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Jonathan Peck
Sep-06-2007, 10:08am
What is the loudest mandolin you've ever heard?

Tim2723
Sep-06-2007, 10:12am
My Michael Kelly pluged into 50,000 watts at the NJ State Fair.

Jonathan Peck
Sep-06-2007, 10:15am
I didn't realize that you can power a light bulb with a mandolin http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

Tim2723
Sep-06-2007, 10:21am
Yikes! I wonder what that thing does?

fwoompf
Sep-06-2007, 10:25am
Yikes! #I wonder what that thing does?
Math!

Chris Baird
Sep-06-2007, 10:27am
Wow, that thing must be great at breaking in a new instrument. Put your mandolin inside and expose it to Monroe at 1000 decibals.

bradeinhorn
Sep-06-2007, 10:31am
nice try on this thread, captain:D

my daley is pretty loud i'd say. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

adgefan
Sep-06-2007, 10:32am
A friend's Daley. A banjo killer if there ever was one.

fatt-dad
Sep-06-2007, 10:42am
My Flatiron.

f-d

MandoBen
Sep-06-2007, 10:43am
Somebody once said he thought I had an amplifier inside my BRW. More than once people at very loud bluegrass jams have said my BRW is the loudest instrument in the room. I guess it helps to use a Tone-Gard, J75 strings and a 2.5mm Wegen pick. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

ALog
Sep-06-2007, 11:07am
Kicking Mule mandolin made in Oklahoma...LOUUUUUUUUUD!

johnhgayjr
Sep-06-2007, 11:11am
Three Daley's in my neck of the woods (including mine) and all three honk pretty good.

John Gay
Memphis

sgarrity
Sep-06-2007, 11:13am
Fatt-dad's Flatiron has all the volume you'd ever need in a mandolin. And great tone too. Another extremely loud mando is Billy Bright's Gilchrist. An amazing instrument...

Jonathan Peck
Sep-06-2007, 11:20am
nice try on this thread, captain:D

my daley is pretty loud i'd say. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif
Brad, I thought your Kelley was louder than the Daley. Either way, they both are loud and cut nicely in a jam.

I also think the the 'x' braced Flatirons cuts very well.

MikeEdgerton
Sep-06-2007, 11:21am
My Gibson F5G with J-75's on it. The second loudest is my Gibson F5G with J-74's on it.

Sep-06-2007, 12:38pm
WHAT THE?http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif?

Is that guy trying to send a message to Jupiter?

AlanN
Sep-06-2007, 12:42pm
http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sleepy.gif

jefflester
Sep-06-2007, 12:46pm
Is that guy trying to send a message to Jupiter?
In space, nobody can hear you chop.

Jonathan Peck
Sep-06-2007, 12:49pm
Is that guy trying to send a message to Jupiter?
In space, nobody can hear you chop.
Oh darn!

John Flynn
Sep-06-2007, 1:26pm
Well, my Old Wave oval is not the loudest mandolin I have heard, but it is the loudest oval I have heard. The loudest unamplified mandolin I have heard, by far is a National Resonator. You can talk about your Daleys and Gils all you want, but a National will smoke 'em all for volume. The tone is not traditional, but it's not bad either. There is one in my future! If you narrow it to traditional, wooden construction with F-holes, I am not an expert, but I remember a thread on this years ago where there was a consensus that at least for for pure volume, Stiver mandolins were a serious contender.

JEStanek
Sep-06-2007, 1:31pm
This one when your fingers go through it...

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0009HHZ20.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

Jamie

fatt-dad
Sep-06-2007, 1:38pm
My Stiver was loud (should have kept that one, sigh. . .). I kept the Flatiron 'cause it was X-braced and for some reason, I figured it was unique that way.

Just how loud are those early mandobanjos?

f-d

mandroid
Sep-06-2007, 1:44pm
See New National Resonator Mandolin thread...

