View Full Version : A lovely new fylde is a thing of beauty
warthog373
May-24-2007, 5:36pm
Wanted one of these for years....my guitar playing helped buy it...
Now Im learning how to control it..what a beast!...fantastic resonance...needs great accuracy...so thats me for the next 20 years then!
anyone else out there using one not exclusively for scots/irish trad stuff...Im a blues player myself...although I dabble in anything from Richard Thompson to the Stones.
amowry
May-24-2007, 7:34pm
Sweet! I was looking at the Fylde web site earlier today--some nice looking stuff. I like the single-malt mandolins made from old whiskey barrels.
JEStanek
May-24-2007, 7:54pm
Very beautiful indeed! Can you tell us more about the back and sides... ideally with a picture too, please?
Jamie
Very nice, congratulations http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif
I'll second the request for pictures of the back, please!
Fliss
PseudoCelt
May-25-2007, 8:18am
I'm a big fan of Fyldes. I have an Fylde cedar/sapele archtop bouzouki that I bought from the Fylde workshop a few years ago. I've probably played at least 10 Touchstone mandolins like yours and they were consistently very good mandolins and good value for money (in the UK anyway).
From your profile, I see you're in Edinburgh. Last time I was there (March, I think) Scayles Music had a Fylde Touchstone with a cedar top. I've played two or three of these and they are also really nice mandolins, perhaps a bit more bassy than the standard model.
I've seen a Single Malt mandolin, but I didn't get a chance to play it. I like the look of them, particularly the copper fret markers.
Hope you enjoy it!
Patrick
Jim Nollman
May-25-2007, 11:31am
My 12 string fado guitar looks like a near twin to your instrument. I read somewhere that the Portuguese guitar was first brought to Portugal by musicians from Ireland or England.
i have been using it for many years to play Indian ragas and mid-eastern music. I keep it tuned DADGAD (D sus tuning). I keep a drone with my thumb on the 6 bass strings and pick out melodies on the treble 6. I use only one fingerpick, that one on my middle finger.
I often drop the G to F# to make it a standard D modal tuning, played with a glass bottleneck on my pinky. Sometimes I'll do this downtuning in the middle of piece of music and incorporate the drop into the song itself, as I've heard Hendrix sometimes did. Sounds great playing John Henry and You got to Move.
cbarry
May-26-2007, 5:05pm
That is a real beauty. By the way, how do you pronounce Fylde? Field? Filed? Filled?
Those Single Malts are great, too!
Chuck
Lee Callicutt
May-26-2007, 8:12pm
Beautiful. Simply beautiful!
That is a real beauty. By the way, how do you pronounce Fylde? Field? Filed? Filled?
It's pronounced the same way as "filed".
The Fylde coast is an area in the North West of England, and it's where Fylde guitars first started out, although they are now based in Cumbria, a little further north.
Fliss
Bertram Henze
May-27-2007, 8:56am
The Touchstone style is obviously very consistently kept up throughout scales (see the OM on my profile). It would be hard to guess which one it is without the two plain string pairs.
From the reflection on the top, I'd say there is a blue ghost with large teeth in your house - take care! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
Bertram
Martin Jonas
May-27-2007, 4:56pm
I'm a big fan of Fyldes. I have an Fylde cedar/sapele archtop bouzouki that I bought from the Fylde workshop a few years ago.
I played one of these this weekend, a Signature series archtop bouzouki. I hadn't realised Fylde make these as I associate archtop bouzoukis with Sobell. A couple of things struck me: it had a great sustain and great tone when playing chords, but was really weedy and quiet for single-note playing. Much quieter in fact than my cheapo Romanian Troubadour zouk. I guess they're not made with lead playing in mind. Related to that, I was struck by just how thick the carved top was. Easily twice as thick as on my Washburn F5 clone, which isn't exactly delicately built. This one looked about a centimetre thick!
Martin
Lee Callicutt
May-27-2007, 9:19pm
[I was struck by just how thick the carved top was.]
Interesting you should say that. Just from studying the pictures on their website I always thought they looked very "sturdy," but beautiful, nonetheless, in their straightforward, teardrop simplicity. Kinda' always wanted an Ariel guitar!
PseudoCelt
May-28-2007, 9:23am
I played one of these this weekend, a Signature series archtop bouzouki... A couple of things struck me: it had a great sustain and great tone when playing chords, but was really weedy and quiet for single-note playing.#Much quieter in fact than my cheapo Romanian Troubadour zouk.#I guess they're not made with lead playing in mind.
