MacNichol , I think the button looks wierd on the hump, & thought it would be positioned wrong for hanging over the left shoulder, but it seems to be working okay. I don't think I'd order it this way, but it's not horrible,"doesn't suck".
You can see the placement in the upper left & lower right of this collage from the seller; I haven't tried to do any pics yet.


Michael Tognetti , I had been using TI's on the KO, but they went up since the last time I ordered them, so the last time I bought strings, I got JazzMando's, but I let the buyer of the KO have the extra set.
I'm going to try a set of Dogal Calace RW92 carbonsteel; someone was selling them on the Cafe, & I figured it was my chance to try them. What I Really want to try is Fisoma Supersolos which seem to be available only from Saiten Katalog , in Germany. Alison Stephens say's on her resource page,
"I discovered them whilst experimenting with flatwound A's as an alternative to Tomastik. The A's although flatwound, were so bright and full of tone that I immediately ordered the rest of the set. The D's and G's are equally bright (for flatwound strings). They are a little less bright than the polished Optima that I have been using but there are so many plus points. They are smooth as anything under fingers and therefore give very little "mechanism" sound from either the fingers or the pick. They are ready for reliable playing and hardly need tuning within about 1 hour's playing! They seem to be fairly long lasting although I have only used them for a few months during which time I have either been recording or practising for a Calace CD - so they've really been put through their paces! I think they are just wonderful and this is a girl who never ever thought she'd ever use an entire set of flatwound strings!"
Shipping is kind of steep outside Europe, though, making the price about as bad as TI.
I don't expect to try any bronze strings on this, though before I tried the ones on it, I was open to the possibility. I have D'Add PB's & GHS 80/20's I could have put on by now, but no point in wasting them.
Olympic would be nice; I've been watching some Columbia's. Also Gibson A's & Vega cylinder backs. GrimmPickins comments about his Cascade being close to the Vega CB sound influenced my decision to try a Cascade.

I've been using GHS A250's(I think that's the one) on "Victoria" for the last couple of months; the guages seem to work well, & she doesn't seem to need the chrome steel flatwound sound; I like them fine on her. A lot easier on the bank account, too.
I used to use GHS PF 270's on my Gibson's(A 2 & A 50), & liked them fine, they just sound too bright on the Breed's.

I've been thinking about posting an update since the beginning of August, but now I guess I'm doing it.

First Sunday's there's a "Mostly Bluegrass & More Concert & Pick In". I went the first Sunday in August, after missing a few months. After a couple of acts, I took the Cascade out to the picking.After a comment or two about my strap, then about the body style, & about the wraps on the string ends, it ended up getting favorable reviews for sound, & a guy who plays mandolin, & sometimes others, for a bunch of the acts there, said it sounded good, looked good, played well(I handed it to him to try) & for what it's worth, that I played it well(I got by, nothing great).
So, I was happy with our first outing( I had no trouble hearing my mando with a banjo pointed at me, either!), & may have a buyer(the mando &utility guy) for my mandola.

The Dogal strings sound good, & play well, but I don't think they're holding tuning as well as I've been used to with the TI's, though that may mean the nut or saddle slots need attention, rather than faulty strings; they're not that bad. I'd try them again, but I prefer the flatwound feel(& flatwound second strings). I have a couple sets of TI's waiting, but I'm trying to wear these out, first.

I picked up a Washburn bowl back(circa 1906-1907) from the Post Office Thursday & put on a slightly used set of ultra lights. The outside fourth string kept popping out of it's bridge slot, but yesterday(Saturday) that was fixed in a minute's time. Now I 've realized the first string is dead at the tenth fret, so I guess it needs some attention to the action, somewhere. All the other frets & strings seem fine, but that one really shot down my enthusiasm. Over all, though, I like it, & I was surprised how easy it is to hold the bowl back. It also seems to put my right hand into more the position recommended in my manuals from the early 20th century.

Interesting that I got the ultra light strings a while back for Victoria, with about the same scale , top construction, & almost as old, but they were too flimsy on her, yet they feel right on "Burnsie".

The bowlheads at Mandolin Cafe recommend nothing heavier than the GHS A240(I think that's the code) ultra light Classical strings, so I didn't want to try anything heavier. I suspect many will wreck these with Bluegrass gauges made for carved tops, but these aren't that sturdy.
At least this one's mostly playable, & was a bargain price. Someday I'll have to look into getting that 10th fret problem taken care of, though.