CMSA mandolin survey

[David O'Brien]

This past weekend marked the advent of what I hope is only the first of many juried mandolin tasting/competitions. First Quality Music sponsored the event which was a "tasting" of sorts. It involved a judging of sound of mandolins by three judges who were placed approximately 10 feet away and with their backs turned, from unamplified mandolins that were played by Mike Schroeder. Mike performed the same series of noting and tremelo and chord sequences with each mandolin.

There were two initial categories for this years event, mandolins with a retail value below $2000 and mandolins with a retail value above $2000. There were 10 mandolins entered in the first category and 11 mandolins entered in the second category. Not all instruments were new, though most were, and most mandolins were and are available currently from First Quality of Louisville, KY. In the first category, valued at $2000 or under the three top finishers based on these judges ears were" 1st: an Eastman "F" model mandolin valued at around $850; second place was a Herb Taylor mandolin in the $2000.00 range; and third place: a 1940's used Gibson A-40 valued at $1250. There were two vintage Gibson's in that mix and the other was a 1930's or 1940's A-50.

In the second category of mandolins valued over $2000, there were mandolins furnished by First Quality including some Collings, a Ratliff, some Gibson's, two Sumi's, two Dave Cohen C# models, an Eastman, and probably something else. Third place went to the satin finished Collings, and in what must make Dr. Cohen feel very satisfied, his two entries took top honors with second and first place with values in the $3800. I attended the event and can attest to the remarkable sound of his entries, they had volume, superb tone, great chop, and were my choices for tops.

Mike Schroeder asked the audience if they saw value in this exercise and I would say there was a resounding confirmation of his question. Hopefully he said, the future will include vintage instruments, CMSA members chosen instruments, and instruments from other builders. And I hope it would include the prior years winner, and a sort of multiplier if you will, taking into account the ease of playability of the respective instrument. Congratulations to Dr. Dave for some fine sounding instruments and to relative new comer, Herb Taylor for his entry in the under $2000 category.

[DryBones]

Were there any standards as far as strings and picks used or was it at the builders/players discretion?

[David O'Brien]

Mike let us know that he would use the same pick for each mandolin and that they were all supposed to have D'addario strings or the equivalent in size, type, etc. I believe the representative from First Quality said that all of there instruments had the same type of strings on, but I can't confirm that.

As to what Mike said about set up and tuning, he indicated that some mandolins were harder to evoke sound out of then others, but Mike is a very accomplished player and had no trouble making each instrument project, some he said, were out of tune, although he did his best to make adjustments on the fly. I noticed only a few that may have had a set of strings not in unison, most mandolins did not seem to have a tuning issue. The human factor is the variable you can't work out of the equation and Mike said it best when he mentioned that this was a survey of these instruments today under the present conditions and being judged by the existing judges.

[David O'Brien]

By the way there are other photos of the mandolin tasting, and courtesy of David Betts, I must add, via the CMSA website, he gets credit for the photo above.

[Frank Russell]

Man, I had no idea that the Combinatorial Mathematics Society of Australasia had such an interest in mandolins. Or was it the Cowboy Mounted Shooting Association? Good for Dave Cohen. His designs are always interesting and killer-looking. I hope to play one someday. Is there an easy link to more photos? Frank

[Lee]

FQMS's website lists no Cohen mandolins. Were they "guests", or did they get sold off rapidly.?

[David O'Brien]

CMSA: classical mandolin society of america,
link:
http://www.classicalmandolinsociety....rtual_01.html; a link to more photos

As to Dr. Dave's mandos,they allowed mandolins from retailers present at the convention that had mandolins for sale, and were willing to let them be judged. . .and he has two that I saw for sale through Elderly instrumens, both C#'s apparently his most popular model.

[David O'Brien]

Try this link and go to the virtual tour for Saturday:

http://www.classicalmandolinsociety.org

or try to arrive at the CMSA site through the mandolin cafe links.

[mangorockfish]

Hey, I know Ray Bell in one of those pics. Little ROck, AR "homey". He wrote a manodo book put out by Mel Bay.

[Jim Garber]

or try to arrive at the CMSA site through the mandolin cafe links.

There are no more links from the Cafe since they do not host CMSA.

I do find it funny that even tho they are called the Classical Mandolin Society of America, there was not one bowlback in the tasting. Then again [1] we are not in Europe and [2] the majority of mandolins were provided by FQMS, which, tho a great dealer, does not carry one bowlback.

I was at the convention in 2004 in Philadelphia and was surprised to find many quality bowlbacks there.

Jim

[arbarnhart]

Interesting that they categorized by price and didn't let the less expensive ones go head to head with the pricey ones. I would have thought body/hole style would be a better delineator.