Heliocentric
Mar-07-2011, 4:38am
First let me qualify in saying that I don't really have a lot in depth to compare to so this won't really be a review as such but more my impressions. A bit over a year ago I got my first mandolin. It was a Bean Blossom ostensibly under the Morgan Monroe line of mandolins. I don't have the luxury of having a local shop that has much in the way of mandolins so I bought online and hoped for the best. On arrival I had it set up at a local luthier and spent the next year picking away at it. Eventually it got a new bone nut and a maple bridge and for what it was I thought it sounded pretty good. For a mandolin-shaped piece of plywood I had a lot of fun and it did the job. I decided a few months ago that it was time to trade up to something a bit more substantial...Well a lot more substantial. I got in touch with Gianna Violins and asked Steve there to give me the whole mandovoodoo set up on an Eastman 504. A few weeks later the mandolin arrived and it was love at first note. The only thing I can compare it to was someone who had only ever listened to AM radio on a clock radio suddenly being introduced to CD quality on a really good stereo surround sound system with a sub woofer. You can get down to AM radio when it's all you have, but there is a world of difference between the two. It is louder, has more high, more low, more sustain and just more presence if there is such a thing. I'm not sure if it is just a better quality instrument, if it is Steve's magic touch on the set-up or something else, but every time I open the case I feel like Golum in his cave holding the one ring. So, I guess this is a very positive review of my precious.