Notes from the Field

Hey everyone. I played a Kerman mandolin the other day. And it has taken me a little while to absorb the experience. Actually, Jacob Reuven, before a rehearsal for FMCM VII let me play his Kerman.

I knew already that it is one of the greatest mandolins in the world. What I didn't know, if the one I played is typical, Kermans are the greatest mandolins in the world.

The experience was characterized by two things. Amazing sound and amazing responsiveness.

The sound - the tone is rich and full bodied. What I mean is - think of what I might mean if I said a thin tone - its the opposite. The Kerman is not creamy sounding like a vintage Gibson, but it is not thin in any conceivable way. To use more inadequate words, the tone is opaque, solid, not airy. And its character is the same at every pitch.

Every note up and down the neck had a body to it I have not heard in a mandolin. Every note had a clarity, as if the whole point of the mandolin was only that particular note. Like every note is the sweet spot. Each note clear and distinct.

We often talk about an instrument being balanced, where the high end, midrange, and bass are balanced so that none predominates. The Kerman, to my ears is unique in this respect. It sounds as if the instrument has been optimized at every note I chose. It was a complete integrated instrument, the high end and low end sounding like the same exact instrument. Not balanced, more like matched.

I tried to do a chop chord, and of course the thing will chop, but what I experienced, and had never experienced before, was what a shame a chop is. Cutting off that rich tone so quickly was robbing me. It felt like pulling up a thick comforter and then immediately throwing it on the floor. Or taking a blinking look at an amazing Van Gogh painting, but for only a few milliseconds. Letting that Kerman ring was just way too rewarding.

Responsiveness - that rich tone was there at high volume for every single darn note, but it was also there at low volume for every single darn note. As light as I could play it I could not make it sound thin. Just a touch and beautiful sounds came out.

The Kerman is the mandolin to play when you want every note to be heard clearly. Every note, loud, or soft, or fast or slow, open or way up the neck. Each note distinct like an individual ornament on a Christmas tree.

Three things that I noticed about the build, and there were likely a lot more I should have noticed. (Would love to have a luthier look at it.) One is that it is a flat top. More beautiful tone than any arch top I have heard, but it is a flat top. Two, the back is arched. I don't know if it is carved, but it is arched. Third, there are two "backs", one inside. Think of it like three plates, the front, with a round sound hole, and those other kwirky sound holes at the edges, and an inside "back", braced, with its own sound hole, through which you can see the very back, which had a pronounced arch. That's how it looked to me anyway.

I have played some really nice mandolins, and upon going home and playing what I own I have often felt pretty good. Mine don't sound too shabby. Not as good perhaps as the best, but not shabby.

But this was different. My three best mandolins were blown out of the water.

By comparison, my '23 Gibson A2 snake head doesn't have that character of a full bodied note at all volumes. The Gibson is creamy at regular volume and above, but by comparison, at low volume it is kind of thin.

My Stiver, "more Gibson than Gibson" sounded a little thunky in comparison, and it is pitched so low in tone it almost sounds muffled by a blanket. Or like a bass equalizer knob is turned up and the treble is turned way down. Now the Stiver has a ravenous barking chop, which I love, but I do not have that feeling that I would rather hear it ring.

My Lyon and Healy model A asymmetrical two point (with Thomastic strings) came the closest in beauty and evenness of tone up and down the neck and at all volumes. But the L&H does not have the volume the Kerman has. It has a nice pretty tone, but not as authoritative as the Kerman

Granted talking about sounds borders on foolish, and comparisons between a mandolin then and a mandolin in front of me now are dicey as well. So this write up is inadequate at best to describe my experience.

Jacob Reuven's playing was, of course, over the top don't do this at home superlative, and he was able to get great tone from many of the mandolins he played on that week, but, more to the point, I was able to get great tone out of the Kerman. Without doing anything special.

It is highly unlikely bordering on pipe dream that I will ever own a Kerman. But the way I feel now is that by comparison, there is just no other mandolin to want. MAS over. Day hiking the foot hills is fun, but its kind of lame in the shadow of Everest.