Mandola Comparison

[Eddie Sheehy]

Here's the same tunes (Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring / The Glasgow Reel aka Tam Lin) played on three Mandolas:
A K&S flat top and back, round hole, A Gibson H1 carved top and back, Oval Hole, and an Eastman 815MDA carved top and back, F-holes.

[Eddie Sheehy]

Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring / The Glasgow Reel played on a K&S Mandola:

[Eddie Sheehy]

Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring / The Glasgow Reel played on a Gibson H1 Mandola:

[Eddie Sheehy]

Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring / The Glasgow Reel on an Eastman 815MDA Mandola:

[Bernie Daniel]

That's a great comparo. I guess I like the Eastman best overall, with the Gibson second -- that surprises me a little because these tunes might be more in the oval hole camp? I was wondering how that 815MDA would sound compared to my H-1 -- now thanks to you I know! Nice work.

[steve V. johnson]

Thanks, Eddie, great info. Thanks very much for sharing your (evolving) collection(s) this way.

stv

[barrangatan]

That's a great comparo. I guess I like the Eastman best overall, with the Gibson second

Thanks for sharing also Eddy. I was equally surprised that I prefer the Eastman to the Gibson. At first I was sure I was going to like the Gibson the best, as I normally like the sound of an oval hole mandola better than a f-hole.

I'm not familiar with the K&S flat top. Is it a contemporary or vintage instrument?

[Markkunkel]

Thanks for sharing, Eddie. The comparisons are always very cool and educational, and I appreciate that you would take the time to do it. Mark

[Tavy]

Nice comparison Eddie, you're a lucky guy to have all these instruments to hand at the same time! :)

Here's my take on these:

Eastman: Sounds like a std Eastman to me, reminds me a lot of my 504 mandolin albeit lower voiced. I'm sure anyone would be happy with this one - especially for the price.
Gibson: The astonishing thing about this one is I find it hard to separate from the Eastman!
K&S: No offence to these guys, but I wasn't that impressed, sounds like an entry level slightly tinny instrument IMO.

Of course all these comments should be taken with a large pinch of salt, given the difficulty of judging sound quality from mp3's on computer headphones!

[Eddie Sheehy]

That K&S (Katechis & Silber - yes, Marc Silber) was made in the 90's in the Bay Area. It was a prototype - I don't know how many were made, it might be the only one, I should ask Marc. It has a Cedar top and cedar kerfling which gives it an amazing Cedar aroma. It certainly lacks the depth of the other two but it is a lower-end mandola and plays nicely.

The Eastman has an upgraded ebony bridge, a bound pickguard, a "speed-neck", and a Brian Dean tailpiece - the Eastman tailpiece is a miserable design conducive to blood, sweat and tears when changing strings... I had a 615 MDA Mandola before and certainly this 815 is a far superior instrument ...

The H1 Gibson has been "refurbished". When I got it it was stripped clean. The top had been over-sanded and was wafer thin with some serious cracks developing. Dave Standridge of Carver Mandolins replaced the top and finished it with a black top and a Brown-Burst b&s. Since the top is new I expect it to open up a bit with playing. Here's a vid of the H1 before refurbishing...