My Vega mando-banjo is requested to be pointed away from others in the jam circle,
but still loses out to the piano player, so I bring the electric and wee amp.

anyone want to give standard Decibel numbers? , its less subjective..
gentlemen start your DB meters..
http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/coffee.gif

LowGapBG
Sep-06-2007, 3:40pm
My Kalamazoo is pritty loud!It's bark is worser than it's bite! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

8ch(pl)
Sep-06-2007, 3:46pm
I played my Mid Missouri M-4 in a church worship band beside an electric guitar and had no trouble being heard.

Sep-06-2007, 3:48pm
Is that guy trying to send a message to Jupiter?
In space, nobody can hear you chop.
Don't tell George Lucas.

pjlama
Sep-06-2007, 3:56pm
My MM, it just sold.

F5G WIZ
Sep-06-2007, 4:03pm
A friend of mine has a newer Gilchrist that is ear peircing when he really gets on it. Amazing volume. But very controlable.

Gutbucket
Sep-06-2007, 4:07pm
My Weber cedar top Yellowstone. But I'm not competing with any banjos at this time. I'll find out soon enough at the next jam this Saturday.

B. T. Walker
Sep-06-2007, 4:56pm
My Ludewig Emory Lester. Long ago, when Dale played it freshly strung up in the white, it was louder over the phone than many a mando I'd heard. In person, it is the loudest I've ever heard, hands down, and it sounds great.

F5G WIZ
Sep-06-2007, 5:17pm
Hey Altair, what is the status of your Ludewig two point?

jasona
Sep-06-2007, 5:26pm
The Kimble that SternART had at Inverness a few years back. Next, a Randy Wood F12 to F5 conversion. You could FEEL the chop off that one. Mike Compton's F4 is no slouch either.

Rick C.
Sep-06-2007, 6:25pm
National resonator.

Salty Dog
Sep-10-2007, 10:47pm
My BRWs will hold their own against anything with strings that is unplugged. #Lou Stiver's mandolins are the next loudest that I have heard.

D C Blood
Sep-11-2007, 6:12am
The F-7 that John Duffey modified (put long neck on, tilted it back so the strings were way up off the body.this was back in the sixties...I owned it from 68-71, now belongs to Dick Smith in DC...I've kicked myself many times...

JeffD
Sep-11-2007, 7:48am
National resonator.
They are loud!

MDW
Sep-11-2007, 11:38am
A guy in Memphis has a Sam Bush varnish that is scary loud, goose bump raising loud. But it also has incredible tone as well.

AlanN
Sep-11-2007, 11:42am
The term Loud should be used to characterize screaming babies and my neighbor's leaf blowers (yes, plural), not sweet mandolins.

(God forbid, he picks up a rake...)

lgc
Sep-11-2007, 11:58am
A new National Resonator-by far

mcgroup53
Sep-11-2007, 12:19pm
My BRW F5 is amazingly loud. Adirondack top, and it just never breaks up no matter how much pick energy is imparted to the strings. Absolutely fabulous sounding mandolin, and the tonal quality is superb, as well. Benjamin is building instruments that are the equal to the very best mandolins being sold today, IMO, and I've played and/or owned more than my share of Nuggets, Collings, Dudes, Gils, Heidens, Montys, etc.

Jonathan Peck
Sep-11-2007, 1:34pm
The term Loud should be used to characterize screaming babies and my neighbor's leaf blowers (yes, plural), not sweet mandolins.

(God forbid, he picks up a rake...)
Yeah..thanks for your opinion...Not!! Hopefully if he picks up a rake you'll be able to out run him http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif As for the leaf blowers...the bane of urban sprawl is not something I'm familiar with or really care about...so once again...thanks for nothing.

AlanN
Sep-11-2007, 1:39pm
oh right, you care about loud mandolins, how special.

