Broke my camera, Bernie..... but, soon!
Broke my camera, Bernie..... but, soon!
Super. Love to see it!
Bernie
____
Due to current budgetary restrictions the light at the end of the tunnel has been turned off -- sorry about the inconvenience.
I recently "finished" some work on an Eastman, and I thought folks might be interested in it. I might get a little beat-up for doing this kind of modification, and there's a chance that it'll back-fire, but in the meantime, the mandocello plays really well, now, and there's no way I'd be picking it up nearly so often if I'd left it as is.
I took the specs that someone posted of Mike Marshall's Monteleone, cut a new nut, then took down the neck to match the width. It meant a lot of time on a bench sander, but the width of the fret board, without the binding, is about spot on. From there, it was a matter of re-finishing the back of the neck.
Again, I figure it's possible that the neck'll warp (I'm hoping that the truss rod can correct most of it if it does), but in the meantime, it really does play nice, rather than feeling like you're trying to find strings and frets in the midst of a soccer-field sized fret board.
Pictures to follow if anyone's interested.
nblauss: that is the kind of work that Eastman should have dine in the first place instead of cutting corners and just using a full-width guitar neck. I could not play the one that was lent to me as-is but i didn't own it. If you took just the neck width down and not the depth I would think that it would be fine and not warp. Let us know, tho. Not that I am getting one of these but just for curiosity's sake.
Last edited by Jim Garber; Nov-05-2017 at 12:46pm.
Jim
My Stream on Soundcloud
19th Century Tunes
Playing lately:
1924 Gibson A4 - 2018 Campanella A-5 - 2007 Brentrup A4C - 1915 Frank Merwin Ashley violin - Huss & Dalton DS - 1923 Gibson A2 black snakehead - '83 Flatiron A5-2 - 1939 Gibson L-00 - 1936 Epiphone Deluxe - 1928 Gibson L-5 - ca. 1890s Fairbanks Senator Banjo - ca. 1923 Vega Style M tenor banjo - ca. 1920 Weymann Style 25 Mandolin-Banjo - National RM-1
Some of us like WIDE NECKS. I get so tired of people thinking one size fits all.
Of course some like those wider tho I doubt that Eastman was customizing for you and doing anything but using existing parts. That neck was way too wide for me and, in addition, they never bothered with setting it up properly for actually playing, especially the lower two courses which were spaced too wide.
Jim
My Stream on Soundcloud
19th Century Tunes
Playing lately:
1924 Gibson A4 - 2018 Campanella A-5 - 2007 Brentrup A4C - 1915 Frank Merwin Ashley violin - Huss & Dalton DS - 1923 Gibson A2 black snakehead - '83 Flatiron A5-2 - 1939 Gibson L-00 - 1936 Epiphone Deluxe - 1928 Gibson L-5 - ca. 1890s Fairbanks Senator Banjo - ca. 1923 Vega Style M tenor banjo - ca. 1920 Weymann Style 25 Mandolin-Banjo - National RM-1
I have had my Eastman for a while now. I found no problem with the spring spacing at all. The neck is ever-so-slightly wider than some others, I guess, from what I have heard, but no wider than my Martin HD28.
The only thing I adjusted was the bridge height.
On the other hand, the stock strings are way too light. They are also pretty bright, at least for my tastes. I tried a set of flat-wounds sold here at the cafe and definitely take their advice -- go for the heavier set. They sound like cannons LOL, and very bright and clear. If you want to be heard, and in a good way, they can't be beat.
In the end, I ended up with a set of Thomastiks -- not quite the volume, but a slightly sweeter sound and better suited to my needs.
I bought my Eastman mandocello about 4 months ago from Bernunzio’s in Rochester. I must be new to this instrument, but the only problem that I’ve had so far is that Thomastik strings will not slot into the tuning pegs. After playing Mandocello, mandolin is much easier to play!
Jim
My Stream on Soundcloud
19th Century Tunes
Playing lately:
1924 Gibson A4 - 2018 Campanella A-5 - 2007 Brentrup A4C - 1915 Frank Merwin Ashley violin - Huss & Dalton DS - 1923 Gibson A2 black snakehead - '83 Flatiron A5-2 - 1939 Gibson L-00 - 1936 Epiphone Deluxe - 1928 Gibson L-5 - ca. 1890s Fairbanks Senator Banjo - ca. 1923 Vega Style M tenor banjo - ca. 1920 Weymann Style 25 Mandolin-Banjo - National RM-1
So sad that my daughter had to graduate college. Now I don't know when I will ever get up to Rochester to spend time at Bernunzio's. I was also lucky to spend a great afternoon there with Mr. Hopkins. He gives a great tour of the city. Ah, someday...
Jim
My Stream on Soundcloud
19th Century Tunes
Playing lately:
1924 Gibson A4 - 2018 Campanella A-5 - 2007 Brentrup A4C - 1915 Frank Merwin Ashley violin - Huss & Dalton DS - 1923 Gibson A2 black snakehead - '83 Flatiron A5-2 - 1939 Gibson L-00 - 1936 Epiphone Deluxe - 1928 Gibson L-5 - ca. 1890s Fairbanks Senator Banjo - ca. 1923 Vega Style M tenor banjo - ca. 1920 Weymann Style 25 Mandolin-Banjo - National RM-1
Looks great to me. Nothing wrong with having a dual purpose instrument. How does it sound?I'm probably the only one who has ever done this, but I converted my Eastman mandocello into a 6 string archtop jazz box. I still have the original nut and bridge so I can convert it back any time.
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