My first true classical

[labraid]

Hello all,
Maybe some of you remember my first failed efforts at this some two years ago. Well, months of lost income, sleepless nights, and burning passions have culminated in something real. I'm real proud to unveil...

this thingy

[surfandstrum]

That's beautiful...Will you be posting some sound clips? Are you happy with it enough to put them into production?

[Bill Snyder]

Come on Brian, you are still logged in, where are the rest of the photos? # http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

[Jason Nagati]

Bill is right, Brian. Don't tease us.:)

[Hans]

Now THAT is VERY fine Brian! That's no thingy. That is a very well thought out Classic, beautifully done. Stunning!

[labraid]

Thanks! I was a bit buggered out last night. Still taking pictures too, as you can see unrolling here.

I did take some time to play her.. I wish I could describe the sound. Very light and airy, clear and crisp, with a very good bass range compliment. Hopefully I'll have some sound clips today before long.

I don't have much of the standard "classical" pieces in tab. I'll do the renaissance glissando-melody thing, but if anyone has a simple-to-learn piece (bourrée?) they could forward the tab on, I'd love to record something in that vein.

[mandolooter]

3 wow's and a hand clap!

[Jim Garber]

Looks pretty, Brian. When can I play it? I know you will be at the Montreal guitar show. Are you planning on attending CMSA which will also be in Montreal in October. They usually have a good handful of luthiers there. I may even try to make it.

[labraid]

I have to find out some infos on the CMSA. Any idea the cost to show? I would like it, I'm happy with the tone, the construction, etc. Even the narrow nut isn't all that bad. It's something I'd like to show and collect comments on..

Here's the peghead. This was my first, while Jamie's was really my second and more refined. This one is ok, but the geometry hadn't been nailed yet for the true construction of the volute. It looks good, but there's something about a design which has true and precise geometry, that speaks to the soul...

[labraid]

closeup. There are ebony reinforcements strips behind this delicate guy.
The top is finished with a single wash coat of shellac, polished with alcohol and fine pumice.

[labraid]

a one-off tailpiece, cast just a few days ago. No visible screws anywhere in this one. The strings lie in channels inset in the ebony. I'll snap a shot of the backer next...

[labraid]

a pointy version of the scrolled peghead. Pointy mandolin, no pointy peghead. Teardrop mandolin, pointy peghead.

[labraid]

And the last one I can think of, the claro bowl of 28 staves.

re: the tailpiece. Much like a guitar, whose string attachment point does not readily interchange, this tailpiece has pins which enter the wood itself, through the rim, into the tailblock. No screws, and no way to break a tailpiece as the pins themselves are readily interchangeable. Each pin was hammered into a "cut nail" shape, and the square shank pounded into a round hole, notch on the lower face to catch the strings.

[Jim Garber]

a pointy version of the scrolled peghead. Pointy mandolin, no pointy peghead. Teardrop mandolin, pointy peghead.
Brian:
I like the tailpiece and noticed that you did go for the traditional Embergher-influenced zero fret. Is the fretboard radiused?

[labraid]

Yes, I did my standard radius job: 9.5" at the nut, going to flat across the top of the strings, with appropriate action underneath, at the bridge. The treble side of the fretboard is where I took off most of the material for the radius.

[brunello97]

Beautiful work, Brian! I really enjoy the way the fretboard extension intersects with the rosette. The ebony braces below really feel like part of the overall composition, a very graceful resolution. I'm really intrigued by this layered design in some of the Calace, Christofaro, and some Puglisi designs. Yours is really fantastic.

Mick

[MLT]

Brian~

Wow! That is beautiful. Can't wait to hear the sound clips.

[Alex Timmerman]

Congratulations Brian!

I browsed your website and saw your other instruments notiching also that this new instrument really fits in as your bowl back mandolin model.

It looks very nice!


Best and success,

Alex

[Graham McDonald]

Nicely done. Good to see all that time working out bowlback construction has had a result

cheers

graham

[Dan Krhla]

That is OUTSTANDING.

[Got8Strings]

It is gorgeous.

I have to say though, in that first picture it looks like you built it with a kickstand.

[labraid]

The strangest phenomenon.. I hold the instrument away from me as far as I can, and play to myself, soundhole facing me, as best I can at that distance.. And it sounds as one would expect a classical to sound... Which makes me more than happy. Why I was doing this strange contortion, was because I was completely perplexed for an entire day, that when I play the instrument close to me as one usually does, it sounds nothing like this!

No recording yet. Still discovering things about this mandolin... Like how to pick, where, and that kind of thing.. Did I mention I'm not much of a player? http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif And where are the rural Ontarian classical mandolin virtuoso farmers when you need them most anyway...

Thank you all for the positive comments.

[Jim Garber]

Ah, that is a good sign -- of what I am not sure. Better violins behave in that manner. Most players of any worth take another player with them to try out instruments and check out the sound under the player's ear and from the audience's ear. It is often a big difference.

Many of the best bowlbacks, Emberghers included, have that effect as well. Sometimes it seems like a bowlback is quite quiet to the player and yet it carries quite nicely out to the audience.it is a myth, BTW that bowlbacks are quieter than Loar=style mandolins. They are just acoustically different. Witness the mandolinist playing a bowlbacks accompanied by a grand piano. There is usually no problem being heard.

[JEStanek]

Brian, that looks awesome. I really like the tailpiece and the rosette. I would love to hear it eventually too. Very elegant.

Jamie

[labraid]

[edit:link changed, see later post or just click here (http://labraid.ca/sounds/54sounds2.mp3) to hear updated sound file.]

