Jazzmando review

[Ted Eschliman]

I am totally digging this mandolin. It's everything ever I expected; designer Gordon Roberts and crew at Century Strings have done a bang up job on this amazing instrument.

http://jazzmando.com/images/Roy_Top.jpg

I've had it a little over a month and wanted to run it through its courses (pun intended...) #before weighing in. Magnificent & hard to believe something this good is in the lower mid $1K range.

More pictures and Review (http://jazzmando.com/draleon_royale.shtml).

[Jim Nollman]

nice to see someone commenting on this mandolin. Please tell us more. Does it resemble the sound of anything more familiar, like for example, an F4 or a two point eastman?

I've been eyeing one of these myself. Mostly for plkaying blues and jazz.

That photo makes the top look like ash. it must be a reflection. Right?

[LKN2MYIS]

I'm also wondering how it would sound for blues and old time as well.

Sweet looking instrument.

[Jim Nollman]

Ted, I also want to add that the link to your article about developing a playing VOICE is superb. I don't know anyone else who is writing, quite so thoughtfully, about this level of mandolin craft. I'm curious. Do you have a book out on playing mandolin?

[Ted Eschliman]

Jim, thanks for the kind words. To answer your first question, the top is definitely spruce. It's hard for me to compare its sound to any "standard" mandolin, in that it's exceptionally "full" bodied, round but not piercing. It's smooth and resonant, suited well for jazz especially, but also any musical genre that requires linear capability over percussive punch.

My book, "Getting in to Jazz Mandolin" is in final draft at Mel Bay, scheduled for release later in the fall of this year.

[Chris Biorkman]

Ted,

Which instrument do you play most of the time now that you sold your Rigel?

[Jim Nollman]

Ted, I'm also curious what kind of transducer or pickup you might recommend to amplify (but not alter) the tone of that Draleon mandolin? I just saw Chris Thile in concert at Wintergrass, and was amazed at how clean, loud and clear his mandolin sounded being played through a transducer. It can be done.

Of all the acts I saw at Wintergrass, Chris's band and his mandolin were the clearest sounding i heard. many of the other fine bands and very fine players were using microphones. And they were distorting. Part of the problem was the fact that Chris's band had extraordinary dynamics which let each soloist soar while the others pulled way back. And part of the problem was, sad to say, the fact that whoever was running the board seemed to think that bluegrass needs to be heard at the edge of distortion. With so much of this music sounding like an Olympic event of who can play fastest, and with too little sense of dynamics internally within the band, much of what i heard was distorting more often than not.

[Ted Eschliman]

Lap time rotates around performance needs and new "toys" acquired. Giving up the Blue CT-110 was more philosophical than practical; the purpose of the website is to promote new equipment innovation and encourage companies that dare to break the mold. I want to be "seen" with "Axes of Upheaval," from active builders.

Because of the pick-up and mic issues you mentioned, the Phoenix 'Jazz' remains my "go to" stage instrument. The piezo/magnetic blend capabilities are a god-send in sonically hostile environments. Obviously the Royale is getting lap time as the two of us get familiar with each other, but only in the privacy of my own home. I'll be looking into p/u options in it soon (Gordon has something on the drawing board). I'm exploring the chord/melody capabilities of the 4-string mandola (Solocomp JM); only problem with it is I've yet to secure an ensemble or performance venue. The Jazzbo is still in the arsenal, as well as my 5-string Jonathon Mann electric mandolin and Rigel Q-dola--all very much pleasant and active diversions.

So many mandolins, so little time!

[mandroid]

A/B compare-contrast, perhaps, with (the late) David Hodsons Djangolins?
S.V.P? http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif

[delsbrother]

Interested in that as well - though I think the more fair comparison to the Djangolin would be to the Paris Swing stuff (flat vs. flat, price point, etc.). Have you played Scott's Dupont?

The website mentions the body's larger size/depth - is this noticeable?

I'd love to see the Draleon in mandola or OM size w/ sunburst.