Hey guys,
I made a 24 3/4 scale length guitar with 4 courses of 2 strings like a mandolin but mandocello scale length. A light set of mandolin strings will not tune up high enough. Specifically the A course. I could get a set of mandocello strings but damn...the bass strings are .78 and I think I'll run into all sorts of buzzing and possible tension issues as the neck is sans tension rod. I guess my question is, would it be easier to just order single strings and figure out what strings won't pop? I was hoping some of you crafty individuals would be able to give me somewhere to start. The light set of mando strings I have are .38 (G), .24 (D), .14 (A), .10 (E).

Thanks!
Adam

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Octave mando strings go from .012 to .046 (approx) and may work with 24 3/4 scale. They run about 15 bucks a set so I usually go with 2 sets of light acoustic guitar strings and use the A,D b and e strings. The A string tunes down to G and the b string down to a.  It's tuned an octave lower than a mando so a .014 should easily tune to that A note (a 220) It would never reach A 440 on that scale length so hopefully that's not what you're trying for. 

Thanks for the reply!

Mandolin scale length is around or just under 14 inches. That is a real stretch of scale length. The harp makers have rules of thumb about string lengths and breaking strains which basically say that the string will break dependin on the note you get out of it in a way that is independant of the diameter. Volume and other considerations are why strings are thicker. 

Other oddities in this set of equations are that steel and nylon have very similar string breaking characteristcs. Brass is different but i dont know if it would help. I expect you will have lots of breakages trying to tune that scale length to mandolin tuning.

when in doubt, consult the book of knowledge (google) ...in this case, the D'Addario String Tension/gauge guide, this page talks about how to pick the string, and has a link for the full data-sheet on diameter/tension/pitch.

http://www.daddario.com/DAstringtensionguide.Page?sid=71e2adcc-1237...

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