I'll say it again...

http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sleepy.gif

sgarrity
Sep-11-2007, 1:49pm
Sounds like someone woke up on the wrong side of the rock this morning. :cool:

Cheryl Watson
Sep-11-2007, 1:51pm
Loudest mandolin I ever heard tell of is a certain Randy Wood F5 that resides in Florida. It is beat up to @#ll and legendary for its ability to drown out anything and everything in a jam.

Cheryl

BlueMountain
Sep-11-2007, 3:05pm
I wonder what kind of decibel difference we are talking about? Two? Four? That can be very noticeable, even though the numbers aren't high. And of course the PERCEPTION of volume is a bit problematic. I have a decibel meter, but it isn't digital, and it can be hard to know if the picking was the same, or if I'm really reading the dial correctly, etc. Also, volume can sound differently to the player and the listener.

I know that my perception of the loudest unamplified f-style mandolin I've played is my Mike Vanden, a very light mandolin built 25 years ago in the UK. I don't know if it's louder when played hard, but it seems to SPEAK faster than my other mandolins--like that kid in class who was always the first one to raise her hand. My sense is that it produces good volume when I'm barely picking it. I have other mandolins that need to be picked much harder before they sound their best.

Frank Wakefield was playing it last Friday afternoon after setting down his Loar, and I certainly didn't think the Vanden was any quieter, though I don't think it was louder, either. His opinion was: "That's a GOOD mandolin!" His was pretty good, too.

Lucky trade, out on a limb. I'd never heard of them.

Jonathan Peck
Sep-11-2007, 3:50pm
oh right, you care about loud mandolins, how special.
I did start this thread with that as my question. Thanks for raining on my parade.

I'm looking for a mandolin that has great midrange cut, and also loud enough so that 'I' can hear it at a loud jam (the jam that I'm a regular at). If it also turns out that this mando will also be the one I want to play everyday, then I will consider that a bonus as my priority is more volume and cut. I already have a sweet mandolin...two in fact. I wound up purchasing Stanley #14 from the classifieds. Thanks to everyone in the Cafe community...well, almost everyone.

-jonathan

sgarrity
Sep-11-2007, 3:54pm
I doubt you're going to find anything much louder than you MM, Stanley or Heiden. I've played examples of all three of those and they certainly weren't lacking in volume. If you want a really "LOUD" mandolin it's gonna come down to the individual instrument. Heck, just carry a pig nose amp with ya and plug that Mandocaster in! If that ain't loud enough I'd find me a new jam.....:p

Jonathan Peck
Sep-11-2007, 4:10pm
Well I can call everyone there a friend so I'm not giving it up, but it isn't exactly the best room to play in acoustically...add 20-30 more musicians of all experience levels at any given time, a hunert' or so casual listeners having a fun night out carrying on with their buddies, stir vigorously and you have the 'Good Time Jam'. Plus, you never know who's passing through town and is going to sit in.

BTW - There are a few amps on stage...I have thought about bringing down the mandocaster but I wouldn't make it a regular thing..ya know.

"If you want a really "LOUD" mandolin it's gonna come down to the individual instrument."

Based on the varied responses, this sure would seem to be the case.

-jonathan

AlanN
Sep-11-2007, 4:20pm
I did start this thread with that as my question. Thanks for raining on my parade.
That you did, and it was wrong of me to 'rain on your parade' and jump on that.

My bone, I guess, is many times, pickers equate volume with 'great'. I have been a Loar owner for 10 years. When I first got it, a picker came up to me and exclaimed proudly "My mandolin is louder than yours", as though it were somehow better. It was a 60's F-12, as I recall. I could care less about raw volume, I look for balance, crispness, etc.

And I think volume also is in the hands of the musician, how they attack the strings.

Anyway, sorry for being a curmudgeon. Flog on.

mandomiss
Sep-11-2007, 4:29pm
The best projecting mandolin I've ever played has to be Bobby Wintringham's personal San Juan. It is a beautiful instrument.

