Sound box for eastman 815

[James Sanford]

I recently purchased a new Eastman 815 and have been very happy with it so far. #I have had it now 1 week. I played a local festival in Alabama this weekend and was really pleased with the overall sound especially after such a short time.

I decided to build a speaker box and try to open the mandolin up a bit quicker than through normal playing.

Any thoughts as to how to accurately determine if I am accomplishing anything? #I know this is very subjective and I am sure others have tried this. #I seem to remember a thread here but didn't search.

Any thoughts?

[Stephen Perry]

Direct massage of the plates seems more effective. Next most effective might be a vibration box. I've used a strong WalMart sourced vibrator, mouse pads, strings, a suspension case to make a box. Works nicely. Speakers moving air moving wood probably does something. The humidity cycling from having the instrument out is likely to do something, too.

[DryBones]

my 505 seemed to really come around after I started leaving it out on the stand instead of in the case all the time. Probably the humidity thing Stephen mentioned.

[Mikey G]

You could do it the old fashioned way: "Whip it like a mule."

[MikeEdgerton]

Direct massage of the plates seems more effective. Next most effective might be a vibration box. I've used a strong WalMart sourced vibrator, mouse pads, strings, a suspension case to make a box. Works nicely. Speakers moving air moving wood probably does something. The humidity cycling from having the instrument out is likely to do something, too.

I'm almost afraid to ask for a picture of this..... http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[James Sanford]

You could do it the old fashioned way: #"Whip it like a mule."
Actually, I did exactly that for the few days I had before the festival and it did seem to help. May have just been settling the strings but the tonal quality improved.

This experiment is just really curiosity on my part because I have heard this helps and I am now semi-retired so I have time to do it.

[James Sanford]

Direct massage of the plates seems more effective. #Next most effective might be a vibration box. #I've used a strong WalMart sourced vibrator, mouse pads, strings, a suspension case to make a box. #Works nicely. #Speakers moving air moving wood probably does something. #The humidity cycling from having the instrument out is likely to do something, too.
At the risk of getting too technical, it seems to me that vibrating the wood by some means at the frequencies which are normal for actually playing the instrument would be better than random vibrations. Maybe your method is not random?

Regarding humidity, I assume the case prevents much variation. Is this also true? What about cases which have a humidifier built in?

[NoNickel]

What would direct massage be? How would that be accomplished?