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Thread: Pairings - what goes with what

  1. #1
    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Pairings - what goes with what

    I mentioned in another thread that I find my Big Muddy M-11 mahogany mandolin really sounds great when playing with a small body mahogany Martin guitar, like an oo-18 specifically.

    A certain relatedness of tone quality. I am not sure what but they pair nicely.

    That got me to thinking about different mandolins pairing with different guitars or other instruments. What kind make or model of mandolin do you find fits really really well with this or that guitar, or autoharp, or oboe.

    Or what combinations are not good, in your experience.

    It is something to listen for.
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    Registered User Martin Ohrt's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pairings - what goes with what

    A perfect combination in my opinion:
    A sonorous sounding A or F model along with a modern "german style" classical mandolin...
    Just listen to records of Mike Marshall and Caterina Lichtenberg...
    Mandolins: 1920s (?) Meinel & Herold Bowlback, 2006 Furch "Redwood MA-1" A5

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    Registered User sblock's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pairings - what goes with what

    a) Howe-Orme mandolinetto and a tuba
    b) Gibson mando-bass and some Scottish bagpipes
    c) Loar-signed 1922 Gibson F5 Master Model and a Rogue RM-100A mandolin

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    harvester of clams Bill McCall's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pairings - what goes with what

    A good red wine and Hachez 88% chocolate. the music is always better.
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    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pairings - what goes with what

    Here is another pair I have found. A vintage L&H with a violin. They really do share something in the way they sound. I have played Mazas duets with a violin and Mazas often throws the riffs back and forth, so you can hear how the violin does it and compare and contrast it in the next moment with the mandolin.

    A bluegrassy mandolin in that circumstance would clash too much. But an L&H, or maybe even better a bowlback, and its like relatives having a conversation.
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    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pairings - what goes with what

    Quote Originally Posted by Martin Ohrt View Post
    A perfect combination in my opinion:
    A sonorous sounding A or F model along with a modern "german style" classical mandolin...
    Just listen to records of Mike Marshall and Caterina Lichtenberg...
    I think two wildly different kinds of mandolins, playing something complex like that, can really be interesting. Highlights the two voices.
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    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pairings - what goes with what

    I was wondering about affinity between a guitar and a mandolin of the same manufacture same year.

    I have heard a 1923 Gibson arch top guitar, a style O I think, with a scroll. I did not think that would do well with any mandolin, much less the mandolins Gibson was making at the time. I could be way off base on this.

    But what about a Martin guitar and Martin mandolin.

    What about Breedlove with a Breedlove?
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    Mando accumulator allenhopkins's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pairings - what goes with what

    This is gonna sound weird, given the usual Cafe attitude toward mandolin banjos, but playing with my band Innisfree last Saturday, I thought, "You know, this Sobell long-scale mandola sounds really good paired with Mark's handmade, large-diameter-head mandolin banjo."

    Mark made the instrument using a "regular size" banjo body, with a resonator, which avoids a lot of the shrillness of most mandolin banjos.

    Other than that, I like a "woody," bass-y mandolin sound for bluegrass, going up against a five-string resonator banjo and a dreadnaught guitar.
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    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pairings - what goes with what

    In my exploration of classical music I am discovering the affinity between bowlbacks and fine classical guitars. They really do support each other.
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    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pairings - what goes with what

    Quote Originally Posted by allenhopkins View Post
    , I like a "woody," bass-y mandolin sound for bluegrass, going up against a five-string resonator banjo and a dreadnaught guitar.
    There is probably something to this. Do you think it has a future?
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    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pairings - what goes with what

    I love the sound of mandolin, or mandola, or bouzouki in unison with an Irish button box accordion. During the 80s so many Irish bands had a button box next to those beautiful Stefan Sobell bouzouki, and it was amazing enough when the bouzouki backed the accordion, but it was particularly thrilling when they would play in unison.

    What type of mandolin? Well I think I would lean towards a flat top, only to avoid the arch top sound in the Irish musical context. But that is a taste thing really. Perhaps the Gibsonny sounding mandolin is more acceptable in traditional Irish these days.
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    Registered User wildpikr's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pairings - what goes with what

    Quote Originally Posted by JeffD View Post
    I was wondering about affinity between a guitar and a mandolin of the same manufacture same year.

    I have heard a 1923 Gibson arch top guitar, a style O I think, with a scroll. I did not think that would do well with any mandolin, much less the mandolins Gibson was making at the time. I could be way off base on this.

    But what about a Martin guitar and Martin mandolin.

    What about Breedlove with a Breedlove?
    I'm not sure about same manufacturer/same year, but David Grisman and Tony Rice worked some magic on the "Tone Poems" CD with vintage instruments:

    https://www.amazon.com/Tone-Poems-Da...rds=tone+poems

    Sorry if I varied too far from topic...
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    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pairings - what goes with what

    Quote Originally Posted by wildpikr View Post
    Sorry if I varied too far from topic...
    No you are right on. I hadn't thought of that. I need to re-listen to that.
    A talent for trivializin' the momentous and complicatin' the obvious.

    The entire staff
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