I know what you mean. I haven't played many of Fylde's signature instruments, but I have generally been less impressed by them, compared to the standard (cheaper) equivalents.
I play a lot of melody on my cedar/sapele bouzouki and it seems to be louder than other Fyldes I've compared it to. It's a few years old now, so perhaps it has got louder, or maybe it was a good one from the start. Melody playing is quieter, but I would not describe mine as "weedy and quiet" (YMMV). They have a different sound to what I would call a "typical" Irish bouzouki sound. I wonder if the relatively small soundhole has an effect on the volume?
...I was struck by just how thick the carved top was.#Easily twice as thick as on my Washburn F5 clone, which isn't exactly delicately built.#This one looked about a centimetre thick!
I believe that the tops aren't carved like a Sobell, but are pressed into shape (they also have no recurve). IIRC, the top on my bouzouki is around 7mm thick at the soundhole. They are certainly very solidly built - I carry mine around in a thin guitar bag and it has taken a lot of knocks without any damage.
The Touchstone mandolin's top is also very thick, but they seem to work well.
Patrick
Bertram Henze
May-29-2007, 1:49am
From my experience, Fylde instruments show a big difference between cedar top and spruce top, volume-wise. They also gain much volume with breaking in, so if you play a new Fylde you have heard nothing yet. My spruce top Touchstone is easily audible through a session: I can play melody and be accompanied by three guitars without problem, and when strumming chords I outboom them all.
Bertram
Mandovark
May-31-2007, 7:52am
Fylde instruments do tend to be quite thick around the soundhole, but when I prodded around inside my Touchstone I discovered that the thickness only extends for about a 1/2". Beyond that, the top seems to be fairly standard thickness. I don't know whether it's a cosmetic thing or something that affects tone, but it seems to be a standard part of the Fylde look.
Brad Weiss
May-31-2007, 8:17am
Cool- that looks like it could punch out some nifty chorinho! Course that's just my personal preference.
PseudoCelt
Jun-10-2007, 9:59am
Here's a pic of my Fyldes...
JeffD
Jun-10-2007, 12:03pm
I am very very interested in the sound and playability of your Fylde. I have never played one but I almost purchased one of the single malts. The only thing that stopped me was that the only sound clip I could find for a Fylde sounded thin.
Bertram Henze
Jun-11-2007, 9:48am
The only thing that stopped me was that the only sound clip I could find for a Fylde sounded thin.
I don't know about the mandolin, but the OM sounds like this. (http://www.hologence.de/mp3/CoilsfieldHouse.mp3)
Bertram
PseudoCelt
Jun-11-2007, 10:43am
I have seen, but not played a Single Malt Touchstone, so I can't comment on them specifically, but I find Fyldes generally to be very comfortable and easy to play. The Touchstone mandolins have quite wide necks, and a scale length that it is longer than normal, but playability is very good, IMHO.
Here's a link to an old thread about Touchstone mandolins, with a few comments on the Single Malts:
Fylde Touchstone thread (http://www.mandolincafe.net/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=5;t=30014;hl=fylde)
Patrick
JeffD
Jun-11-2007, 12:15pm
Ohhhhhhhhhh nooooooooo. I can feel it... MAS is coming over me. Quick hide the check book.
Actually I had several emails back and forth with Fylde and was very very happy with them. I have my eyes on a Touchstone Single Malt mandolin. We'll see. Hmmmmm.
Bertram Henze
Jun-12-2007, 2:01am
I had several emails back and forth with Fylde and was very very happy with them.
Indeed, I do recommend the Fylde folks as straightforward and dependable, you can always count on Roger Bucknall for information or in case of problems.
Bertram
warthog373
Jun-15-2007, 7:41am
thanks for all your posts...I must admit I left that photo and forgot about it till today!
have had the mandolin out at a couple of sessions now...great one last night - in a pub in edinburgh...and the word is ...this machine cuts through anything!...if you want it to of course, its often at its best when its played gently....I am delighted with it...
[of course being a musician..the grass is always greener..Id love to try a Gibson A shape just for comparison!]
am attempting to post photos of back and sides for those of you who asked...
PS As a Scot I might become overcome by emotion while playing an instrument made out of old whisky barrels!
warthog373
Jun-15-2007, 7:42am
and the full, back photo