Mandocellos

[Jonathan]

As a mandocello player (but not owner) I have observed that
the basic A-style cello made by Gibson and others tends not to be very resonant on the C-string. As the body size of these mandocellos is quite a bit smaller than that of a bowed cello, I attribute the weak low register to their relatively undersized dimensions. This theory is borne out by the stronger bottom end of the Dell'Arte mandocello that I've been playing lately, as this instrument is built on the lines of an oversized guitar. However, I have heard a small parlor guitar from the 1890's that was tuned as a cello - and had a surprisingly impressive low end. Also, as a double bass player I've noticed that the basses that shake the floor the most aren't necessarily the largest. So I'm wondering if there is another factor besides body size that determines how well a string instrument will respond in the low register. Also - are there makes and models of mandocellos out there that have a juicier than normal low end?

Jonathan

[vkioulaphides]

Hmm... I, too, did try my hand at a Dell'Arte mandocello (not of my own) and found it quite resonant in the bottom. I could not, however, get used to how darn rope-y the C-course felt under the fingertips. I found shifts excruciating!

[For everyone's reference: Like Jonathan, I, too, am a (string) bass-player by profession; the actual thickness of the C-strings certainly does not bother me. It's the roughness of the texture that hurts...]

I wonder how flatwounds would feel; considering their added density/heaviness, they might be the answer to the need for more resonance down there. But I wouldn't know; I'm just guessing... Anyone play a German-made mandocello, i.e. one designed from the ground up to work under the burden of flatwounds?

Also, has anyone played a Calace (or at least Calace-type) mandocello? How does the shorter-than-guitar-scale work? Any comments?

[Jonathan]

I'm not surprised that the other classical double bassist who haunts this forum would be the first to respond to my post! Victor, you surely understand how playing the bass makes it hard to accept a wimpy bottom end on any other low-pitched string instrument.
As it happens, I do use Thomastik flatwound strings on the Dell'Arte, which makes for a much smoother feel and less metallic twang. The drawback is that these strings lose their brilliance fairly quickly.
More on this later, when I can get back to the computer.

[pklima]

Well, here comes another bassist's opinion... I just sold the troll cittern which was tuned CGDAE and has a guitar-shaped body with a 22" lower bout and 26+" scale. It didn't have the bottom my bass has on the same notes, obviously, but it did have great balance - the low C sounded just as loud and as convincing as any other notes. The F-style mandocello I had earlier (also built by Steve Wishnevsky) had an 18" lower bout but didn't sound quite as convincing on the lower notes; that probably had more to do with it being overbuilt than undersized, however.

I kept a cello banjo with a 16" head and a 28 3/4" scale. That's huge by banjo standards, even cello banjo standards. It has even less bottom than the troll cittern but being much louder and more percussive is probably better at driving a small ensemble.

So far it seems to me size does matter. It also makes sense that a mandocello should ideally have a body volume roughly equal to a violoncello - clearly far more than Gibson-style mandocelli. I've never played a Calace-style mandocello but I would definitely like to try one someday.