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Thread: Wall of Mandolins

  1. #1
    Registered User red7flag's Avatar
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    Default Wall of Mandolins

    While in Tucson, I brought my Collings MTO with me. My first morning, I spent a few hours playing a wall of mandolins at a really cool music store called the Folk Shop. Besides an Gibson A4 (which was similar to an A4 I had a number of years ago), their top end were a few The Loars and Kentuckys. So for the first time, I was able to A/B The Loars and Kentuckys. I enjoyed both, but preferred the Kentuckys. The best I played was a oval hole A, which I would not have imagined. I just preferred the Kentucky over The Loar in tone, but can see that was more personal preference than any absolute difference. All The Loars and Kentuckys played easily and sounded solid. Was not so impressed with the Savannahs as they were not in the same class. There were some others mandolins with brands I don't even remember with the playability and tone was equally forgettable. That evening when I got back to my motel room I picked up my MTO and instantly recognized the presence of a instrument clearly on a higher level to anything that was on the "wall". I instantly felt at home and realized the superior experience of the higher end instruments. I am now home and get to play all my lovely menagerie. I appreciate how blessed I am to have instruments that simply lift me up and allow me to express what is in my soul.
    Tony Huber
    1930 Martin Style C #14783
    2011 Mowry GOM
    2013 Hester F4 #31
    2014 Ellis F5 #322
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  3. #2
    Registered User Randi Gormley's Avatar
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    Default Re: Wall of Mandolins

    A couple of times I've been able to play a range of instruments at a music store that had a good selection of price-points. It's quite an experience -- it's how I ended up with my snake. There's nothing like being able to hear the different instruments that people here talk about!
    --------------------------------
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    Default Re: Wall of Mandolins

    It's all in how your ear is calibrated ATM. I can remember playing other mandolins in stores and thinking my Kentucky was as good for less. I'm sure glad it was available cause it took a lot of cafe time to calibrate my thinking in regards to how much I would allow myself to spend on a mandolin.

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  6. #4
    Registered User Timbofood's Avatar
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    Default Re: Wall of Mandolins

    If my ear was calibrated to an ATM, I'd be in serious trouble!
    Timothy F. Lewis
    "If brains was lard, that boy couldn't grease a very big skillet" J.D. Clampett

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  8. #5
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    Default Re: Wall of Mandolins

    Just before Baltimore Bluegrass Music went out of business I stopped in there and played every mandolin they had hanging on the wall, I won`t do it ever again at any music store because it caused me to buy a great sounding Flatiron that I didn`t need but it sounded so good that I just had to have it and I am afraid if I did it again I would end up with something else that I don`t need...It would have to be one heck of a good deal for me to buy another mandolin...BUT...I do look, never know when that "Holy Grail" will pop up

    Willie

  9. #6

    Default Re: Wall of Mandolins

    I wonder what percentage of mandolins are sold to people not seriously shopping for one. I'll bet a lot.

    How we hear is an interesting phenomenon. I have one very bright mandolin, and one deep and resonant. Switching between the two, I find it takes my brain a while to adjust to processing the different sound. What at first may seem thin and harsh becomes vibrant and lively as the brain processes the new frequencies it is focusing on. Conversely, what sounds dull and lifeless becomes rich and resonant. The overtones bloom after a few minutes.

    That is why one should be wary of trying multiple instruments over a short period of time. For me the individual nuances take a few minutes to materialize, beyond the first impressions. Only over time can you evaluate the merits of an instrument, and my short experience with mandolins has me convinced no instrument demands subtle playing adjustments like mandolins. I mean half an inch from the sweet spot can kill tone. As if mandolin wasn't hard enough already.
    Silverangel A
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  11. #7

    Default Re: Wall of Mandolins

    That is why one should be wary of trying multiple instruments over a short period of time. For me the individual nuances take a few minutes to materialize, beyond the first impressions. Only over time can you evaluate the merits of an instrument, and my short experience with mandolins has me convinced no instrument demands subtle playing adjustments like mandolins. I mean half an inch from the sweet spot can kill tone. As if mandolin wasn't hard enough already.
    I am convinced this is often in play for people trying out instruments. I have seen it a lot in person. Instruments dismissed within seconds for being "different".

