Jeff_Stallard
Apr-12-2004, 8:07am
I'm selling my Epiphone, and decided to replace it with a Troubadour mandolin. I just got it, and thought I'd give you good folks a quick review. For those unfamiliar with it, the Troubadour Josquin is a Portugese style mandolin, meaning it has the shorter, European scale length (identical to violin), a wide, deep body, and a semi-bowl back with 6 or so ribs.
Customer service was excellent. It was shipped from Scotland to Ohio, and got here in six days. I asked a question about recommended string guages, and he was very helpful. Recommended guages are also printed on the label.
Stock hardware is...sort of poor. The bridge is a softer wood, the tailpiece doesn't have a hole for a strap button, and the tuners are rough and inconsistent. However, all of that is fixable. I drilled a hole in the tailpiece and disassembled & cleaned up the tuners. I'm going to replace the bridge with an ebony one and get some horizontal Schaller tuners from International Luthier Supply (it has a slotted peg head). Also, the nut is somewhat soft plastic. Ordinarily, I'd replace it, but this instrument has a zero fret, so I don't think the nut makes any difference in the sound.
The action was fine, but everything was too high. Better that then too low, right? I just sanded the bridge and zero-fret down. I very nearly destroyed the zero-fret however. Lesson: ALWAYS MAKE SURE YOUR FILE IS LEVEL WITH THE FINGERBOARD. Anyway, when I lowered the zero-fret, I also had to deepen the nut slots, but that's a simple task. The action is 10 times better now that I lowered everything.
Wood construction is very nice. All joints look good, edges are nice and flush, and everything feels very solid. The top braces looked a little too thick to me; I was worried they would inhibit the sound (more on sound later). The only visible imperfections are on the fingerboard. It's not ebony, but some painted (stained?) hardwood (why paint that beautiful hardwood?!), and the paint (stain?) around the fingerboard-body joint isn't perfect. I didn't notice until until I was inspecting it, so it's not something that sticks out. The finish on the body and neck is very good. I don't know enough about finish to say what kind it is, but it's consistent, with no imperfections.
Now for the most important part -- THE SOUND. I'm amazed how this thing sounds. Not only is it a low-end instrument, but it's brand new and hasn't had time to break in. Despite those two things, this thing sounds great. It has a lot of the clarity of a bowlback, with a slightly breathy, growly kind of thing along with it, and tremelo is very easy (can't figure out why). It's also surprisingly loud. It's not as loud as my Vega bowlback, but then again...not even the famous f-style bluegrass mandos can top my Vega in volume (Eat it chumps! heh heh). I have no way on quantifying the volume; I can only say that it's surprisingly loud. The G string is a tiny bit quieter than the other strings however, but I'm not sure if I caused that with my zero-fret and bridge work.
CONCLUSION: This instrument is well worth the money, particularly if you have the tools and knowledge to adjust stuff to your liking. Even if you have to pay someone to set it up, it would still be worth the money.
Customer service was excellent. It was shipped from Scotland to Ohio, and got here in six days. I asked a question about recommended string guages, and he was very helpful. Recommended guages are also printed on the label.
Stock hardware is...sort of poor. The bridge is a softer wood, the tailpiece doesn't have a hole for a strap button, and the tuners are rough and inconsistent. However, all of that is fixable. I drilled a hole in the tailpiece and disassembled & cleaned up the tuners. I'm going to replace the bridge with an ebony one and get some horizontal Schaller tuners from International Luthier Supply (it has a slotted peg head). Also, the nut is somewhat soft plastic. Ordinarily, I'd replace it, but this instrument has a zero fret, so I don't think the nut makes any difference in the sound.
The action was fine, but everything was too high. Better that then too low, right? I just sanded the bridge and zero-fret down. I very nearly destroyed the zero-fret however. Lesson: ALWAYS MAKE SURE YOUR FILE IS LEVEL WITH THE FINGERBOARD. Anyway, when I lowered the zero-fret, I also had to deepen the nut slots, but that's a simple task. The action is 10 times better now that I lowered everything.
Wood construction is very nice. All joints look good, edges are nice and flush, and everything feels very solid. The top braces looked a little too thick to me; I was worried they would inhibit the sound (more on sound later). The only visible imperfections are on the fingerboard. It's not ebony, but some painted (stained?) hardwood (why paint that beautiful hardwood?!), and the paint (stain?) around the fingerboard-body joint isn't perfect. I didn't notice until until I was inspecting it, so it's not something that sticks out. The finish on the body and neck is very good. I don't know enough about finish to say what kind it is, but it's consistent, with no imperfections.
Now for the most important part -- THE SOUND. I'm amazed how this thing sounds. Not only is it a low-end instrument, but it's brand new and hasn't had time to break in. Despite those two things, this thing sounds great. It has a lot of the clarity of a bowlback, with a slightly breathy, growly kind of thing along with it, and tremelo is very easy (can't figure out why). It's also surprisingly loud. It's not as loud as my Vega bowlback, but then again...not even the famous f-style bluegrass mandos can top my Vega in volume (Eat it chumps! heh heh). I have no way on quantifying the volume; I can only say that it's surprisingly loud. The G string is a tiny bit quieter than the other strings however, but I'm not sure if I caused that with my zero-fret and bridge work.
CONCLUSION: This instrument is well worth the money, particularly if you have the tools and knowledge to adjust stuff to your liking. Even if you have to pay someone to set it up, it would still be worth the money.