Left Hand Blind
Dec-04-2016, 8:04am
I'm a looooong time MandoCafe ghost, but I've just been hanging out in the corner making that one cup of coffee last ~o) since about 1997 ;)
Being a bear of very little brain and limited dexterity, I've never had anything to contribute, so this will be my first post. Since I started playing, 21 years ago (you wouldn't know it if you heard me - my playing still has the youthful sheen of the clueless) I had a Tanglewood A-style forever, then picked up a 1939 Gibson A00 a little under 3 years ago.
Now, the Gibson, I love. We met by accident in Forsyths (Manchester, UK) and I fell for the tone straight away: rich, mellow and dark. It's no looker and structurally it has seen better days - so we have this in common :))
However, there are drawbacks: it's quite hard work to play at any kind of pace - and my left hand is in seriously bad shape (years of Judo, motorcycling and general clumsiness have filled it with fractures, scar tissue and arthritis). A couple of months' intense practice pre a Simon Mayor tutorial (5-stars for that, by the way, lovely chap and a great teacher. Plays alright, too) led me into a bout of tendonitis, just to top it off.
Ouch.
Also, the A00 ain't loud, and at the time I was playing in an ensemble alongside a very talented mandolinist who had the confidence to play her Kentucky F-style hard and I have to tell you, that is a *loud* mandolin. In a good way. (Also, it allowed me to hide behind her during the difficult bits :)) )
I've found plenty of value on here over the years, and had all my questions answered without even having to ask, until I came to this point -
"What now? - I want a sweet, full sounding mandolin - not too bright - but loud enough to cut it in an orchestra without crippling my crumpled left mitt."
To cut a long story less-long, I scoured the length of the country. I'm no connoisseur, but I have been moving in mandocircles for a long time and I know a good 'un when I find one. So I played hundreds of mandolins from £400 to £6000+ (for reference only at the top end, you understand :disbelief::)) ) (although, it's worth labouring the point that expensiver isn't always betterer. Trust your ears, and your fingertips, say I).
Nothing hit the mark. A few came close, but they weren't *it*.
I remembered meeting a mandolin maker named Paul Shippey very many years ago, who had just been setting out on his own. At the time, I tried a couple of his instruments and was very impressed, but as a penniless student, these were pipe dreams. I decided to look him up on th'directory and lo and behold he had a website and everything.
I sent him an email and soon Gibson A00 and I were travelling by KTM to Weston-Super-Mare where I enjoyed an enormously warm welcome from Paul who had remained every bit as charming, sincere and personable as I had recollected.
Paul listened to my tale, and suffered an audience with my Gibson, then had me try one of his own part-finished models to see what sort of sounds I could make with it.
He was even polite enough to not visibly wince :))
He kept the Gibson overnight for measurements (the neck profile is *just right* for me) and it turns out that it was within a whisker of his own pattern anyway. We talked woods, and of our shared love of all things British (nothing jingoistic, just gratitude for our heritage and resources), then off I dashed to my home in the hills of the Narth.
A few weeks later, I wired Paul my deposit and told him to take his time as I would need a while to raise the full price of the instrument.
As it happens, just about a year after out first meeting, I got en email from Paul asking what sort of a finish I would like! How exciting! I literally didn't sleep for 2 days. By way of return, I sent Paul a few photographs of various instruments with finishes I like, even though "helpfully" enough, they were all rather different to each other. I also said that I was going to leave the final decision to Paul's good judgement, and that I didn't want to see it until it was ready.
Well, a few days ago I got back from Weston with my brand new Paul Shippey A5, and I am happy to report that the brief has been more than matched :):):)
What Paul has managed by craft and intuition is absolutely tremendous. The look, sound and feel of this mandolin could not be closer to what I wanted, despite my garbled and unintelligible descriptions. The quality of the finish and the detailing is immense - and it even smells fantastic! :))
As for the sound? - it's everything I could want. Rings like a bell, sustain for days, rich harmonics through the length of the perfectly-intonated fingerboard and so, so responsive.
Most amazingly, though, it opens up most when I play like me. By that, I mean that I can knock out a bluegrass lick or a Celtic reel and (tonally) it sounds just great, but when I start to play my repertoire, my way (I lean towards airs, classical and jazz standards), that's when it really starts to sing.
It's like magic.
5 days in and apart from the strings taking a beating, my left hand feels fine (relatively). I've had to learn to relax my Gibson Death-Grip, but the tendonitis seems to be at low ebb despite the many sleepless hours I've spent like admiring my new precious, like a grotesquely oversized Gollum :))
In short, this mandolin has given my playing a new lease of life, and extended the expiry date of my moribund left-mitt. It's crazy to think that for the same money as I could pay in a shop for a Chinese factory instrument - or a third of the price of a US-made one-trick bluegrass cannon - I've got a handmade instrument, carved and tuned back and top, in beautiful British woods, that sounds like me and fits like I grew up with it.
I can honestly say that I would not change even the smallest detail of my Shippey A5. Despite being a brute, I have played Monteleones, D'Aquistos and even a Loar F5 (at the late lamented Mandolin Bros as-was). I've played Eastmans, Capeks, Breedloves and a host of other fantastic factory-and-artisan made instruments.
Would I swap my Shippey A5 for any of them, as an instrument? - no.
And if that don't make it the Best Mandolin In The World, then what would? - only if I learned to play it properly! :))
I may yet get up the nerve to post some videos so you can hear it (in which case - no judging! I'm shy!).
