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View Full Version : Strange comeback



Jim Rowland
Feb-24-2009, 3:09pm
First,a little background on this F 5 style. I completed it in 'O3 and was satisfied that it was pretty good,so I offered it for sale. A client,who has two of my mandolins,was interested, so I let him take it to Illinois for a long tryout. A month later I received a note saying that he wasn't sure he wanted it,but had sent it to a friend who was a professional musician for a tryout. That fellow,an ex grasser who had matriculated into jazz was now playing keyboards,but was looking for a mandolin,wrote me a glowing note expounding on the wonderful tone etc,but said it was priced at double the amount he wished to spend,so I had it sent back,feeling that something was wrong. When I got it back, it seemed to me that all the life had gone out of it...weak,dull,...not right. I couldn't figure it out,and decided that I might have installed the tonebars in reverse,but a measurement showed that to be untrue,so I decided to strip it completely to bare wood and do a little wood removal. I thinned out the back and flattened it slightly,same for the top,worrying that it looked a little too thin around the recurve,re-configured the neck a little,refinished and strung up. I was seriously disappointed. It was different,but still just didn't have "it", so I hung it up at the far end of my mando rack and just ignored it except to contemplate reusing the tuners,bridge and tailpiece. Several days ago on a whim, I took it down and tuned it up (it was remarkably close after having been ignored all that time)and started fooling with it. It was all there. Good tone,good volume,lively all the way up the neck. In short,I am delighted with it and really enjoy playing it..really glad I didn't run it through the bandsaw. Is it live???..or is it memory loss? I have some theories,but I'd like to know what you think.
Jim

CES
Feb-24-2009, 3:16pm
Just curious as to whether the season/humidity/environment it was in while on loan may have contributed to the setup/liveliness of the plates? Now that it's been back in your shop for a while it's reacclimated...also, using any unique tonewoods/finishes?

I'm curious to hear what the actually knowledgable folks on the Cafe have to offer as well...~o)

Jim Rowland
Feb-24-2009, 3:24pm
Sorry, I posted in the wrong forum. Maybe Jamie or someone can straighted it out.
Jim

JEStanek
Feb-24-2009, 4:25pm
I'll move this to General Mandolin section.

Jamie

R. Kane
Feb-24-2009, 4:43pm
I figured that by now we would hear conjecture that this mandolin had been subjected to too much playing (and/or dangerous de-damping treatment while sitting on a Leslie speaker cabinet) and needed to be ignored for a while so that it could get some much-needed sleep. :))