, Galileo. And so is the back of the best acoustic-electric mandolin made..."
;)
Seriously, those Thomastik strings DO warm up that plas..., er,
Space Age plastic! |
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Joined:
May 2002
Posts: 3005
Location: Las Cruces, NM | Good stuff Ted
Let's try to keep these guitar people honest, they don't realize that 4 sets of two can make music that has existed for centuries.
Bailey |
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Ovation Mandolin