For now you can see in instrument in question here:
http://shippeymandolins.tumblr.com
https://www.facebook.com/shippeymandolins/
http://paulshippey.co.uk
Being a bear of very little brain and limited dexterity, I've never had anything to contribute, so this will be my first post. Since I started playing, 21 years ago (you wouldn't know it if you heard me - my playing still has the youthful sheen of the clueless) I had a Tanglewood A-style forever, then picked up a 1939 Gibson A00 a little under 3 years ago.
Now, the Gibson, I love. We met by accident in Forsyths (Manchester, UK) and I fell for the tone straight away: rich, mellow and dark. It's no looker and structurally it has seen better days - so we have this in common :))
However, there are drawbacks: it's quite hard work to play at any kind of pace - and my left hand is in seriously bad shape (years of Judo, motorcycling and general clumsiness have filled it with fractures, scar tissue and arthritis). A couple of months' intense practice pre a Simon Mayor tutorial (5-stars for that, by the way, lovely chap and a great teacher. Plays alright, too) led me into a bout of tendonitis, just to top it off.
Ouch.
Also, the A00 ain't loud, and at the time I was playing in an ensemble alongside a very talented mandolinist who had the confidence to play her Kentucky F-style hard and I have to tell you, that is a *loud* mandolin. In a good way. (Also, it allowed me to hide behind her during the difficult bits :)) )
I've found plenty of value on here over the years, and had all my questions answered without even having to ask, until I came to this point -
"What now? - I want a sweet, full sounding mandolin - not too bright - but loud enough to cut it in an orchestra without crippling my crumpled left mitt."
To cut a long story less-long, I scoured the length of the country. I'm no connoisseur, but I have been moving in mandocircles for a long time and I know a good 'un when I find one. So I played hundreds of mandolins from £400 to £6000+ (for reference only at the top end, you understand :disbelief::)) ) (although, it's worth labouring the point that expensiver isn't always betterer. Trust your ears, and your fingertips, say I).
Nothing hit the mark. A few came close, but they weren't *it*.
I remembered meeting a mandolin maker named Paul Shippey very many years ago, who had just been setting out on his own. At the time, I tried a couple of his instruments and was very impressed, but as a penniless student, these were pipe dreams. I decided to look him up on th'directory and lo and behold he had a website and everything.
I sent him an email and soon Gibson A00 and I were travelling by KTM to Weston-Super-Mare where I enjoyed an enormously warm welcome from Paul who had remained every bit as charming, sincere and personable as I had recollected.
Paul listened to my tale, and suffered an audience with my Gibson, then had me try one of his own part-finished models to see what sort of sounds I could make with it.
He was even polite enough to not visibly wince :))
He kept the Gibson overnight for measurements (the neck profile is *just right* for me) and it turns out that it was within a whisker of his own pattern anyway. We talked woods, and of our shared love of all things British (nothing jingoistic, just gratitude for our heritage and resources), then off I dashed to my home in the hills of the Narth.
A few weeks later, I wired Paul my deposit and told him to take his time as I would need a while to raise the full price of the instrument.
As it happens, just about a year after out first meeting, I got en email from Paul asking what sort of a finish I would like! How exciting! I literally didn't sleep for 2 days. By way of return, I sent Paul a few photographs of various instruments with finishes I like, even though "helpfully" enough, they were all rather different to each other. I also said that I was going to leave the final decision to Paul's good judgement, and that I didn't want to see it until it was ready.
Well, a few days ago I got back from Weston with my brand new Paul Shippey A5, and I am happy to report that the brief has been more than matched :):):)
What Paul has managed by craft and intuition is absolutely tremendous. The look, sound and feel of this mandolin could not be closer to what I wanted, despite my garbled and unintelligible descriptions. The quality of the finish and the detailing is immense - and it even smells fantastic! :))
As for the sound? - it's everything I could want. Rings like a bell, sustain for days, rich harmonics through the length of the perfectly-intonated fingerboard and so, so responsive.
Most amazingly, though, it opens up most when I play like me. By that, I mean that I can knock out a bluegrass lick or a Celtic reel and (tonally) it sounds just great, but when I start to play my repertoire, my way (I lean towards airs, classical and jazz standards), that's when it really starts to sing.
It's like magic.
5 days in and apart from the strings taking a beating, my left hand feels fine (relatively). I've had to learn to relax my Gibson Death-Grip, but the tendonitis seems to be at low ebb despite the many sleepless hours I've spent like admiring my new precious, like a grotesquely oversized Gollum :))
In short, this mandolin has given my playing a new lease of life, and extended the expiry date of my moribund left-mitt. It's crazy to think that for the same money as I could pay in a shop for a Chinese factory instrument - or a third of the price of a US-made one-trick bluegrass cannon - I've got a handmade instrument, carved and tuned back and top, in beautiful British woods, that sounds like me and fits like I grew up with it.
I can honestly say that I would not change even the smallest detail of my Shippey A5. Despite being a brute, I have played Monteleones, D'Aquistos and even a Loar F5 (at the late lamented Mandolin Bros as-was). I've played Eastmans, Capeks, Breedloves and a host of other fantastic factory-and-artisan made instruments.
Would I swap my Shippey A5 for any of them, as an instrument? - no.
And if that don't make it the Best Mandolin In The World, then what would? - only if I learned to play it properly! :))
I may yet get up the nerve to post some videos so you can hear it (in which case - no judging! I'm shy!).
For now you can see in instrument in question here:
http://shippeymandolins.tumblr.com
https://www.facebook.com/shippeymandolins/
http://paulshippey.co.uk