New Yanuziello Mandola

[Hoyt]

Got my electic mandola today, made by Joseph Yanuziello. #It's everything I had hoped and more. #18" Scale, hollow chambers, plays as well as my acoustic. #

Let's see if I can do the picture upload deal.

[berkeleymando]

That looks nice. Is the bridge fixed to the body? Interesting tailpiece.

[krishna]

Hoyt I don't mean to be critical... It's a great looking axe, but ,if I'm not mistaken( someone correct me?) 18 inches does not a mandola make. Most mandolins are right around 14 inches (a little less). I have a solidbody mandola that has a scale of 15 and three quarter inchs..Kerry

[krishna]

Also how about some detail photos...Lets see ...headstock... back of body...maybe back of headstock too?...Kerry

[Scott Tichenor]

Congratulations. I'm getting ready to mail my deposit on one of his mandolins just like the one below.

[mad dawg]

Cool looking axe, Hoyt -- reminds me of a Danelectro a bit (that's a good thing).

[berkeleymando]

Scott, what do you think about that hollow body design of the Yanuziello emando? It must be great. How will that affect sustain and the way the electronic pickup receives the sound? I'd like to get one of his great looking lap steel guitars.

[Scott Tichenor]

Scott, what do you think about that hollow body design of the Yanuziello emando? It must be great. How will that affect sustain and the way the electronic pickup receives the sound? I'd like to get one of his great looking lap steel guitars.
Honestly, I have no idea, but I think it should generate a lot more volume than a solid body when played acoustic, which I'll surely do a bit. After ordering this I found out a local repairman who I trust with my Nugget has inspected his work and thinks he's top-notch. In fact he pretty much raved about him which made me happy. Probably won't receive it until April is the estimate so until then I'll just sit in anticipation.

[Hoyt]

Hey folks.

I'll make some more photos in a few days.

I've been off the Café for about a month -- had a big work project and had to cut out all the things I really like to do (well, not all).

Answers to a couple of questions:

This bridge is wooden and is not adjustable. But the action is perfect. I think Joseph Y makes a fixed, metal bridge model as well.

Regarding 18" scale: All Weber manDOLAs are 17" and most others I'm familiar with run 16" or so. I wanted a long scale because I favor my acoustic mandola and my octave over mandolin. The 18" is perfect -- plenty of lows, but I can reach the mandolin range as well.


Here's an update after having it about a month or so:

If I had it to do over again, I'd probably get another color -- should have listened to Joseph Y on that, but it's OK, and it is different. And my wife likes it, so that works out great.

Workmanship is excellent -- just top notch. The neck is to die for, it feels great. Frets are perfect.

Playability: This is it's greatest asset. I love the springy feel of acoustic instruments, and I get a good bit of that here. The neck is perfect. To me, a lot of electric instrument feel dead in comparison to an acoustic. This one is in between somewhere.

I am very happy with the sound. I've had solid body electrics before, and was not particularly happy with the sound. I have had to work hard to dial in something that is prefect, but it'll do everything I want. If I only could have one mandolin/dola, I'd take an acoustic. But this is a great change of pace. I did end up putting a thin piece of rubber up under the pickup because I was getting some subtle sounds that weren't quite right to me (not bad) -- but that cured it.

I'm also working on learning where the different sounds are. The sweet spot(s) are different from an acoustic. But there are a lot of cool sounds in it -- will give me something to explore for some time.

It does have a much louder unamplified sound than the previous solid bodies I've had (like a Rickenbacker). I want to try recording it with a close mic and amplifier, but have only miced an amp so far. In fact, when I first received it I had to go on a business trip and took it without an amp. It was great for hotel rooms.

Point is, I'm very happy with it -- it has cured my electric mandolin/dola cravings. Quite often when I get things like this, I have days where I get the sweats because I think I made a mistake -- haven't had that once with this one. Probably would change the color if I had it to do over again -- but who knows, this might fade a bit and be really cool.

Joe is great to work with also -- a real artist. I found him when I wanted a cool looking lap steel. Never bought that, but his stuff stuck in my mind.

[ira]

mazel tov (good luck, congrats)!!!!! looks great!

[mandopete]

Gotta agree with you Hoyt about that color. #Other than that this is one cool looking innstrument, eventhough the scroll looks kinda funny.

http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[Hoyt]

Pete,

I selected that color during a moment when I was just sick and tired of sunburst instruments -- I've got about 5 of those.

Joseph Y tried to steer me in another direction, but Oh no . . . . . . It does look better in sun light, but thankfully it plays good enough to make it a noneissue.

[recklessmando]

I don't mean to hijack the thread but like everyone who gives this disclaimer it's exactly what I'm about to do.

Mr. Yanuziello's mandolins are very intriguing; beautiful work and I'd love to hear how they sound. But, the 15" scale scares me. Does anyone know why he uses such a long scale and has anyone played one?

My first impression is that it would be awkward trying to play the same tunes on instruments whose scale lengths vary this much (over and inch, correct?). Am I mistaken? I imagine your fingers would adapt in time but my brain is slowing down a little more each day and anything I can do to lessen the workload is helpful. And my smallish hands are stretched about as far as they're wanting to go already. Any thoughts? Thanks.

[Hoyt]

Hey Reckless,

I bet you would not really notice the difference. #One inch over 20 frets isn't much.

I think the longer scale length gives a slightly fuller sound in an electric instrument, but I don't really know. #Maybe, Scott can fill us in when he gets his mando.

I will admit being concerned years ago when I started with mandolin and went to octaves (20 to 23" scale) and mandolas. #But found it only takes a few minutes to become reoriented. #I also play bass (34") and guitar (25"). #

I switch between Yanuz's 18" electric mandola to my Weber acoustic 17" without missing a beat [of course, I cant' play for squat].

It's all relative.