Paris Swing mandos

[Kirk Albrecht]

Anyone have any experience with Paris Swing mandolins? Could you chime in on quality, playability, sound characteristics? I am thinking about buying one, none in my area, so your input would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Kirk Albrecht

[garyblanchard]

Here is a link to an earlier discussion while you wait for more replies. I love the look, but don't have any experience with the sound. I look forward to other's responses myself.
Paris Swing Discussion (http://www.mandolincafe.net/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=12;t=36966;hl=paris+swing)

[MDW]

I've got a Samois model. It has a nice oval hole sound. Good open, tubby sound with lots of sustain. Big bass response. Setup required some tweaking when I got it but that isn't that unusual for a new instrument. Playability is pretty good. It does have a chop and could be used in bluegrass but it really sounds better for open chords, jazzy stuff, and single string stuff like fiddle tunes. It's a more relaxed sound for playing alone than my Muth F5, and probably better for blending with a guitar in a duo setting, but in a band or jam setting I prefer the F5.

[Paul Hostetter]

I have one and it's cute and has a voice of sorts, but its sound is pretty one-dimensional compared to other mandolins. It has the hard, dipped-in-plastic sound you'd expect of an instrument with so much of its top committed to its soundhole, and so much catalyzed finish piled on it. It strikes me as more a fashion statement than an advance in acoustics. Fun, but I would save my money for something, uh, deeper.

[Kirk Albrecht]

Thanks, all for the input. As much as I am intrigued, and these seem to be a good vlaue, I think I will take Paul's advice to save the pennies for something perhaps a bit stronger.

Kirk

[Roydw3]

I thought about one for a while and I am still tempted since they are inexpensive, but when I asked one store owner, he said the Eastmans were much better. So, I bought an Eastman

[red7flag]

I saw Greg Rich who designed the Paris Swing Mandos at IBMA. He still dresses with the flair of a sight impaired man buying from the too colorful to wear box at Goodwill. What a character.
Tony

[mangorockfish]

To me, if they played and sounded as good as they look, they would NOT be inexpensive. I think they have a cool look to them.

[Paul Hostetter]

OK, I'm going to amend my take, above, a little, having just worked over another one. The necks seem extremely soft, but the trussrod takes care of it. For awhile, I hope. Out of the box they all have horrendous bows in the necks, and the rods are extemely stiff, but they work if you back the nut out and put a drop of Tri-Flow on it before adjusting the neck.

What disturbs me is the engineering of the top. So much structural strength is relinquished to the huge soundholes that the tops flex way more than I think is wise (the f-hole version probably doesn't have this issue). For example, when you string it up, and pull the A's to pitch, then pull the D's to pitch, the A's drop almost two whole steps. That's enormous. The G's bring it all down another step to a step and a half, as do the E's. I have never seen a mandolin with that much flex under load. Once it gets to pitch, it's still flexing and dropping for awhile. Eventually it settles, but whoa.

The sound reflects this - tubby, though it's still an interesting enough voice. I don't think everything has to sound like a Gibson, and these sure don't. But I have grave doubts about the longevity.

I am intrigued by the headstocks. They call it inlay, but it's applied layers of paper-thin pearl under an extremely thick clear layer of plastic, with a decal floating on that layer well above the pearl, finally under a thin layer of finish. A real 3-D experience, no real inlay.

I don't know what the gears are, but they seem to be Grover knockoffs. Once lubed they seem to work fine. The buttons look very temporary, but they're screwed on, so can be replaced someday. If the mandolins last. We shall see. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[delsbrother]

Having been in a unique position to see a lot of these things, Paul, do you have any thoughts on other Selmer-esque mandolin family instruments? Were any of them real "successes" in your opinion? I think a lot of the people buying these things have at least a vague desire to play Swing with them..

For example, I have a Hodson Djangolin, and while it's extremely cool I wouldn't say it was a Gypsy Jazz instrument (at least not in a room full of guitars, it's just too quiet). It is, however, a fun flattop for choro, etc. Has this been your experience too?

[Paul Hostetter]

Maurice Dupont, with whom I was closely associated at the time, made some marvelous tiny Selmers with guitar bodies tuned as mandolins back in the '90s.

http://www.lutherie.net/dupont_mandolin.jpg

Others have done the same since, and I'm sure there are some that sound good too. Haven't played a Hodson, but that's a likely suspect.

Mandolins aren't gypsy jazz instruments. Let's face it. They never were and they balance on your head like a mattress balances on a bottle of wine. But mandolins in any shape are still fun. Look at some of the bizarre things coming out of Ho Chi Minh City.

http://imagehost.vendio.com/bin/imageserver.x/00000000/brucewei623/MandolinViolin656.jpg

[mandroid]

I was curious enough to get the Hodson FS on our classifieds.
barely a week of picking on it.. [small hole 14 fret to body]

picked a bit Sfozando, its fairly loud, contributing: nickle wrap strings that sit on metal, theres a zero fret, and a larger fret in top of the bridge, notched .

no truss rod, but neck of mahogany is substantial.
the case has the same gasket material as Pegasus uses for those cases , wet friendly..
so, though not as comfy a carry, It will supplant my trusty Martin Backpacker for the go anywhere I go instrument, [n.b. BP is FS]
slings across my back on the velo , to go see if theres a DIY music opportunity in town.