Welll, I'm not the main mando player in my bluegrass band - I sing lead and play guitar and dobro, but I play mando with a duo and like my pal the main mando man of the band - I have been using D'Add J75s for some time - we both have Lebeda F5s. I don't mind Elixir nanowebs on my flat-top guitars, and so I thought I'd try a set on my mando. They are the same gauge as D'add J74s but they work rather nicely. I certainly need a good bluegrass chop, as well as soloing and I find the smooth feel of them pretty nice (once I got used to it). I'm a heavy string guy (I'm told) and so like on my guitars - I wish they'd do the slightly heavier J-75 equivalents, but last Thursday I was playing in the duo and my wife told me my mando solos were too loud ! That's just fine thanks !

These seem to go on forever, compared to any others I've tried, on my old Gibson A4. And tone is as sweet as any others. My experience of this type of string on my Martin D15 guitar was no so favourable on either elongivity or tone.

If you're looking at long practice sessions I'd recommend Elixir mandolin strings, as they really do last several times longer than &quot;normal&quot; sets, and the smooth feel of them makes them seem not quite so hard on the fingers. <br/> <br/>However, there is a slight flatness of response that I personally find unacceptable in performance situations. Swapping even a fairly new set pf Elixirs for Martin strings gives my mandolin a more brilliant quality for solos and rather more percussive drive for backup.

I don't like Elixir strings on my acoustic guitars but for some reason they seem to suit my mandolin better than most others. The scale length on my mandolin is longer than average, meaning that I prefer to use lighter gauge strings (10-34 in this case) and these Elixirs still give quite a full sound, although without so much sparkle as 'traditional' strings. Also, smooth tremelo picking seems easier, due to the slippy feel of the string. They do last a lot longer than other brands, but I think the question of string life depends on how much you play - frequent players seem to benefit more, since over extended periods of time metal fatigue and resultant loss of elasticity comes into play.

Just did put a set of these on my F-5, and I was very disappointed with the sound, particularlly the A string. So, I'm back to the D'Addarios, which give a much better chop and riing.