Got me a Tone Guard

[yankees1]

I suppose it's the way I hold my mandolin but I can detect no difference in sound with or without the tone guard. I don't hold the back flat against my belly however. I wrapped the prongs with microfiber which is hot glued to the prongs and this has eliminated any marks from the prongs that grasp the mandolin.

[Andrew B. Carlson]

I wonder if mole skin would work. It's that stuff that's like suede cloth with an adhesive backing. I've used it on my feet when I'm hiking to prevent blisters.

[TonyP]

Mole skin is an interesting idea. The problem with the v4 round wire Tone-Gard was finding a good way to hold on the rim pads as round wire doesn't present much to stick to. As long as you pay attention to if you loose one, and replace it right away, I don't see why they won't be an ok fix. Might be a tad ugly, oh well

I used 7/64" vacuum hose(which is on the spring arms), slit on one side, and felt glued with super glue gel. Then clipped onto the rim of the Gard. Some folks seem to shed these. It seemed the right shoulder strap folks had more of a problem with this for whatever reason. I recommend with that setup, you place the hose/pad in the place you want it, and then pry the slit open and take a drop of super glue and put it in the slit. That will hold the pad in place, forever.

Early on I tried hot glue and found it a total mess, with a poor adhesion. And with the new powdercoat finish it would be even worse. I also found out that the felt over time would compress, and the fibers that had gotten stiff from the glue, would poke through, and cause scuffing. Leather is far superior to any cloth or fiber/felt IMHO. So, I went to the thickest leather I could find, and that seems to be the ticket. Also with the v5 square wire, I now have a good surface to glue to and don't have to use the hose anymore.

As to the marking of clothing, this is because of the rubber on the arms, NOT the paint. I've found taking some 303 Aerospace Protectant(most auto parts stores and WallyWorld and I suspect others) and put it on a paper towel, and rub it into the rubber. let it dry before putting back on the mando. I do this once a year. But in places with high humidity, or smog, it wouldn't hurt to do it every time you change strings, as part of your regular maintenance. If the rubber is too far gone, you can get it at any auto parts store, 7/64" vacuum hose. Then treat it with the 303 before install. Everybody should have some 303 as it's wonderful stuff, and non toxic. If you are using ArmorAll, toss it. It softens and eats whatever you put it on, where 303 preserves it. I use it in the car, and on my wife's convertible top. It's great stuff.

hope this helps,

[Andrew B. Carlson]

I got the tone gard yesterday. It really makes the mandolin sound much better! One thing I notice though, is that there is no way I can leave it on in the case. It adds almost 2 inches to the back of the mando so it lifts the whole instrument up so it makes it scary to try to close the case. I thought I read that most people leave it on in the case?

[MikeEdgerton]

I'll note that all of my Tonegards are the new ones but they all fit in the case with no problems, Gibson, Flatiron, TKL and Calton.

[mandobassman]

I got the tone gard yesterday. It really makes the mandolin sound much better! One thing I notice though, is that there is no way I can leave it on in the case. It adds almost 2 inches to the back of the mando so it lifts the whole instrument up so it makes it scary to try to close the case. I thought I read that most people leave it on in the case?

That seems a bit excessive to me. Two inches??? I have a Breedlove OF and a Golden Gate shaped case. With the ToneGard on it adds a total of 1/2' at it's highest point. When I first bought the Breedlove it didn't fit in the Travelite case I had at the time, but that was without the ToneGard. I got the Golden Gate case and it has plenty of clearance. I keep it on the mandolin all the time.

[Andrew B. Carlson]

I thought it seemed a bit excessive as well. But I'd never used a tone gard before. I got it to fit in my other case. But it's pretty darn snug. For posterity, here's what it looks like. Keep in mind this is a used tone gard.



My new Red Bear for measurement reference.



If you can't tell, the bottom of the gard by the strap peg is about 1cm off the mando. I can pivot it towards the top or bottom, but this was a good angle to use with the Red Bear.

[TonyP]

wow, that's been totally tweeked! That's not how they fit from the factory. Typical arch is between 1/4" and 3/8".

[Andrew B. Carlson]

So maybe some bending is in order. Or maybe my mando will be 4 times more resonant than everyone elses. Makes me wonder what the previous owners belly looked like.

[mandobassman]

WOW!!! I've never seen one like that. Was he trying to fit it on a bowlback or what? I'm not sure how you would bend that to make it work. All of the pads on the underside of the frame are supposed to be touching the bottom rim of the mandolin. I would have to question the seller about that. If I had received one like that I would have sent it back.

[TonyP]

I would wager this has nothing to do with a belly. By the amount of distortion of the Tone-Gard I think somebody sat on it, and smashed it. Then they tried to get it back in shape and had no idea what they were doing. Most times if it's smashed really bad, it's trash. The way you can tell(besides the arch being 4x what it should be) is the rim doesn't fit flush with the back. And when it's stretched, you can't shrink it back right.