    I think we all go through this in one way or another. I know I do.
    Robert Fear
    http://www.folkmusician.com

    "Education is when you read the fine print; experience is what you get when you don't.
    " - Pete Seeger

  12. #8
    Registered User Billy Packard's Avatar
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    Default Re: Wall of Mandolins

    Back in the late '80s when I decided I wanted to "move up" to a better mandolin it would take me all day to visit a half dozen music stores around the SF Bay area just to play one, two at the most at each store, Gryphon being the exception. There was nothing that impressed me all that much. Except this one Givens I didn't buy.

    THEN I got referred to Dexter Johnson's Carmel Music Store. This was a tiny store in the Carmel Village and on any given day he would have at LEAST a dozen and more mandolins and they were all really nice ones.

    I found it very helpful to try the various instruments and compare one to anther. Nothing carried me away though...

    Then one day in early 1992 Dexter called ME, (which was a surprise, I didn't know he had my ph.##) to say there was a mandolin in his store waiting to be picked up by its new owner and I should come and play it. When I saw it I was very impressed but when I began to play it I was blown away! There is my motivation, being overwhelmed. At the time they were special order only and the A style I preferred was the princely sum of $2000.00. After many months of gently coaxing my wife and an unexpected windfall I was able to place my order in August of 1992 for my Gilchrist A3. It's on his web site, #246, which I received in January 1993 and played exclusively until 2009 after which I got a few more mandolins.

    i like to think in terms of the instrument becoming 'invisible" in that I don't think about it--we make music together as a single unit.


    Billy

    billypackardmandolin.com
    Billy Packard
    Gilchrist A3, 1993
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  13. #9
    Registered User Ivan Kelsall's Avatar
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    Default Re: Wall of Mandolins

    Simply taking a mandolin off the wall to play it won't result in a true evaluation of it's tone - playability yes (maybe),but play that instrument for a few hours & it'll begin to sound 'different'. However - is it the mandolin changing,or our ears becoming used to the 'sound' (volume + tone) ??. Maybe the phenomenon of 'opening up' is our aural adjustment to our instruments 'in part'.

    I distinctly remember receiving my Weber "Fern" via. mail,so i hadn't seen it let alone played it. I let it sit for a couple of hours & then tuned it up to play it. I liked it from the very first note,but it was 'different' than the Lebeda 'Premium Plus' that i owned at the time, & just the difference was a tad disconcerting. It took quite a few hours of playing for me to really make my mind up about it.
    As it turned out,in those hours,it began to turn into the beautiful instrument it is now.
    The 'used' Ellis "A" style i bought 2 years ago,needed nothing other than allowing it to acclimatise. It sounded pretty awesome from the start.

    The bottom line - i can understand why some folk might buy in a store, & after playing their choice of instrument at home for a while,maybe not quite liking what they bought. I don't know how many times it happens in practice,but i can't imagine it not happening at all.
    Ivan
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  14. #10
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    Default Re: Wall of Mandolins

    Quote Originally Posted by Br1ck View Post
    How we hear is an interesting phenomenon. I have one very bright mandolin, and one deep and resonant. Switching between the two, I find it takes my brain a while to adjust to processing the different sound. What at first may seem thin and harsh becomes vibrant and lively as the brain processes the new frequencies it is focusing on. Conversely, what sounds dull and lifeless becomes rich and resonant. The overtones bloom after a few minutes.

    That is why one should be wary of trying multiple instruments over a short period of time. For me the individual nuances take a few minutes to materialize, beyond the first impressions. Only over time can you evaluate the merits of an instrument, and my short experience with mandolins has me convinced no instrument demands subtle playing adjustments like mandolins. I mean half an inch from the sweet spot can kill tone. As if mandolin wasn't hard enough already.
    I'm suspect well seasoned pickers can process things quickly but for us mere mortals... you've nailed it

  15. #11
    Scroll Lock Austin Bob's Avatar
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    Default Re: Wall of Mandolins

    It's hard for me to evaluate an instrument in a store. Sometimes the strings might be old, or different than what I'm used to. Or the setup is not quite what I like. Maybe the acoustics in the room aren't great, or there's no quite place to try it out without hearing others doing the same.

    Even harder is to try and get a feel of what it would sound like in my home, or played through a PA. Two mandolins can respond very differently when played softly, or when you dig in and play loud.

    These things all take time for me to figure out how to get the best sound possible of of a mandolin, and ultimately, whether I like it or not.

    In a perfect world, we could try them out first, then exchange for equal or better within 3 days if in new condition (perhaps with a fee involved), but that would likely make it even harder on the small shops struggling to survive.
    A quarter tone flat and a half a beat behind.

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