Introduction

  1. richardoxley2
    richardoxley2
    Hello everyone I am currently having an Octave resonator mandolin made for me by a local Luthier.

    At the moment I am practising on an old tenor banjo that is practically impossible to keep in tune as it was never made to take steel strings and only has pressure pegs so I cant wait to get my new Mandolin.

    Richard
  2. Steve-o
    Steve-o
    Interesting, a resonator OM. What musical genres do you plan to use it for? I'd love to see pics and hear sound clips. Keep us posted Richard.
  3. richardoxley2
    richardoxley2
    I love old time and celtic and I also like bluegrass.
    I play 5 string banjo but old time is difficult to play scruggs style the best way I found to do it on 5 string is clawhammer but this involved constantly changing the tuning a real nuisance (well to me anyway) so I tried irish tuned tenor RESULT great tuning you never have to retune and you can play anything great. only thing that instrument is not at all acceptable for bluegrass so I thought hey a resonator octave mandolin is sort of like a cross between tenor banjo and mandolin and acceptable for both types of music. I looked around but none available they seemed to have died out so having one made is the only way.
  4. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    as Steve says, it would be interesting to see the building in progress and to hear some soundclips later, Richard. Hope it is what you want and you have great fun with it.
  5. richardoxley2
    richardoxley2
    Hi everyone I managed to find a Luthier Locally Kif Wood Of Kif Guitars http://www.kifguitars.com/index.html and here is
    Work in progress

    https://picasaweb.google.com/1141828...eat=directlink
  6. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    Looks great, Richard. Resonator looks quite big so sound should be something! Keep us posted.
  7. richardoxley2
    richardoxley2
    Will Do
  8. Ed Goist
    Ed Goist
    That looks great, Richard.
    I look forward to following the build, and hearing the finished instrument!
    Congratulations.
  9. GKWilson
    GKWilson
    Very cool Richard.
    Gary
  10. Ten_or_Fifths
    Ten_or_Fifths
    I had trouble keeping my tenor banjo in tune until I took the 1:1 friction tuners off and roughed up the headstock just a little where the tapered part made contact. I also sprinkled a little bit of powdered violin rosin in there to give it some help. And I keep a screwdriver in the gig bag to tighten up the tuners from time to time....and other instruments for when it's all too much trouble.

    My understanding was that almost all tenor banjos were designed for steel strings, though I can't find a great source to back that up. Resonator mandolins sound great. They're so much sweeter than their banjo cousins, but still have the volume. Good luck with the OM.
  11. richardoxley2
    richardoxley2
    HI Thanks for the post. Should have some more pics soon
  12. richardoxley2
    richardoxley2
    Hi everyone heres the latest pics of the new instrument

    https://picasaweb.google.com/1141828...eat=directlink
  13. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    Looking decidedly purposeful, Richard! Lovely lines to the upper bout and a fine-looking instrument all round.
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