After you have 3/8" clearance, you have no gain in "resonance". Only the assurance it won't fit in the case, will feel like you're playing a bowl back and because it won't fit in the case, it will either get lost or sat on again.

Good luck.

[SternART]

The Tonemeister speaks!
Andrew...buy a new one......save up if you have to.
ToneGards are the best bang for the buck in improving tone,
best mando accessory of the last decade.

[Mike Bunting]

Support a local business, go into town, Myhre's Music sells them.

[Malcolm G.]

Andrew,

I have 4 ToneGards (3 mando, 1 Baritone Uke), and that's just WRONG! It must be hard to even play with that on in that shape.

[Andrew B. Carlson]

Thanks for all the help guys. I gave er a little love and she's pretty close to the way she's supposed to fit.



Not perfect, but just over a 1/2" clearance now.

[mandobassman]

Does it fit in the case now?

[Andrew B. Carlson]

Yupp. It's a formed case so I had to push in the foam molded sides a little bit where the 3 arms of the tone gard are. We're good now. Still sounds great.

[mandobassman]

Mine's the same way. I have plenty of clearance over the bridge, but the sides are a little snug where the ToneGard grip arms are. I've been using it like that for two years now with no problems. It actually helps, because without the TG it might be a little loose. Glad you got that issue resolved.

[Malcolm G.]

"Not perfect, but just over a 1/2" clearance now."

Whew, that's a TON better!

[neil argonaut]

I've been considering getting a tonegard; however, when holding my mandolin away from my body, it seems to sound worse (and this isn't down to hearing it from behind, as I tried recording it with a microphone on front). What happens is a bassy thudding sound starts to appear somewhere in the region below 300 Hz. This is possibly caused by bad plectrum technique and if it is then it would be an advantage for a tonegard to make my playing sound worse for a bit in order for me to improve (if you know what i mean); It does seem to make the higher frequencies ring out more, but the bassy sound being produced more than cancels out this improvement. Has anyone else had this problem?
It's a reasonably cheap pancake i e army navy style mandolin, don't know if this would affect things.

[Paul Busman]

I wonder if mole skin would work. It's that stuff that's like suede cloth with an adhesive backing. I've used it on my feet when I'm hiking to prevent blisters.

Replying to an old post, but I just gotta...
I wouldn't recommend moleskin. The latex adhesive on the felt would eventually leach through and mar your instrument's finish. I was a practicing podiatrist for 30 years, so I know all about moleskin! Terrific stuff to prevent blisters as noted, but not for this purpose.

[Steve Ostrander]

But then you could play Moleskinner Blues...

[SincereCorgi]

I've been considering getting a tonegard; however, when holding my mandolin away from my body, it seems to sound worse (and this isn't down to hearing it from behind, as I tried recording it with a microphone on front). What happens is a bassy thudding sound starts to appear somewhere in the region below 300 Hz. This is possibly caused by bad plectrum technique and if it is then it would be an advantage for a tonegard to make my playing sound worse for a bit in order for me to improve (if you know what i mean); It does seem to make the higher frequencies ring out more, but the bassy sound being produced more than cancels out this improvement. Has anyone else had this problem?
It's a reasonably cheap pancake i e army navy style mandolin, don't know if this would affect things.

That's an interesting question Neil. I've never heard of anybody's experiences using a tonegard for a flatback. In my experience, flatbacks are louder in general- know that my Big Muddy is plenty loud without assistance, but my carved-back mando definitely benefits from a tonegard.

[TonyP]

For this very reason, the first thing on the Tone-Gard website is the "test". Some people don't like the sound of that particular mandolin with the back freed up. And you can find this out before you buy.

Flat back and oval is a recipe for lots of bass IMHO, and maybe it could be cured with a different pick or maybe technique. But in Neil's particular case, a standard Tone-Gard is NOT made to fit that mandolin as it's a different shape than a Gibson based instrument. So it would have to be a custom made Gard, which entails making a tracing of the body of the inst. and fabricating a Gard specifically for that instrument.

With all that's been said, I would definitely advise against going down this path with this particular mandolin. I think it would be a waste of your hard earned $$.

How's that for a sales pitch

[neil argonaut]

For this very reason, the first thing on the Tone-Gard website is the "test". Some people don't like the sound of that particular mandolin with the back freed up. And you can find this out before you buy.

Flat back and oval is a recipe for lots of bass IMHO, and maybe it could be cured with a different pick or maybe technique. But in Neil's particular case, a standard Tone-Gard is NOT made to fit that mandolin as it's a different shape than a Gibson based instrument. So it would have to be a custom made Gard, which entails making a tracing of the body of the inst. and fabricating a Gard specifically for that instrument.

With all that's been said, I would definitely advise against going down this path with this particular mandolin. I think it would be a waste of your hard earned $$.

How's that for a sales pitch

Thanks a lot; I appreciate your honesty, and will save my money for when I upgrade my mandolin, at which time a tonegard will be my first purchase