Lefty&French
Sep-11-2007, 4:33pm
Mmh? "Loudest mandolin" posted in General mandolin discussions, really? Better move to bluegrass threads, me think! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

Jonathan Peck
Sep-11-2007, 4:40pm
Anyway, sorry for being a curmudgeon. Flog on.
http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sleepy.gif

Just kidding.

"And I think volume also is in the hands of the musician, how they attack the strings."

I don't as yet have a monster right hand, although I have come close in long practice sessions in the privy of me own back porch. I haven't been able to achieve this consistently.

The feeling I equate to this is a compact motion that drives through the string both down and up, with enough control that the pick doesn't dig deep but strikes the top of the string with a relaxed hand and you can feel the pick flex in your fingers because it is not being squeezed to hard. The resulting sound is loud and crisp.

Someday I will be able to do this consistently and also when playing live, but that is the journey.

AlanN
Sep-11-2007, 4:48pm
And just to continue the idea of pick attack vis-a-vis volume and tone, I remember picking Roger Gagos' Nugget at IBMA one year. I held it and did all down strokes at first, just some G arpeggios. He said something to the efeect that I was one of the few guys to 'get tone' out of the mandolin. I say that not to boast, but to stress the idea of picking for sweet tone and, perhaps, volume. You can play a mandolin too hard and kill tone.

Now back to LOUD MANDOLINS http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

Chris Baird
Sep-11-2007, 4:57pm
I heard this at a Nickel Creek show from Chris Thile... "Rule of thumb number one, loud is bad".

Jonathan Peck
Sep-11-2007, 5:04pm
Now back to LOUD MANDOLINS http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif[/quote]


My original question has been answered. I like where this is going. Please carry on

AlanN
Sep-11-2007, 5:23pm
hmmmm....and this after 'Thanks for nothing'.... http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

Ok, the previuos poster brought up Thile. I played his Dude one time. You *cannot* play that thing too hard. Coming off my F-5, I quickly buzzed his G string, it is that low, yet he can clearly be heard. I remember reading that Grisman told Bush once that 'you can play mandolin too loudly in a band'.

SternART
Sep-11-2007, 5:26pm
That black top Kimble F5 I owned, as mentioned earlier in the thread by Jasona, was indeed a
VERY LOUD mandolin. It is happily being played now by Jeff Abrams in Atlanta. That was back when I
sold 3 mandolins to buy a Monteleone. I played the Kimble again a few years later at the Symposium &
it has matured into a heck of a nice man'alin

Mikey G
Sep-11-2007, 5:50pm
Mike Compton's Gilchrist ruptured one of my ear drums this past weekend.

fatt-dad
Sep-11-2007, 7:21pm
Somebody on this forum has a lime green mandolin that's pretty "loud".

f-d

luckylarue
Sep-11-2007, 7:35pm
I agree w/ Alan - "loud" is overrated. I've jammed w/ people who played "loud" mandolins but possessed horrible tone and no sense of dynamics. Jam killers, imo.

Crowder
Sep-11-2007, 7:41pm
See New National Resonator Mandolin thread...

My Vega mando-banjo is requested to be pointed away from others in the jam circle,
but still loses out to the piano player, so I bring the electric and wee amp.

anyone want to give standard Decibel numbers? , its less subjective..
gentlemen start your DB meters..
http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/coffee.gif
Remind me never to go to THAT jam circle. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

Jeff Arey
Sep-11-2007, 7:58pm
I had a late '70's era Unicorn with a Douglas fir top- loudest mando I ever owned or played, and it had great woody tone to boot!

Jeff

Jonathan Peck
Sep-11-2007, 8:23pm
I agree w/ Alan - "loud" is overrated. I've jammed w/ people who played "loud" mandolins but possessed horrible tone and no sense of dynamics. Jam killers, imo.
Totally agree with that, although a mando player with a good strong chop, and good timing can pull a sloppy jam back together. In fact, it's a good mando players responsibility. I don't think that it's any coincidence that the best players always seem to be the most considerate and respectful as well. Atleast that's been my experience so far

One topic that I'm surprised that I never see discussed at the Cafe is jam etiquite. I'm especially surprised that this is also never asked about by new players


-jonathan

Cheryl Watson
Sep-12-2007, 8:22am
Jonathan (Captain Crunch)---Hey, congrads on that new Stanley--I'll bet it is LOUD and toneful!

