Greetings mando peoples. Things have settled down sufficiently that I'm starting to touch mandolins again. I'm just outside of Old Town Alexandria, VA. After fits and starts, my shop is fully up...
Greetings mando peoples. Things have settled down sufficiently that I'm starting to touch mandolins again. I'm just outside of Old Town Alexandria, VA. After fits and starts, my shop is fully up...
Long ago, the differences in production were nicely explained to me:
An experienced old guy loads up his cart with wood. He goes to the carving room. He distributes the prettiest wood to the...
Violin is pretty easy. No frets to trip over, and a big stick. But only if you have excellent trained hearing for intonation, and can relax into the instrument.
The Stringworks instruments are...
"For the most part, yes. Mandolins are finicky little beasts where minor tweaks can yield significant differences." This is rather true. Some of the things that ultimately made a substantial...
Thank you: "Years ago I got my wife a violin setup (case, bow included) from Stephen Perry for about 5 bills. I am a pretty good judge of tone in acoustic instruments, and to me the thing sounds flat...
I'm glad I never realized that the small ones were difficult!
That's been my experience. And when I played gamba a lot, I kept finding myself trying to push the frets a little for better intonation!! Rather odd feelings.
Welding tip reamer. http://www.qiannipicture.com/pic/UploadFile/P0/SKU257493/6BC92603C973CA93360AD299CA9926D226CBFA1383D203169A26D28223C8CECCCEC793CFC78316CDC7A023.jpg
I've found little that has a "substantial" change in tone. However, lots and lots of little adjustments and changes that complement each other hit small jump points that are improvements. These...
I have been through a few mandolins over the years, from rock bottom starter grade through Loar-era Gibsons. More than just touching - looking and working inside, doing all the setup and acoustic...
I've seen some distinctly different than standard arching on a couple of highly acceptable mandolins, which is what got me thinking.
Mandolin arching usually approaches a dome with the sides cut...
Standard spirit varnish - thousands of recipes - works better than straight shellac. I'd like to say dissolving flakes gives me better results than using freshish Zinser, but I can't tell the...
Such whining. No frets to trip over and you get a great big stick.
They're really difficult to play. I found the trick was to lower my standards a whole bunch!! That plus a bit of deafness...
Seedlac is orange. For clear varnish, pick the clearest things you can. It's entirely possible to take Zinser dewaxed and simply mix in some dissolved sandarac etc. I use a different formulation I...
Violin bridges filter a continuous input, and have low sustain.
Violin bridges cut double crowned and maintained in an upright position last a long time. I have seen some 100 years old still...
Where the weight comes off proves quite important, too.
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There are many things to soup up a mandolin. Somewhere on here I have an older version of my mandovoodoo work. Pretty easy, most people won't even try.
They don't even want me to handle their mandolins up here. Too many stores already, but there was no problem letting my competitors pick up Eastman in Tennessee when I started with them. I may just...
Nobody at Eastman listens to me any more.
I seriously doubt most people actually read the user agreement, or remember it more than 10 minutes.
What I notice in very good players is that they check whether an instrument will do what they need. Then whether it does it in the way they like. Until the magic one drops into their hands, and all...
Find and follow my mandovoodoo instructions. They're on here somewhere. Lots of performance inside the 315, just takes some digging.
Mine is 740 lbs, 1400 cc, air and oil cooled (0-60W oil), dry clutch with flywheel, six speed separate gearbox, shaft. Is counterbalanced or something, but still gives a nice kick on takeoff, like a...
Try https://killboy.photoreflect.com/store/Orderpage.aspx?pi=04RK02IR020431&po=604&pc=3593 for a picture.
I think I'll be fine in my glass tower with my books and cooking. Maybe. I'll take my x...