Blues Mandolin - Michael Daves (new video)

[BradKlein]

Here's a first look at my latest video for Michael Daves, known around here mostly as Chris Thile's bluegrass-duo guitar player. But he's also a formidable mandolin picker when CT's not around. This was a great show from last year with two of his early musical mentors from Georgia. Click here for HD if you have the bandwidth.

[bmac]

Nice... very nice.... Thanks!
Anyone know the brand of the mando being played? Interesting shape but too dark in the video to see details.

[JH Murray]

You can see it better on this video.

[JH Murray]

This video shows the headstock as DeLuxe.

[BradKlein]

Michael's mandolin was probably made by Harmony, probably in the 1930s. The design is associated with the important early 20th c. Kansan luthier, Albert Shutt. It has an unbraced, pressed solid spruce top and maple back and sides. I've been something of a student of this model (as well as a student of Michael's), and his is the only one I've seen with the word 'deluxe' and the round pearl inlay in the peghead.

[Ed Goist]

Though Brad's response is very thorough, I thought I'd post this because it shows how cool Michael Daves is! Michael posted this video on his Facebook page, and I asked him a question about it. Here's my question and his reply:

Ed Goist: Awesome stuff! Thanks for sharing. I love the bluesy tone of your mandolin. Never seen one like that. Maker?

Michael Daves: Thanks, Ed. The mandolin is a very early Harmony, designed by Albert Shutt who made mandolins under his own name in the early teens and who patented the fingerboard extention and made some of the first mandolins with f-holes. It really needed a setup at this show though - the action was too low and it was fretting out, especially with as little finesse as I bring to picking the instrument. Perhaps that's more than you wanted to know, but I happen to enjoy dorking out over instruments, as well as complaining when the action on a mandolin is not high enough for my taste.

Again, what a cool guy for taking the time to respond in such detail!

[bmac]

Thanks for the information.... Harmony made some really nice sounding instruments. I had a Harmony 12 string (from the early 1970s if I recall) which, though costing a small fraction of a Gibson, was amazingly close in tonality to a friend's Gibson 12 string.

A very informative thread.

[grassrootphilosopher]

You can see it better on this video.

I seem to notice a nice J-35 in there too.

[bmac]

You guys sound great together.... Interesting listening to the mando playing.... Nothing terribly complicated,,, just really nice sounding on both your parts.

[mandolinlee]

BradKlein -

BRAVO! re: "you Don't Have to be A Baby to Cry".

That's the style of mandolin backup I strive to play.

Thank you,
Lee

[BradKlein]

Well thank you very kindly. Olaf: that IS a friend's 1939 J-35 that I borrowed last Summer. It's seen some hard times, but still sounds good to me.

That video is really a tribute to Michael's dedication as a teacher. He puts a lot of effort into arranging several 'recitals' each year for his students, feeling it's important that they all get up there and sing a couple for friends and family. From beginners to the advanced, we all take a turn.

[Charles E.]

Georgia Crawl is a favorite, Louie did a great version but I like this a lot.
I really enjoyed the original post, great stuff.