My Kimble F5 is very loud--louder than my Apitius--and it is a great jam mandolin--records well too.

Loud is great as long as the tone is there too. IMO, mandolins that, in an accomplished players hands,have the potential of being VERY loud, don't have to be played very hard to be heard. To me, there is nothing worse than practicing all these fiddle tunes with nice relaxed hands at a good strong volume, only to lose speed and all the subtle nuances because you have to play so much harder once you are in a jam. Of course, most good players ease up when someone is playing lead--Four or five rhythm instruments are a wall of sound against a poor mandolin or especially a guitar player!

I play my Kimble on my back porch in the morning some days and sometimes I get really loud on purpose and the squirrels get really upset and start running around in the trees, chattering and wagging their hind ends at me.

That Randy Wood F5 I spoke of earlier can sound great in a really good player's hands. If a player wails on it without control, it is far too loud and loses the good tone. That is when it is overdriven and you get more piercing string sound than the wood sound. The strings can be played so hard that they sound out of tune because they are moving too much.

Cheryl

lgc
Sep-12-2007, 12:06pm
As to Thile's loud is no good comment-Playing quite fine if you are going for a fast, clean, even, dare I say sterile tone. #### Frakefield says learn to play loud cause it's easy to play quite but much hard to gain volume if you don't have it. I guess if you are Thile and everyone at any jam you are in is gonna drop way down and kill the drive just hear what you are doing more power to you. There is a greater range of tones if you play harder and it forces you to slow down a little.

AlanN
Sep-12-2007, 12:32pm
drop way down and kill the drive

Are you serious? The two are not mutually exclusive. Listen to Tony Rice, my friend. The guys he surrounds himself with over the years know how to 'drop way down' so the guitar stands out. And the drive never goes away. And check out Thile on his first couple of solo records. The band backs off, but the drive never does, when he solos.

K3NTUCKI8oy
Sep-12-2007, 12:36pm
the loudest i've heared yet has to be alan bibeys loar and my homemade

Ted Eschliman
Sep-12-2007, 1:06pm
Loud does not equal pleasant.

Mark Walker
Sep-12-2007, 1:51pm
The loudest mandolin I ever heard was a Silver Angel owned by Bob Dragone. #I was at IBMA in 2004, and Bob had dropped in with his Silver Angel at Ken & Laura's booth. (This was when the event was at the Gault House in Louisville.)

I was meandering around scoping out all the exhibitors in one room, and Ken's booth was in the far corner of the next room. #As I got near the exit of the one room (which of course was also the entrance to the next) I could hear a jam going on and one mandolin was 'standing heads and shoulders' above all the others. #

Ken's mandolins typically have a loud, woody chop, great volume and tone, but this one was another notch above and beyond. #Everyone around at the time agreed it was the loudest they'd heard. # (It ain't too shabby looking either - he had Ken inlay a dragon on the fretboard - a derivative of his last name.)

The second loudest I heard was a Gibson F5 (not sure of the exact model) I saw/heard at a jam at the DulcimerFest in Evart, MI a few years back. #The guy playing it probably had as much to do with the volume as anything - he consciously made it a point to pound on it when not taking the lead and digging into the strings when he was taking the lead. #Regardless, it was loud and very noticeable!

'Loudest' is subjective of course. #I suspect of the thousands of mandolins crafted by individuals and corporations alike, there are more than a few dozen which can be considered 'loud' - from a large cross section of luthiers and corporations alike. #I've never heard many of the mandolins mentioned by fellow Cafe' members in person, but - given the fine reputation of the members and individual luthiers alike - I have no doubt those mandolins mentioned are indeed loud! #http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

lgc
Sep-12-2007, 2:52pm
"Listen to Tony Rice, my friend. The guys he surrounds himself with over the years know how to 'drop way down' so the guitar stands out. And the drive never goes away. And check out Thile on his first couple of solo records. The band backs off, but the drive never does, when he solos."

