my trip to mandolin bros.

[ira]

visiting down in ny and made a pilgrimage to mandolin bros. on staten island.
i love this place! lots of mandos, and play what you want. so, here are my reviews of a few items:

collings mt- f style/f holes- blonde: gorgeous to look at, and wonderfully balanced, each note rings out and a great, easy to play neck!

breedlove 0-f: really liked it. way easy to play. love the wider neck, radius and big frets. had a nice tone to it.projection was decent but not killer. definitely seemed worth the price./

rigel 110- a very different feel up the neck- not sure i like it, but i understand why some would love it, a full sound, but not my cup of tea. certainly a beautiful instrument if you like something mod.

weber gallatin- i liked the raw look, but didn't love the sound. easy to fret, and comfortable neck.

bighorn- loved the look, but not the sound.

weber bridger- still one of my favs. man do i wish i could afford one of these. sounds amazing no matter what genre of music you play, easy to play, simple but beautiful design. i just love it. to me a great all purpose instrument and one of the most unique sounding mandos around.

mid mo-0w: loved the wide neck. a great full sound with open strings. simple and inexpensive. really impressive for what it is.

morgan monroe-bean blossom- truly unimpressed with the sound of this mando in every way.

gibson f-4 (i think it was a 1920s): first time i played an f4 and didn't just flat out love it. a tad plinky for me.

gibson -a 1918: not as full sounding as many of these i've tried.
gibson 1914: if i had the coupla grand, i would have bought this on the spot. incredible sounding. picked a bunch of different stuff on it, and strummed in any key i could and it was great. especially wonderful on a little 7th chord shuffle. the best of these i've played.

martin (forgot the year): not impressed with the sound at all. many have told me that this is a great and less expensive alternative to an old gibson a- i didn't see it.

vega cylinder back 1920- truly my favorite of all older instruments. this would be the one for me. every one i've tried has the perfect sound (as i hear it) in a mando. my (mediocre)attempt at crosspicking, strumming open or closed chords, blues, folk,you name it. like the sound of angels. easy to play and surprisingly to hold- i love these mandos!!!!

dixie banjo uke- what a blast to plink around on that little guy!~

lastly a mid-mo octave mando (forget the number): my first try playing an octave. i think it was a 22" scale. man, what a different animal. i think it would def. suit my needs for solo shots at open mics, but would have to work on chords. some chords that i play with 2 fingers on the mando for an open ring, were not as pleasing on the octave. i assume there are variations on chord forms that are realistic with finger reach and capture a better sound than i was producing. really different to play something so big. but in general, i liked it. wish they had a mandola- i think that they are around the same scale (i couldn't go any bigger, and actually wished it were just a tad smaller), though i guess it would be difficult to transfer my picking/chords as the courses are tuned differently.

anyway, those are my musings on the selections i tried.
peace,
ira

[ira]

forgot about the gibson f-9. nice. easy to play, pretty sweet sounding. one of those- pretty impressive for the money mandos.

[Windflite]

did ya take anything home?http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif

[J. Mark Lane]

That Gibson 1914 -- was that an F4? #

And yeah, I think I played that same little banjo-uke. #I was amazed at the sound that little thing put out. #Not only loud, but sweeeeet. #(Pricey, tho.) #

You didn't play any of the Gibsons? #That would have been hard for me to resist. #(I see you played an F9...no others?) And what about the Phoenix's? Did you try any of those?

Anyway, your impressions are pretty much consistent with mine on my recent trip. #I'm looking forward to a return next week.

Mark

[meskalito]

Thanks for your thoughts. I enjoyed your analysis. What does an octave mandolin sound like? I play mandolin unaccompanied sometimes, so if the octave is better for that, maybe I should pick one up.

[ira]

octave is an octave lower than the mando you're playing now.

mark- no that sweet 1914 was an old gibson 'a' style (unless they list it, i never know what kind-a2,a4,etc..)

didn't bother with most newer gibsons, and i've tried the phoenix mandos before. sweet souding, but not as much as others -but thats just me, i know some who love em!.

peace,
ira

[Jim Garber]

vega cylinder back 1920- truly my favorite of all older instruments. this would be the one for me. every one i've tried has the perfect sound (as i hear it) in a mando. my (mediocre)attempt at crosspicking, strumming open or closed chords, blues, folk,you name it. like the sound of angels. easy to play and surprisingly to hold- i love these mandos!!!!
I don't see that cylinder back listed on their site. Either it is gone already or they just don't keep their site updated.

Do you recall what woods were on the back and sides and the price and the model?

Jim

[ira]

didnot check on the type of woods. just took my time enjoying the playing of it, and certainly don't remember the price (i think in the 2k+ category), as i can't even think about affording one.
'
i haven't checked their website much, but there have been threads on the cafe in the past stating that they aren't always up to date.

they are nice folks there, and will fill you in on questions about instruments if you call.

peace,
ira

[PhilGE]

Meskalito, here's a low-fi version of John Brown's March (http://homepage.mac.com/philg2/.Music/jbm.mp3) recorded on my octave mandolin. This is a short-scale instrument - only 20". Thomas Buchanan is the buider. This will give you a vague idea of what an OM sounds like.

-Phil