Say it ain't so, Maestro!

[delsbrother]

Hey emandoids.. Have you read this interview off of Alex Gregory's site? I don't know how old it is - it says it is "recent" and is featured in Young Guitar, which is a Japanese Metal magazine. He not only gives notes on the equipment used on his recordings (nice!), he drops the bombshell...

He's given up on the 5 string emando! He figures he can play everything he needs on the 4 string, and if he wants extended range he'd rather play 7 string guitar (with his altered tuning) then 5 strings in fifths.

Wow. Can it still be Pentasystem (tm) with only 4 strings?

[mrmando]

Alex sold Pentasystem quite a while back ... he's never been one to get stuck in one place for too long.

[delsbrother]

I know, but giving up on the 5th string altogether? I feel so.. betrayed.

[journeybear]

sThis came out August 2009, on the eve of the album's Japan release date and the release of "Bach On Steroids." Nice interview, distracting background. I think you can hammer-on with double strings, but I agree single course enable bending strings and vibrato. All in all he is very insightful about electric mandolin, speaking from years of experience and also design. Thanks for bringing this up!

[delsbrother]

Yeah, I thought that it was chock full of interesting tidbits, esp. the history of his patents. I actually found it because there are a couple of his 7 strings for sale on the net (did you know he even licensed them to Hamer at one point?) and I was remembering (incorrectly) that he tuned them in fifths.. Anyhow, a cursory search brought that up.

Now, back to practicing my Paganini..

[Tom Wright]

Must have never gotten a fully satisfying sound out of the C, I guess, although I would find a low B on a normal guitar scale pretty flabby, myself. So it's mystifying; if he is happy with 7 strings, why is 5 a problem?

Can't imagine giving up my C. It's the E that is sometimes weak or shrill, and I'll go up on the A for richer tone. (On my acoustic 10, I love the E.)

[journeybear]

Actually, on the 7 string he adds a high A string, not a low B. Seems he is thinking in the higher range.

I feel that the range of the 4-string electric mandolin is adequate to play Baroque violin music and there is no need to extend it with the addition of a lower string. Romantic violin music extends further than Baroque violin music but even then I would rather use my 7 String Stratocaster with High A than a 5 string mandolin with a low C.

With that high A string he is just a fifth short of the high E string on the mandolin, which apparently is close enough for him. He seems to pair pieces to instruments according to the ranges for each.

[delsbrother]

In the interview he states that while most 7 strings add either a high or low string to a standard 6 string set, he also uses a "low" tuning that retunes the whole set, from low to high: A(2)/D/G/C/E/A/D(4).

[journeybear]

Hmmm ... I see how I missed that - it's way over on the next line!

So, talk about a floppy string!

[Tom Wright]

I feel that the range of the 4-string electric mandolin is adequate to play Baroque violin music...

My 5 or my 10 will of course handle violin range, but for now I'm using the lower range for cello/viola Bach. But I intend to explore the Partitas transposed down out of tinkly violin range. That gives both the richer tone and the freedom of higher register without climbing up the neck. Or one could capo, I guess.

It's my viola experience that has me thinking low, with the E as an added feature. But I can do lots of guitar-range bass lines, harmony, and melody in that alto clef region. I'll leave the squeaky pitches to others, but I do like the short, handy mandolin scale.

[journeybear]

Hold on - maybe I'm not getting this notation, but given these tunings:

original: E/A/D/G/B/E /A(4)
low version: A(2)/D/G/C/E/A/D.

Isn't that high A in the original tuning A5? Because if it is A4, then the lower A string, two octaves down, would be A2. But that can't be, because A2 is the added lower string in the low version.

My head hurts ...

Never mind - I think I've got it. Combining these data sources, I have determined that the high E string on a guitar is E5, so adding a high A string would indeed be A5. So someone, either the reporter or the Maestro himself, got that wrong. Say it ain't so! But it is.

Just one thing: It looks like the wiki page for guitar tuning is inconsistent. The notes given on the staff are correct, but the scientific notation chart is incorrect, if I am understanding this correctly. (No sure bet.) If someone can confirm this, please let me know, and I will correct that. Thanks!

And sorry for the tangent.

[mrmando]

I spoke with Alex today and he mentioned this thread. He would like everyone to know he's working on another mandophonic recording project involving a 5ths-based tuning. I'm obliged to be somewhat circumspect about the details. But Alex said it was never his intention to "abandon" the mandolin community, and he seemed genuinely distressed that he was perceived as having done so. As I said, Alex has never been stuck in one place for too long, so I was confident that there would be another mandolin recording at some point. I'll undoubtedly have more information about it in a few months.

[Jacob]

Thanks for the update.

[Lee]

My first e-mando's were the 5-string ones. I really liked the existance of the low C string. I came across a four string Scwabb. Out of curiosity I tuned it CGDA, without a high E string. I guess the term electric mandola would be correct. I love it, especially the
14.5" scale length. I like bending rather thin gauge strings and they work well on Schwab's neck.
Also, I get the impression that amps are designed for guitars and the high pitched E-string on an e-mando doesn't seem to blend well with the other strings due to the amp.

[delsbrother]

Maybe it was something Lost in Translation.. In any case, it's good to hear - looking forward to his next project!