If you could guaranty that those level changes are not a good engineer in the studio then that would be completely valid. I think one reason Monroe and the early BG bands didn't have guit breaks is because it took the volume and energy out of the music. I mean a Thile studio album and a real life situations with even above average players are completely different. THe Kentucky Colonels for example rarely, in live performances, juxtaposed a banjo break in the same song as a guitar break. Not to say they didn't do it but banjo and fiddle are louder and even they dropped some push when Clarence played breaks in the some song.

Nuages
Sep-12-2007, 3:13pm
The Kentucky Colonels for example rarely, in live performances, juxtaposed a banjo break in the same song as a guitar break. Not to say they didn't do it but banjo and fiddle are louder and even they dropped some push when Clarence played breaks in the some song.
It has been reported that Clarence White played very quietly, but he clearly knew how to use a microphone, as does Tony Rice, live, and in the studio.

This thread is humorous because it's hard for me to believe anyone would actually buy a particular instrument just so that it is loud enough (I still haven't seen any dB measurements, only subjective comments) for a situation where 10 people are flailing away at acoustic instruments, trying to be heard over one another. Ugh...I've been playing bluegrass for almost thirty years, and those are the situations I always avoid!

DryBones
Sep-12-2007, 3:38pm
Somebody on this forum has a lime green mandolin that's pretty "loud".

f-d
http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif I need to get one of those to go with my lime green kayak, t-shirt and ball cap. You can always see me on the river http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

Treblemaker
Sep-12-2007, 3:50pm
Loudest Mandolin I have ever heard or played is a Lawrence Smart owned F5 owned by John Relph (who is also the webmaster of Lawrence Smart's site).

Having played this loud instrument I obtained a Lawrence Smart myself - which was not initially loud - but after sending to Lawrence for some much needed repair work it is now VERY loud... Smart's mando's seem to have extra large scrolls which might account for some of this volume. These things woof air out the F holes...

The 2nd loudest I have played is a Michael Lewis Blonde Mandolin owned by Tom Kingsley who now lives in Arkansas - but used to live in Hayward, CA.

-Treblemaker
http://www.WorldWideTed.com

caddy jim
Sep-12-2007, 4:12pm
I'm no expert on "LOUD", but I do know that for melodic volume, Evan Reilly playing "The Fern" or the Phoenix, with a rock for a pick, get's my vote.

Cullowheekid
Sep-12-2007, 4:13pm
Hello,I think Captain Crunch hit the preverbial nail on the head.The more you wildly dig into the strings to keep up with the banjo at a jam,the less loud your mandolin will sound.Like Muhammed Ali said"float like a butterfly,sting like a bee."E

AlanN
Sep-13-2007, 4:00am
The Kentucky Colonels for example rarely, in live performances, juxtaposed a banjo break in the same song as a guitar break. #Not to say they didn't do it but banjo and fiddle are louder and even they dropped some push when Clarence played breaks in the some song.
It has been reported that Clarence White played very quietly, but he clearly knew how to use a microphone, as does Tony Rice, live, and in the studio.

This thread is humorous because it's hard for me to believe anyone would actually buy a particular instrument just so that it is loud enough (I still haven't seen any dB measurements, only subjective comments) for a situation where 10 people are flailing away at acoustic instruments, trying to be heard over one another. #Ugh...I've been playing bluegrass for almost thirty years, and those are the situations I always avoid!

To you and lgc:

True about the KCs. Funny, I was going to bring up C. White in this thread. One of the few live banjo numbers they *did* feature Clarence on was Clinch Mtn. Backstep. Very smoky the way they wove the guitar, 5-string, mandolin in that number. Can't say the drive lessened, but it was almost eerie the way they did it.

