johnwalser
Jan-24-2008, 12:31pm
Imagine 90,000 folks of every imaginable dress, hair color, tatoo status and footwear choice strolling down 90 or so 10 foot wide, 500 foot long isles stopping occasionally to beat a drum, stroke a guitar or play a horn at full volume. It was an overwhelming volume of sound that assaulted the ears from every direction.........and I would not have missed it. Everyone was very polite and courteous, but I find that most people involved with music are pretty nice people.
Got together with Mandohack Wednesday evening to let him play my new one-of-a-kind electric mandola. He was very kind and not only liked how easy it plays, but told me it was the sound he has been trying to get from his instruments. I ended up cutting one of his fingers off in order to reclaim my dola, but luckily it was only the pinky on his right hand.
Thursday was spent trying to see as many of the displays as our legs could take. Many of the booths had signs up telling you when artists that endorsed their products would be at the booth performing. We saw so many great players and I was a bit bummed out that I couldn’t get back to hear Herbie Hancock at a booth on the far side of the show when I had several others close together. I ran into Michael Lewis and ended up going over to his hotel that night to play the instruments he brought with him. All of Michael’s instruments have a sameness...they all sound GREAT!!!!!
Friday I ran into Michael Lampert and we spent 45 minutes discussing the state of music. He spotted a blues player he knew heading for the Resonator booth and we went over to hear him play. Michael was explaining timing tricks the gentleman was using and I understood just a bit of what he was telling me. Besides being a great jazz mandolin player, Michael is also very knowledgeable about music. He encouraged me to read a music theory book years ago and I found that so helpful. Went to Hear Raul Renoso (Brazilian) and John Jorgenson (Gypsy Jazz) that night and put both gentlemen in my “Guitar Players Hall of Fame”. I came back and ordered book/CDs of Brazilian and Gypsy Jazz music.
Saturday night we went to the “All Star Guitar Night” with David Grissom, Monte Montgomery, Laurence Juber, Pete Anderson, Gary Hoey, Thom Bresh, Stu Hamm, Trace Bundy and about ten others. I had never hear of any of the players, but there were a great many fair pickers on that stage.
I played perhaps a hundred mandolin family instruments. The 2 “The Loar” instruments I played were both quite good. I played every “Kentucky” in Saga’s lineup and sadly didn’t find one I would have wanted. The Century Strings instruments also left me cold. The Michael Kellys were average ( I own 2 MKs, one is priceless in tone and the other is fairly new and much better than anything in the MK booth ). The J. Bovier instruments were beautiful and sounded quite good. I would say they were the nicest Pac-Rim instruments I played. The Weber instruments were all beautiful with great fit and finish and it’s a shame that none of them sounded as nice as the looked. I played a couple of Collings that were outstanding and they were beautiful as well. But.......I played maybe a dozen Breedloves and every one of them had rich, balanced tone with very nice sustain. The fit and finish on the Breedloves was also outstanding. That hook design is much better looking in person than in the pictures. These are just my opinions and I’m probably wrong. I’m not criticizing your particular instrument, but only what the manufactures had brought to the show.
John
Got together with Mandohack Wednesday evening to let him play my new one-of-a-kind electric mandola. He was very kind and not only liked how easy it plays, but told me it was the sound he has been trying to get from his instruments. I ended up cutting one of his fingers off in order to reclaim my dola, but luckily it was only the pinky on his right hand.
Thursday was spent trying to see as many of the displays as our legs could take. Many of the booths had signs up telling you when artists that endorsed their products would be at the booth performing. We saw so many great players and I was a bit bummed out that I couldn’t get back to hear Herbie Hancock at a booth on the far side of the show when I had several others close together. I ran into Michael Lewis and ended up going over to his hotel that night to play the instruments he brought with him. All of Michael’s instruments have a sameness...they all sound GREAT!!!!!
Friday I ran into Michael Lampert and we spent 45 minutes discussing the state of music. He spotted a blues player he knew heading for the Resonator booth and we went over to hear him play. Michael was explaining timing tricks the gentleman was using and I understood just a bit of what he was telling me. Besides being a great jazz mandolin player, Michael is also very knowledgeable about music. He encouraged me to read a music theory book years ago and I found that so helpful. Went to Hear Raul Renoso (Brazilian) and John Jorgenson (Gypsy Jazz) that night and put both gentlemen in my “Guitar Players Hall of Fame”. I came back and ordered book/CDs of Brazilian and Gypsy Jazz music.
Saturday night we went to the “All Star Guitar Night” with David Grissom, Monte Montgomery, Laurence Juber, Pete Anderson, Gary Hoey, Thom Bresh, Stu Hamm, Trace Bundy and about ten others. I had never hear of any of the players, but there were a great many fair pickers on that stage.
I played perhaps a hundred mandolin family instruments. The 2 “The Loar” instruments I played were both quite good. I played every “Kentucky” in Saga’s lineup and sadly didn’t find one I would have wanted. The Century Strings instruments also left me cold. The Michael Kellys were average ( I own 2 MKs, one is priceless in tone and the other is fairly new and much better than anything in the MK booth ). The J. Bovier instruments were beautiful and sounded quite good. I would say they were the nicest Pac-Rim instruments I played. The Weber instruments were all beautiful with great fit and finish and it’s a shame that none of them sounded as nice as the looked. I played a couple of Collings that were outstanding and they were beautiful as well. But.......I played maybe a dozen Breedloves and every one of them had rich, balanced tone with very nice sustain. The fit and finish on the Breedloves was also outstanding. That hook design is much better looking in person than in the pictures. These are just my opinions and I’m probably wrong. I’m not criticizing your particular instrument, but only what the manufactures had brought to the show.
John