Dreaming about zero frets

[mad dawg]

Help me Doctor: last night I dreamed that my mandolin grew a zero fret; what does this mean?

[GVD]

I guess it means you think a lot like Mike Marshall. I got to listen to him expound on that very subject with Jim Triggs last weekend. He has been having some recurring problems with the nut on his loar and wondered why all mandolins don't have a zero fret. You don't happen to play like him too do you? http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

GVD

[GTison]

It means that deep down you have fears that your precious mandolin, the one you think is great, is secretly and truly about as good as an old 70's epiphone cheap guitar. Or that, other people will see it and know that you are a poor excuse for a mandolin player. These are deeply rooted fears of inferiority.

How do you feel abut your Father?

Yessss... I seee.....

Did he tell you that your chop on the mandolin sounded like someone beaating on a coffee can?

HMMMMMMM.... HMMMMMMM

[mad dawg]

Well doctor, I love my father, but he does have a tendency to point out my faults instead of my successes, like the time when I was carving a pumkpin at Halloween for my kindergarten class' pumpkin carving contest and he said the eyes should be on either side of the nose, unless I was going for an homage to Picasso -- which I was not -- or like the time I proudly presented him with an an ashtray I made for him in my 2nd grade art class and he said he didn't smoke, or when I bought my first mandolin and he asked why I didn't buy luthier-made (OK, I understand that one), or when he visited us lately and told me that the toilet paper holder should be mounted a little higher and further foward for the benefit of guests with flexibility problems... why do you ask? http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif

[mandodude]

...or when he visited us lately and told me that the toilet paper holder should be mounted a little higher and further foward for the benefit of guests with flexibility problems...
C'mon now, dawg... you're missin' the real burning question here...

...should the paper roll down in front of the roll or behind it??

HMMMMMMM??


;-)

[mandodude]

FWIW...

I'm a die-hard behinder!

...no pun intended!


I know, I know... more information than you needed to know, right??

[Daniel Nestlerode]

If Harvey Leach (http://www.leachguitars.com/) ever starts build mandolins, you'll see a zero fret on them. Harvey belives that the zero fret provides for a better, more balanced tone across the entire instrument. It also allows for surer intonation from the headstock end, and it's easier to make (which is why a lot of 70's cheapies used zero frets) because you don't have to be so carefull about the length of the fretboard and the straightness of the cut at the heastock end. Which is NOT to say that Harvey is less than an excellent luthier. He's just a zero fret guy, and thhat's what you get when you buy one of his guitars unless you ask him to build it differently.

I'd be REAL interested in haring and playing a mando with a zero fret!

Best,
Daniel

[Jim Garber]

There are some of the older, quality Italian bowlbacks that have a zero fret and a bridge to match. I think it is a matter of visual aesthetics and that folks associate them them with inexpensive instruments. It does make sense to divide the functions between the nut (string separation) and the fret (height).

Jim

[GVD]

jgarber Posted on May 14 2004, 13:50
It does make sense to divide the functions between the nut (string separation) and the fret (height). #

That was exactly Mike Marshalls argument.

GVD

[GTison]

HMMMMMMM.

These feelings are quite normal. Everyone has these feelings of inadequacy. As our feelings toward authority figures in our lives haunt us especially in our dreams. These may take forms of other things, ie. inanimate objects of our affection ergo the Mandolin. YESSSSS. It represents you and you are your father. In your dreams you see it as imperfect, though you wish it was perfect. So you see it's flaws and wonder about it therein wondering about yourself. HMMMMMMMMMMM.

Now the pumkin. HMMMMMMM does your mandolin have the f holes both on one side of the bridge? Do YOU own the watermellon Mandolin?? Times up. I have another appointment.

[BigJoe]

Or, it could mean you have forgotten your Lithium or Thorazine http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif. I like about 22 frets on mine, not zero!

[OdnamNool]

Should start with negative 22 and go up to zero... # http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[erick]

I thought for a minute that this thread was about a fretless mandolin-- that's my fantasy.

Doctor, what does this mean?

[mad dawg]

...perhaps it means you are a candidate for the Oud?...

[OdnamNool]

Hey mad dawg.

Is that the "dingaling's utopian Organization" or the "Order of unbelievable dreamers"? Maybe an oud is just an oud??? WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN???

Dr.... Help me too.

[Staramouche]

22 frets? #Just what are you guys compensating for?http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif

[mad dawg]

Perhaps for the relatively small size of our instruments. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[mandodude]

Me and my instrument...

[Big Joe]

Hey Mandodude....do you use a whole tortiose to pick that thing? http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif .

[GVD]

You da man Mandodude

GVD

[mad dawg]

Mandodude: twenty four frets -- you rule!

[OdnamNool]

ALRIGHTY m'dude... #Justa coupla questions...

Just what kind of establishment are you takin' that giant mando into... or out of... #Are you comin' or goin'? #In....Out.......what's the deal, here???

[TheNaivePicker]

HOLY COW! Thats One big Freakin Mando!!! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif