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View Full Version : Lebeda mandola and its older (smaller) sister



swampstomper
Oct-03-2006, 2:31am
Here is my brand-new MA5 which I picked up from Ji?i Lebeda in Prague this past weekend, along with the A5 Premium #which I bought from him about 1.5 years ago. #I asked for an affordable snakehead mandola so he used standard hardware and binding but used premium-grade wood and a radiused board. The sound compares favourably with the really super A5 premium. It plays quite easily and I am finding the longer scale length (see below) forces me to think "mandola" instead of "transpose mandolin".

At EWOB in May, Ji?i offered to make a pair: MA5 and MA4, from which I could choose. I liked them both fine; I guess as a new mandola player but long-time mandolin player I liked the punch and clarity of the F-holes more than the "room filling" sound of the oval hole. They both had the same woods. Quite interesting to A/B them. So he's still got the MA4 in case you are interested.

There has been some discussion of Lebeda scale lengths. This one measures at 16 3/4" (425 mm) to 17" (432 mm) depending where on the compensated bridge I measure. To be honest, I don't know exactly where to measure these things either at nut or bridge.

Ji?i is one of the few builders who offers the whole range of mandolin, alto mandola, tenor mandola (mandocello). And I'm sure he'd build you a piccolo if you wanted. He loves to design instruments and I was very happy with how well he understood my needs. His delivery time is also quite reasonable since he has some contractors doing parts of the work and he can fairly easily increase production if necessary.

Lee
Oct-03-2006, 4:40pm
Nice pair!

Doug Edwards
Oct-03-2006, 4:45pm
Very nice.

And my wife was worried I might be tempted to look at women when got internet. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

Uncle Choppy
Oct-03-2006, 5:18pm
Very nice indeed - they make a stunning pair.

A couple of weeks ago I bought a Lebeda F5 Standard from Trevor at TAMCO in Brighton here in the UK. I'm very happy with it. Trevor was a real gentleman and a pleasure to deal with, he really cares about the instruments he sells.

Having seen the Lebeda A styles I'm now hankering after one of those as well! A blacktop snakehead A style would look rather nice.

Anyway I hope I'm not hijacking this thread by adding a couple of pictures of my F5 here as well.

Brendan

http://www.brendanashbrook.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Lebeda-F5-1.jpg

http://www.brendanashbrook.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Lebeda-F5-3.jpg

swampstomper
Oct-04-2006, 1:06am
Uncle Choppy, that's no hijack! Let's keep those Lebeda pix coming.

You can keep dealing through Trevor in the UK, or Jeff Cowherd in the USA; they can convey your wishes right to Jiri.

Doug, I know what you mean... my wife gave me strict instructions before I went to Prague to only come back with ONE of the MA5/MA4 pair and not to fall into temptation for a gorgeous-sounding and -looking mandolin that just might be hanging around the shop advertising her charms... fortunately (for her) I only took cash enough for one! Sometimes I get the feeling that MAS is a form of polygamy... "more pretty girls than one" as they say.... or as Jimmy Rodgers sang "I love the women, I love them all the same".