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Indeed! Red or green gel pens work great for writing in alternate melodies, fills, bass lines, etc... at least the interesting ones that I don't want to re-invent the next time around.

Strings are way, Way, WAY cheaper than a different soundboard or instrument. Experiment freely!

If that's a guitarish-sized mandocello, then those are ~4" floorboards, giving the mandolin a 10-inch scale, or so... maybe? Hey, I've been wrong before!

(Sorry to be repetitious: I've had...

Interesting that the 4 tuning pegs without strings each have a thread tying the capstan on top to the button shaft on the side. Guessing that was to stop loose (non-stressed) parts from vibrating in...

I may be wrong, but didn't he have a follow-up along the lines of: If you hit a really bad note, be sure to play that the next time around to show that it wasn't a mistake but "artistic choice"!

The photo leaning against the chair back (in my often-faulty opinion!) suggests that this might be a smaller-than-standard mandolin. The vibrating portion of the strings -meaning between nut &...

Here in northern NJ, there are Goodwill stores: used, donations, recycled-type stuff, largely clothing but...

They often have nylon-shell briefcases & backpacks for $8 to $20, and many of those...

Forgive me if I plagarize myself from another recent thread, responding to the OP's thanks for helpfulness ...

... and to those who run the Cafe and make it work so well, where simple comments are free to cascade into a musical & cultural dissertation.

One again, this place reminds me of Forest's box of...

So, I checked in here just to see comments that might have been added. While browsing, I clicked on my Ian & Sylvia link above, playing in the background while I read your thoughts. But that...

Fortunately for us, there's plenty of guitar-porn still out there!

Indeed they do ... nice!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIjoByUJbPQ

Of course, I may be a bit prejudiced by six decades of familiarity (even if I couldn't find a video real quick!) ......

As a long-time fan of Ian & Sylvia (see my signature!), I was tickled to see "V'la La Bon Vent" in the book of Canadian folks songs. as they performed it on their 2nd album, Four Strong Winds, of...

FWIW, my original Roland Cube (5W, 5" speaker, selection of amp models + effects, 12-15 y/o) was a bit over $100, then, and sounds great w/ solid-body mandolin.... IMHO, of course! Loud enough for...

A: A device to generate business for physical therapists & chiropractors.

Emphatic YES!!

Plus, it took some time to learn what "holding the pick loosely" is supposed to feel like, allowing it to angle down on the upstrokes while still not, ya know, flying across the...

In 16 years of avidly reading here and elsewhere, I've never heard that before. Not disputing the thought OR arguing violin-family design (I know nothing!) but... any comment on why?

FWIW, I just...

I suspect the point is that they don't quite exist! The trick (in our real world) is to get the string thin enough that the "dead" zone at each end is such a tiny percentage of the vibrating length...

I started to comment on Paul Hostetter and his website, but decided that it needed it's own thread.

And yeah, Tri-Flow has become my bestest buddy: works great on odd stuff like vinyl storm...

I am SO happy to see that Paul Hostetter's website is again available; when I last looked 5 or 6 months ago, it was not. It's a wonderful resource, and he was a frequent poster here.

IIRC, his...

If you bought it new, maybe a waranty issue? If it's 20+ years old, that might be just old enough for machine oil to polymerize and become sticky, causing a button to break. It does happen. I have...

Congratulations on a well-thought out first step! Lots of the MC-standard helpful advise here.


Finger & skin chemistry varies widely. Some of us get tarnish after an hour of play, followed by...

Even one of the greats, Sam Bush, is particularly fond of that shape. Since there's no 3 note, it fits either A major OR minor.

On of my favorite cheats for A is: A-major = 6700 (C#,A,A,E) and...

Y'all are bringing back way too many pleasant memories. While I've described my folk music experience as "'round the campfire", that mostly means "'round the 6-pack".


Only once that made an...

Suspectin' that Gene 'n' the boys jus' tuned to that there piano out on the back porch!