Opening up!

[Kent Barnes]

The change in tone and volume on Harlan #2 in just the past 3 days has been incredible! It has gone from a light, I hate to say almost tinny sound, to a more balanced, woody tone. It's amazing!! I've heard of mando's opening up, but have never really experienced it. I was getting concerned that it would never sound good, but it's changing my mind!!

[Michael Lewis]

It seems to help if you play the mandolin harder. Maybe put heavier strings on and give it a romp for a while.

[Stanley Cox]

I will be glad to help put it thru its paces for 3 or 4 weeks. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
Stanley

ps Did the A strings settle in? http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/coffee.gif

[Kent Barnes]

I worked on the nut slots a little, and now everything seems to be working fine. I'm wondering if lowering the action helped the tone? http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif

[jazzygrass]

i'll tell u what i do when i'm not beating the fire out of my F5 and A model collings mandolins. i have a closet that i sound proofed, then I put a very loud radio n there and i turn the volume up really high. i put the speakers right n front of the mando stands and shut the door, that way u're mandos won't go to sleep on u, plus it keeps your mando buzzing 24/7 except while u're playing it...which n my case is not 24/7 because i seem to always have one n my hands most of the time. I also put my collings guitars and tony rice guitar n there too. u'll be surprized what a difference it makes and will make n no time at all. If u don't sound proof the room though u might get a lot of heat from your spouse because u won't be able hear yourself think!!!!!!! #http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[berkeleymando]

I was told anecdotally that the choice of sounds (chords, sweet melodies, screaming boom box in closet etc.) that one exposes a mando to through playing or other techniques affect how a mando opens up over the years and its eventual resulting tone. Do you think this is true?

[jazzygrass]

it's not if i think it's true...i no it's tue, and so does about 55 of my mando buddies. the more u can keep that top buzzing the faster and better its going to sound in far little time than when u're just playing it. i do believe that age does play a part n it also. u'ld not believe how many of my friends would leave their mandos n there cases for several months and then get them out and they would b dead. if u don't play your mando for a long time they will go to sleep on u, but it don't take long for them to open #back up if u start playing them again...of course, i don't let that happen to mine. i majored n classical guitar n 1973 and and did'nt take up mandolin till a few years ago...and boy do i regret that i did'nt start sooner...those mandos r addicting and i get a high every time i pick one up...and thats without drugs too. i would never have thought that something that small could affect a person the way it does, my wife tells all her friends i'm having an affair...and sometimes i feel like i really am...and i love every minute of if...when u're jamming with your friends and play a hot lick or break...well, there's nothing like it, and i'm sure there r plenty of mando players that will read this that will agree with me...what do u think? #http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

[berkeleymando]

I guess what I was suggesting is that one might get a different quality of tone from different sounds that one's mando is exposed to. Light chords and melodies might open up into a sweet gentle mandolin sound. The closet technique might open up into a "screaming boom box" quality of tone. This is all conjecture, but is based on comments gleaned from a few different mandolinists, that is short amount to, how you raise your mando will change who she is when she grows up.

[Bill Snyder]

Man jazzygrass,
How can you write like that? It would take me at least twice as long to drop the caps and abreviate the way you do.:D My hands just automatically go to shift at the end of a sentence and it would take too much thought on my part to come up with the abreviations.

[jazzygrass]

i guess u could say its a type of shorthand {for me anyway}, i've been doing it since high school, of coures i could'nt use it in class or on a term paper. when u had a teacher that spoke 90 miles per. i had to do something, used it n college too. if it bothers anyone i'll stop using it though. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[AC4RD]

I was told anecdotally that the choice of sounds (chords, sweet melodies, screaming boom box in closet etc.) that one exposes a mando to through playing or other techniques affect how a mando opens up over the years and its eventual resulting tone. Do you think this is true?
I don't know if it's true, but for 30 years I was TOLD it was true with guitars. I got a mandolin yesterday in the mail, a new Rover RM-75, and when my fingers were finally too tired to play any more, last night, I put it in my computer room, laying on top of a stereo speaker facing up, so it would have sweet vibrations all night. And the album I put on (actually a bunch of MP3 files) was the original NGDB "Will the circle be unbroken" album. :-) So you can see, I may not be SURE it's true but I was sure taking it into account! ;-) --Ken in Raleigh (PS--the mandolin DOES sound even nicer today!)

[Luthier Vandross]

The way to do it is give the thing all she can handle, without coming apart.. and no, it doesn't drink in the sounds it hears... http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif

Music would have to be played at about 130db/1m to make a difference, try feedback, or a sine wave, with the mandolin suspended in a dead space, about 18 inches in front of a loud amp.

Make the strings rattle, then back off, don't leave it on one tone for too long, I do guitars an hour per semi-tone, starting an octave below the first note.

Some of you may lose braces, necks, tops, backs, or develop cracks, I've seen worse.

Have fun, and be afraid.


M

[Tom C]

Why not take an electric toothbush (or such), put a towel around it, and leave it on top of your mando. -Just a thought.

[SternART]

As I recall there was a previous thread like this and a fella from Atlanta, Tony Bolin who had a rig hooked up using a ......hmmmmmmm how do you say this in mixed company.....ok.....a feminine massage device hooked up rather than an electric toothbrush. It connected to the bridge. Haven't heard from Tony for awhile, is he still around the Cafe?

[Luthier Vandross]

He was arrested trying to break in a mandolin in Alabama. Mandolin *aides* are against the law there.

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

M

[mandroid]

I have an old Frets mag where the guy put his guitar infront of the stereo speaker and speeded up the break-in.

You could put on your big Mon CD in repeat mode and it would sound like his loar in a week or 2?
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