Playing music TO, not on, your mandolin

[mandowood]

Ok- I was at a friend's house yesterday and when we walked in, he had Yo-Yo Ma's Cello Suite blaring out of his stereo and had put his guitar and mandolin less than an inch from the speakers. He said the vibrations from the loud music help simulate playing while he's at work and will help open up the instruments.

I told him I thought he was crazy, and that classical music only helps make babies smarter while they're still in the womb, but as I thought more about it, it might make sense.

So I told my friend that I would bring it to an esteemed panel of experts for a definitive position on whether or not this is hocus pocus, or a valid experiment.

Thanks for your help. Fire away...

[PaulD]

The "panel of experts" has weighed in on this subject (http://www.mandolincafe.net/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST&f=7&t=18559), I think the conclusion is that there is no conclusion but folks have tried some interesting things! There are certainly folks that swear by it, but I've heard and read others whose opinions I respect think it's nonsense. While it makes some sense to me, I haven't tried it so I have no opinion.

Paul Doubek http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

[fatt-dad]

I think the panel of experts also agreed that Bill Monroe didn't do this so it's not necessary.

f-d

[grsnovi]

At some level I could see how induced vibrations in usical frequencies would act on the woods, glues and finish however I wonder if the induced vibrations from an external source would be as effective as those induced by actual playing. Certainly one could park an instrument in front of a speaker (or in a chamber) for far longer periods of vibration than would be possible by playing the instrument by yourself.

Does your friend's mandolin have that famous Yo Yo Ma tone? http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[Scotti Adams]

...it works..Ive done it to all my mandos down thru the years.

[ronlane3]

I've tried it with one of my mandos, but couldn't tell ya if it helped. I don't like leaving my Gibson out like that all day, so I just play the heck out of it when I'm home.

[Steve Williams]

It works...I found out about this trick after I got rid of a Washburn F back in the 80's that never would "open up". Banjo player that I knew asked me if I'd tried "speakering" it - I'd never heard of it before. I've since done it several times to reopen mandos that haven't been played for a while and lost their tone/volume, it's always worked for me. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

[tope]

I've put many mando's in front of speakers and feel that it helps to loosen things up.
IMHO.

[Sailormando]

Hey Steve,
Did you do that with "Shorty"?

Jack http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

[Steve Williams]

Jack,
Are you kidding..."Shorty" didn't need any help, he's been bellowing since birth! I'm working on his little brother "Cleatus" now...he'll probably be a loudmouth too. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wow.gif

Steve
http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

[AeroJoe]

You don't even have to use stereo speakers...

Put your mando in a stand. Get you or a friend's Harley Davidson. Close the the gaage door half-way (don't want too much carbon dioxide in your lungs). Crank up the Harley with the mandolin next to, (NOT IN FRONT) of the exhaust pipe... with plugs in your ears to protect them, rev it up for a few minutes...

If that won't vibrate a top good enough for your mando, then do as others have suggested...just play it all the time.

Actually, I read in back issue of Acoustic Guitar Magazine where they had some sort of machine that vibrated at very impressive speeds. They attached a Taylor, a Martin, and several other guitars to it and then compared them to the way the sounded before the experiment. I can't remember the exact details, but they all improved somewhat, to varying degrees. Perhaps someone can find that back issue and shed some better light on the details...

[OdnamNool]

The "panel of experts" has weighed in on this subject (http://www.mandolincafe.net/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST&f=7&t=18559),

Paul Doubek http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif
(Sorry to do this, because I'm beginning to understand that it might be called, "hijacking.") But I gotta ask ya... How did you pull up that old thread? I don't think my search function works properly... Thanks in advance...

[Andrew Reckhart]

I always wanted to rig up some sort of device to play my mandolin while I was away. I'd take a cordless screwdriver and mount 3 or 4 picks in a chuck. Then I would devise some sort of fixture to mount it and the mandolin in so that jut the tip of the picks hit the strings. Then all that you would have to do is turn on the cordless while you went to work and let it "pick" all day. I bet it would open up the mandolin very quickly. I mean how many people could pick that fast for 8 hours a day every day? I got my inspiration watching Eddie Van Halen, Billy Sheehan, and Paul Gilbert! I seriously think that it would work awesome!

[toddjoles]

The first mando I built, a stewmac campfire, sounded like it had a pair of heavy wool socks in it. Very muffled and muddy. After 2 months of playing an hour a day there was very little difference. I read about the speaker trick and tried it when I went out of town for the weekend. I put it in it's stand and placed my speakers around it at comfortable listening volume. I live in a duplex so I had to keep the volume down. 3 days later I was playing a different mando. Clear tone with strong bass, lots of volume but still slightly muddy. For the next month whenever I could I cranked the stereo volume and put the mando in front of the speaker. The volume continued to increase and the muddyness has disapeared. At the last slow jam the only complaint was that the mando was two loud, and that was with two b#$jo's in the group.

I'm a beleiver!!http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[dave]

I tried this, I put a Sam Bush CD on repeat on my stereo and left my mando in front of it for 4 days when I came home that mandolin had not learned one tune.

[PaulD]

OdnamNool,

Sorry for the belated reply... haven't had much time to peruse the forum lately.

Part of what made the search successful is that I remembered it was several months ago so I didn't even look at the hits for December, January, February, and March. I searched on
open* up stereo speakers, looked in the Builders/Repair forum (I was pretty sure it was there), searched in "Topic Titles and Posts", and searched from "This month" and "Older". Without clicking in the Older button it would have only found the post if it were current.

I hope this helps.

Paul Doubek

[evanreilly]

I usually keep my mandolin tied to a large 12" speaker when I am home and have the stereo cranked up.
In addition to sonic vibration from the speakers, I subject my mandolins to even worse vibrations from.......

The Dreaded Wahl sonic tone enhancer:

[mandroid]

Maybe one of those Bass shakers, that are attached to your couch for earthquake effects in home theatre setups.

The 900 pound gorilla thing in the earlier thread, that #was the size of a washing #machine. gazillion watt speaker fitted #instrument opener comes to mind.

[Yonkle]

Or you could make this contraption, strums back and forth 50 times per minute. #JD