Deja vu Mandola
Hi folks,
finally I'm able to post some impression of my recently finished Moongazer Deja vu Electric Mandola:
After five months building time (see the building thread) I'm very happy to hold the instruments in my hands and to play it - I see it from this side while playing:
My Almuse Jazzmando is tuned FCGD so I decided to tune my Dola one tone lower as well - BbFCG. This allows me to play Eb Sheets which are used for example by Alto sax players. To reach a fine jazzy sound I used polished strings - D'Addario Chromes Medium with a heavy string gauge: 0.17 - 0.26 - 0.45 - 0.56. Had to setup the nut a little for it was made for a max. 0.48 string gauge.
It is a real pleasure to play! The "hardware" made by Tom Morici is very thoroughly processed. Let's talk about the neck first:
It is doubtless the highlight of the instrument, very stable with an Ebony radiused fretboard, very exact frets - and I am rapt away how easy it is to play! I was a little afraid of playing the wide 14,5'' scale length, and I see with this instrument there is absolutely no problem! The fingers are sliding up and down nearly by themselves. Well, I can't make accords over more than 5 frets, but scales, arpeggios, soloing is nearly the same I learned on Fiddle and Mandolin. I simply love it!
Now to the pickup:
It's a 2-wired Almuse classic pickup. It has a more "usual" image than it deserves to have. In fact, it is some outstanding hardware which gives a bold and volouminous output with a very high sound range. I can hear it by using the tone poti - it has a huge effect betweenn sharp and mellow tones. Together with the polished strings I got exactly the smooth, jazzy tone I wanted to reach. I'm already practizing for a sound example...
So I'm very happy with the Mandola. I have two different instruments for different sound purposes now. Time to play music - I'd rather do it all day
Tom Sailor
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