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Thread: Fretless mandolin

  1. #1

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    How's your ear? Could you play a fretless mandolin? Would you even want to?
    "I love the smell of my mandolin in the morning. The smell, you know ... that varnish smell. Smells like victory."

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    Moderator JEStanek's Avatar
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    It wouldn't sound like what you may think. I don't think I would want one.

    Read this or that or even the other one.

    Jamie



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    Destroyer of Mandolins
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    If it was mentioned in one of the other threads and I missed it, sorry. But I can't imagine that there isn't a plucked, frettless instrument similar to a mandolin that's a standard instrument somewhere. Not just some luthier's experiment with mandolins that never caught on, but somehing akin to a 'soprano oud' that folks play all the time somewhere in the world.
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    What about fretless banjos? They have been around for years, perhaps even before fretted versions.
    Mandolins grip the mind and soothe the heart...

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    Registered User jim simpson's Avatar
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    If there were a fretless version to be made, it would make more sense for it to be single string as the absence of frets would diminish clarity of the note.
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    Free Spirit Aran's Avatar
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    Or try what my brother has done and doubled the frets so there is a new fret between each of the old frets to hit those notes inbetween.

    He plays in an orchestra in Brittanny France which use all those inbetweeny notes. Can't remember what it's called right now but there is a name for those inbetweeny notes and the music that goes with it.

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    Registered User John Flynn's Avatar
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    I was at a session last week and one of the fiddlers put down her bow, propped her fiddle on her lap and used her thumbnail to pick the fiddle on one tune, kind of like a Kenny Hall mandolin style. She really sounded good and even though it is was a big session, the sound cut through pretty well. Previous threads have tended to put down the idea of a fretless mando, but after hearing that, I think the idea might work. I would imagine the way to start would be to get a fiddle and play it with a pick until you get the fingering and tone right. If it works, then you could get a luthier to make a fretless mando if you wanted. I agree it should probably be single courses and I'm thinking it should use violin strings, not mando strings. Sustain would be an issues, so I see the body probably having similar characteristics to a scaled-down classical guitar. I would see the neck being similar to that on a violin, perhaps a little wider and with less radius. But I see it with a mandolin head and tuning keys. I hope someone tries it!

  8. #8

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    OT, but how 'bout a fretted fiddle?
    "I love the smell of my mandolin in the morning. The smell, you know ... that varnish smell. Smells like victory."

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    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Registered User Mike Herlihy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by (Mr. Loar @ April 21 2008, 09:36)
    OT, but how 'bout a fretted fiddle?
    Already have one

  11. #11

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    Quote Originally Posted by (jflynnstl @ April 21 2008, 08:31)
    I was at a session last week and one of the fiddlers put down her bow, propped her fiddle on her lap and used her thumbnail to pick the fiddle on one tune, kind of like a Kenny Hall mandolin style. She really sounded good and even though it is was a big session, the sound cut through pretty well. Previous threads have tended to put down the idea of a fretless mando, but after hearing that, I think the idea might work. I would imagine the way to start would be to get a fiddle and play it with a pick until you get the fingering and tone right. If it works, then you could get a luthier to make a fretless mando if you wanted. I agree it should probably be single courses and I'm thinking it should use violin strings, not mando strings. Sustain would be an issues, so I see the body probably having similar characteristics to a scaled-down classical guitar. I would see the neck being similar to that on a violin, perhaps a little wider and with less radius. But I see it with a mandolin head and tuning keys. I hope someone tries it!
    I saw a clip of Vassar flat picking his fiddle once - with John Hartford I believe. It was incredible.
    Don

  12. #12
    Mando accumulator allenhopkins's Avatar
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    It's pizzicato, right? When the fiddle strings are plucked rather than bowed? So that's your "fretless mandolin" -- a violin.

    Agree with Don on the single-string courses; otherwise, unless you were spot-on accurate with your fingers on every note, the two "unison" strings might sound dissonant. Having frets takes care of the fact that even a slight finger angle across the two strings of a course, would produce two different notes.
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    I converted my electric bass to fretless and didn't have any problems playing it. Since I play by ear and position it was just a matter of letting my fingers do what they do. On a mando though, with the small neck I don't know how well it'd work but of course a fiddle is fretless and it works just fine.

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