[vkioulaphides]

The bass does sound uncommonly rich! I do not recall ANY new instrument with such complex sonority in that range. It is, of course, unfair to try to judge an instrument from its sound as it comes through my (clunky) computer speakers. What kind of strings do you have on this instrument, Brian? I get the feeling that is *they* that sound more "green" than the instrument itself... with the mellowness of broken-in strings, this instrument should sing like an angel.

Montreal is not terribly far from New York, but the scheduling is all but impossible for those of us who work in academia (read: Fall semester madness). And, even if the trip were feasible, I couldn't afford the instrument itself. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif But, perennial window-shopper that I am, I would surely LOVE to see it, and perhaps play a few notes on it.

I will await patiently for eye/earwitness reports from Montreal.

Cheers,

Victor

[Jim Garber]

Here's what I would like to hear from a demo. Yes, it would be great to hear some virtuoso playing the instrument but barring that I generally A/B instruments for tone this way.
1) each open course to hear the level of sustain
2) some arpeggios in various keys all the way up the neck
3) chords using open strings up and down the fretboard
4) closed chords up and down the fretboard
5) double stops in various places
6) simple melody played pianissimo to fortissimo in various places up the neck.

I find that the tone on some mandolins tend to break up in the upper reaches of the fretboard and while I would not expect a sweet full sound at the 20th fret I think this is something to look for there.

Sustain is important as well as evenness of tone across the range.

Then again, by listening to an mp3 we are at the mercy of the mic and the room acoustics.

Anyway, just my 2 cents for what that is worth -- 2 cents, I guess. Unfortunately there is no substitution for playing an instrument in person. My passport will take a few months tho...

[labraid]

You're right, Victor. The strings are very new, and phosphor bronze which I usually now like to use 80/20 instead, for their mellowness. Both strings and mando are but hatchlings.
I have been beating on it as gently as I can powerfully, mostly to loosen up the trebles and mids which sounded a bit tight the first few days. This is working. Part of all this is the bracing pattern which I used which was something new that I do now.. I won't go into too much detail, but it both favours the bass response, tightens the trebles and mids, and will prevent top caving entirely (not why I did it, but a positive side effect of the bracing strategy)...

So here is a second sound file (http://labraid.ca/sounds/54sounds2.mp3). I am deleting the earlier one as it grates my ears..

This one is not perfect either. We are using a Shure voice microphone, a very good one, but I may have been too close, about a foot away. There was slight distortion at times, but all very subtle and I think this one helps give a better idea of the tone, especially after a few more of the critical early days of the instrument's life and break-in.

Break-in, btw, in my meaning of the word, means a sweetening of the ranges. I do not expect the bass response to ever increase from its now healthy level.

We are at about five or six days old now as of this recording..

Jim, the sound file was to some degree along the lines of what you'd suggested. Not entirely as I don't really know how to bring out the subtler qualities of the instrument. Any instrument for that matter, but classical, my god! I can only hope to be able to pick accurately enough one day, that I can play and enjoy my own music.

I hope you find the tone very clear up at the highest frets.

[Jim Garber]

Any instrument for that matter, but classical, my god!
Well... I am no expert in the matters of classical tone, but I would just try to bring out the tonal character of the instrument. After all: it is a mandolin and you have built quite a few that people enjoy. I would not be too intimidated by the classical folks. Most are quite nice and encouraging, you will find.

[minnedolin]

I'm always pleased to see the end results of hard work. Absolutely brilliant craftmanship from what I see. If you don't mind my saying so, I'm more enthralled with your Florentine Oval Mandolins. Amazing stuff man!!

[Eugene]

I would not be too intimidated by the classical folks. Most are quite nice and encouraging, you will find.
Except me, being a mean old [insert censored term of your choice].

[Jim Garber]

Brian, it does sound pretty sweet overall. I hope to meet this or one of its descendants soon. Thanks for bearing with my requests.

[Bob A]

A lovely instrument. I stand amazed at the craftsmanship. Tried to check out the sound, but the link has deteriorated.

Given my personal preferences, I can but hope you will try an example in maple, Given the state of the exchequer, I hope it won't be soon. ( must admit that my Greek bowlback, with its walnut bowl, leaves nothing to be desired tonally, but I'm a pig for those holographic curls and flames).

[labraid]

Hi Bob,

I changed the old link to represent the new sound file, and you can find it above in a later post as well.

Figured maple is on my mind. It was the wood I actually started with, but it was not a wise choice to begin bowlbuilding with. All sorts of bending issues, plus alignment of the grain, plus how to "resaw" the woods for grain matching.. Walnut was my choice partly due to all of this, and I've found *a* fitting way (of perhaps many) to get things assembled and looking right.. A figured bowl is not too very far off I should hope.

Here's a photo of my first successful-though-Frankensteinish maple bowl.. It was never realized, but hangs in the shop as a relic.

[vkioulaphides]

Walnut, because of its "commoner" status in the regno di legno, gets unfairly little respect, IMHO. It is, however, THE wood of choice for Greek luthiers building picked/plucked instruments-- and not only mandolins, but also bouzoukis, baglamas, and lutes of all sorts and sizes. You can say "I grew up with it"...

When Greek luthiers want to "go fancy", they offer to build you something with, say, a bubinga bowl-- which, for reasons I never understood, they call "carnation tree". Perhaps because of the color of bubinga, vis-a-vis the "heart" of carnation cloves. Who knows? I must admit I LOVE the cherry-pinkish tone and spotted-porous texture of bubinga, although I doubt that ANY wood makes a critical difference in the actual *tone* of the instrument, when it comes to the construction of the bowl itself.

When I scare up sufficient funds to commission an instrument from Brian #http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif #the humble walnut will be as welcome as any.