I have received as a gift for my birthday a very old italian mandolin (1890) made by the Ferrari brothers in Naples,in a very perfect shape. I am going to put new strings now and your video has been very useful.thanks a lot from Italy !
Bear with me all you accomplished Mandolin Players. Thank you for the straightforward demonstration, explanation and the right angle of the video camera to actually see what you are doing! Absolute Beginner (3 weeks) and broke a D string trying to tune the mandolin. I am mentioning this for other Beginners whom you will be able to advise further. Bought a Tuner Factory-set to Chromatic... I set it to U (for Ukulele) but could not find a 'D' to tune it so kept turning the string at the same time trying to find the String D on the tuner. You've guessed... the string shot off across the room faster than the speed of light - well, almost! I then set the Tuner to V for Violin and found a 'D' scale. Am I doing the right thing? If someone else can learn from my mistake trying to work out tuning a mandolin, then my ignorance may have served to help another Beginner.
Great explanation of the knot. Otherwise, I was taught to line up the head with the hole perpendicular to the headstock. I don't see much benefit in doing it differently than you demonstrated, but it's a good example of how some minor details don't really seem to matter quite as much. Anyway, this is probably one of the best and easiest demonstrations I've seen so far. Thank you for posting this video! Great job, guys!
Very helpful! I’ll be attempting to change manderlin strings for the first time this week. I can change guitar strings with my eyes closed, but I’ve been intimidated by the mando. I just got my new Elixers today, so I’ll be doing it soon! Thanks for the fast shipping and the video!
On guitar and banjo I always use a capo at around 7 to keep tension on the string at the tailpiece or bridge. Gives me 2 hands free to work. Getting ready to do my 1st mando string change and thinking to apply my Shubb banjo capo. It's the only time I'll use capo on mandolin, I promise.
Usually when I restring a guitar or bass, I like to take off all the strings so I can clean the fretboard, dust off anything else, etc. But now that I’m getting into mandolin, maybe it really is a good idea to just do one string pairing at a time - otherwise, I’ll have to re-intonate the bridge from scratch! The really tricky thing with those fall-off bridges is that a restring must then become a full setup, whether you like it or not.
A good way to remember which way to turn to tighten your strings is that it is the exact opposite of what you learned for regular screws and bolts “lefty loosy righty tighty”, so to tighten your strings, turn to the left, it’s “lefty tighty and righty loosy”, opposite of most every screw or bolt.
Banjo Ben, i have a question........I wanted to lower my bridge for lower action, does that change my intonation? if i adjust the bridge, when i tune it up, will the intonation be correct? or should a luthier perform action adjustment by bridge lowering?
ive used wire cutters and had to pull on the string to get the ends to cut: accidently nicked my headstock. cried like a baby, all is well. IM changing mandolin strings for a friend soon. figured it went like this but was making sure lol
I have a Rogue mandolin that came with rusty strings. The tailpiece on it feels very sturdily stuck on, unlike what this better fender plate demonstrated. What can I do about that Rogue’s plate?
I'm learning all the things I did wrong and why I have string slippage so much having just bought my first Mandolin, the head stock looks like a classical guitar style. I shall try this instead and use the winder. Awesome - Oh sorry 'bout making the like numbers to 666! my bad.
Good tutorial, and I noticed, 12:10 I put strings on my mandolin haha,,oh kay,,that's all I had, but seriously a great lesson, hey man I need 2 things,,do you sell one of those guitar props or holder things? And a guitar strap that ties at headstock?
Yep! Here's the stand: store.banjobenclark.com/collections/instrument-care-maintenance/products/daddario-headstand-string-changing-stand I don't have the strap yet but if you call us at the shop we can get one on order for you.
Or you can tape the bridge down with masking tape to hold it in place. Also being a tech I've never had any issues restringing all at once instead of one at a time, especially if you're not changing string gauge. Maybe if it's a really old vintage instrument or if there are major issues that can't be fixed then yeah I can see restringing one at a time. To each their own. Cheers!
@@ahah1785 Instruments are made to have tension on them. I only remove that tension if there is something structurally wrong. If the mandolin is in good shape, then a slight reduction in string tension will serve it well as it experiences temp/moisture changes. Remember, temp and moisture changes are the biggest issue. Make sure it's in a stable location that is properly humidified and temp controlled.