And I have one word to add to your 2nd paragraph : BINGO!

Jonathan Peck
Sep-13-2007, 9:51am
"This thread is humorous because it's hard for me to believe anyone would actually buy a particular instrument just so that it is loud enough"

Agreed, the mandolin has to have other qualities as well. It has to have a tonal charecter that I like, great midrange, decent bass, a good chop, good playability and it can't be harsh. It also has to be of quality construction, and will retain it's value if sold.

I also drive a car with a big powerful engine. It's not because I want to drive fast all the time, but when I need a little extra....it's there. YMMV

-jonathan

Grandude
Sep-13-2007, 2:55pm
My Flatiron A-5 is a loud sweet sounding instrument, with a Sitka top and x-braced. #But, it doesn't cut through the mix well. So when I jam, most of the other pickers back off a little to let me be heard. #I do the same for the singer.

I ordered, and have since received a new Daley F-5. #I discussed with the maker the fact that I mostly play without a mic, in parking lot or campfire jam sessions. #And, I wanted something to cut through the natural mix. #He suggested an Adirondack top, with tone bars set and scalloped for strong mid-range (for cut), but with a little more bass (for balance).

When I played it in the white, it sounded exactly how I'd hoped. #Sim really voiced the instrument to my desires. #He mentioned that the first top he carved was not dense enough to give the sound I wanted, so he made another top to use on mine. I can tell you that it has fairly low action, plays like butter and "sounds" louder than my Flatiron. #While I feel that I got a more refined instrument from Daley, I think it sounds louder because of the voicing he was able to achieve.

In fact, when I visited his shop to play mine in the white, he was in the process of building one for another customer that was of the same basic construction spec, and it was ready for a trial run. #I played it, and noticed that it had a more round sound, considerably more bass, sweeter and with less cut. #I was even more happy with mine, having played the other. #When I asked him why there was such a sound difference, Sim explained that the other guy requested the sound he got, and he was happy also.

Soooooo, it paid off for me to have a reputable builder make one to sound the way I needed it to. #Of course the other way is to play a lot of them, and buy the one you love.

tuhker
Sep-14-2007, 2:57pm
my family says any mandolin I play is the loudest they have heard. my friends say my Gil A model is a banjo killer.

AlanN
Sep-19-2007, 1:44pm
the loudest i've heared yet has to be alan bibeys loar and my homemade
hmmm...I've played Alan's Loar several times, last time just last month, and it never has struck me as overly loud.

Brad Weiss
Sep-19-2007, 1:58pm
Old quote from Sam Bush:

"Jethro once told me, probably about 1975, "why don't you plug that thing in? I can't hear you." And I said something like, "I've got this great-sounding mandolin and I love this tone."
And Jethro said, "*#@* tone. No one ever told me I had great tone, they just told me they could hear all my notes. Why don't you plug that thing in? Who do you think you are, Bill Monroe?"
And I kind of stood there and thought about it and said, "well, you know, I would kinda like to be Bill Monroe." And he said, "Well, get over it. One's enough."

So loud is good for Jethro, and Monroe has too much tone!

Cheryl Watson
Sep-19-2007, 3:34pm
How about adding a comparison to this thread: What is the difference between a loud mandolin and a powerful mandolin?

Cheryl

Dan Cole
Sep-19-2007, 4:32pm
My Weber Big Sky is loud, or so I've been told. I've only heard a couple of other mando players (All must better than I) play it and I'd have to agree.

My wife is always saying that thing is so loud can't you play more quietly. I say that's what I paid for.

All in all, my loud is your soft and vice versa.

fatt-dad
Sep-19-2007, 5:01pm
Don't forget that "loud" is in the hand of the player. No matter what mandolin I'm playing, I'm loud (well at least that's what I'm told - ha).

f-d

p.s., I still can't believe that Randy's X-braced A5 Flatiron doesn't cut through the mix.