Jake Wildwood
Sep-23-2012, 9:03pm
This Octofone is in pretty good condition compared to the usual OF fare... and after work came out nice and playable. It's no archtop octave mandolin with high tension strings and tons of cut and volume, but it does sound clear and sweet...! One neat detail is the Aaron Burdwise retailer's decal on the back of the headstock. I love that owl!
The trick with OFs is to have no expectations of them being anything like a modern octave mandolin or zouk. They're so lightly built and have such thin, unreinforced necks, that they can only really take very light strings. This is done up in 40w, 30w, 16, 11s for GDAE, and I'm tempted to drop the 16s for 15s and the 11s for 10s. Heavier strings and you get a woofy, forced tone and a warped neck... and any lighter and they'll start going out of tune like crazy under normal playing conditions. They're tricky beasts!
If you want to see the whole writeup & pics, click here! (http://antebelluminstruments.blogspot.com/2012/09/c1930-regal-octofone.html)
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LUtm1sMe-uw/UF-Ou0J8FmI/AAAAAAAAb8s/L4mOMgaXHF4/s1600/octo1.jpg
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1XK7daf-9Z8/UF-Ovxh8O0I/AAAAAAAAb80/RToyK3kQmBw/s1600/octo2.jpg
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zaoV7Iv_GDo/UF-OyrauK4I/AAAAAAAAb9E/OgG2lFs9i7g/s1600/octo4.jpg
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-H-uwVTX8U-A/UF-O1UgW5qI/AAAAAAAAb9c/pPN4EkllDwo/s1600/octo7.jpg
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bj3tArQFiPM/UF-PClccksI/AAAAAAAAb98/jbFac67lP1g/s1600/octo11.jpg
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eENmEDX3GpE/UF-PEbcxhfI/AAAAAAAAb-M/QcKOipmvxqI/s1600/octo13.jpg
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AanS7fYtrzc/UF-PFUq7u-I/AAAAAAAAb-U/unEN_hBf_qQ/s1600/octo14.jpg
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Y8k4ewHgW9M/UF-PIAt5P6I/AAAAAAAAb-s/3b9YTiaLGq4/s1600/octo17.jpg
The trick with OFs is to have no expectations of them being anything like a modern octave mandolin or zouk. They're so lightly built and have such thin, unreinforced necks, that they can only really take very light strings. This is done up in 40w, 30w, 16, 11s for GDAE, and I'm tempted to drop the 16s for 15s and the 11s for 10s. Heavier strings and you get a woofy, forced tone and a warped neck... and any lighter and they'll start going out of tune like crazy under normal playing conditions. They're tricky beasts!
If you want to see the whole writeup & pics, click here! (http://antebelluminstruments.blogspot.com/2012/09/c1930-regal-octofone.html)
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LUtm1sMe-uw/UF-Ou0J8FmI/AAAAAAAAb8s/L4mOMgaXHF4/s1600/octo1.jpg
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1XK7daf-9Z8/UF-Ovxh8O0I/AAAAAAAAb80/RToyK3kQmBw/s1600/octo2.jpg
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zaoV7Iv_GDo/UF-OyrauK4I/AAAAAAAAb9E/OgG2lFs9i7g/s1600/octo4.jpg
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-H-uwVTX8U-A/UF-O1UgW5qI/AAAAAAAAb9c/pPN4EkllDwo/s1600/octo7.jpg
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bj3tArQFiPM/UF-PClccksI/AAAAAAAAb98/jbFac67lP1g/s1600/octo11.jpg
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eENmEDX3GpE/UF-PEbcxhfI/AAAAAAAAb-M/QcKOipmvxqI/s1600/octo13.jpg
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AanS7fYtrzc/UF-PFUq7u-I/AAAAAAAAb-U/unEN_hBf_qQ/s1600/octo14.jpg
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Y8k4ewHgW9M/UF-PIAt5P6I/AAAAAAAAb-s/3b9YTiaLGq4/s1600/octo17.jpg