Mandolin Quartet: Mandola and Mandocello Questions

[jkndrkn]

Hi there, I am currently arranging ragtime music for a mandolin quartet.

Currently, we have two mandolin players, one person playing mandola parts on a six-string guitar in standard tuning and myself playing mandocello parts on an Alvarez ABT60 baritone guitar in CGDAEE tuning.

My questions are:

• What is an affordable and easy-playing mandola? Does such an instrument exist?
• Is there a great-sounding and bassy but clear-sounding mandocello on the market that doesn't cost thousands of dollars?
• I borrowed a mandocello with a 23" scale and found that the low register had almost no definition and was very lacking in clarity. For contrast, my baritone guitar has a very clear and well-defined low C string. What could be causing this problem with the mandocello? The relatively short scale length? (My cello and baritone guitar has a 27" scale length). Or maybe the instrument is just not well-built? I am wondering if it is possible, also, to expect a clear and well-defined low end from a low string course instead of a single string.

Thank you for your help! I feel very lucky and excited to play with folks that are way into mandolins and playing original arrangements

[Tobin]

[*]What is an affordable and easy-playing mandola? Does such an instrument exist?

If you're asking what's affordable, I'm afraid you're going to have to define what that means. What's affordable to you may not be the same as someone else. What price range are you trying to stay within? And what are you looking for? Oval hole? F-style? Any preference on scale length? They can vary a bit.

Mandolas and mandocellos have recently gained popularity, and more makers are producing them.

[jkndrkn]

Hi Tobin, thank you for your reply. Under $1,000 would work for me. I am not particular about f-hole, a-style, f-style, finish, color, etc. For the mandola, I am looking for an easy-to-play instrument without a specific consideration regarding tone / volume / etc. For the mandocello I am looking for clear, loud, and well-defined low C and G courses.

[mrmando]

Yeah, 23" is too short for a mandocello. And there's a scarcity of $1K mandocellos, unless GoldTone gets rolling with theirs. You might find a guitar conversion in that range. Older Flatiron or Mid-Missouri mandolas can be had under $1K, if you can find them.

[mrmando]

If you care to share your ragtime arrangements I'd like to look at them with my own quartet.

[jkndrkn]

If you care to share your ragtime arrangements I'd like to look at them with my own quartet.

Hi Martin, I am planning on sharing my arrangements for sure. We are currently working on Smiles & Chuckles, Spaghetti Rag, Russian Rag, a medley of Going to Jail and Stone's rag, and The Entertainer. I am planning on a creating an arrangement of Black and White Rag and Magnetic Rag and about two more. If any of those catch your fancy I would be happy to send them your way. And if you have any arrangements to trade, I would appreciate trading :]

[mrmando]

We have a few rags ... in fact, Black and White Rag has already been arranged for mandolin ensemble.

[Tobin]

Hi Tobin, thank you for your reply. Under $1,000 would work for me. I am not particular about f-hole, a-style, f-style, finish, color, etc. For the mandola, I am looking for an easy-to-play instrument without a specific consideration regarding tone / volume / etc.

Well, to be perfectly blunt, I don't think you're going to find much at that price. Maybe a Gold Tone or Trinity College flat-top model. Either of those can be made "easy-to-play" with the right setup, but the tone and volume will not be very good compared to better brands. At least, that's what I've experienced when I've played those brands in music stores.

Will they make music? Yes, of course. But you may be disappointed in them like you were with the mandocello. Only way to know for sure is to get out there and play one in a store, if possible. But I'd sure hate for you to spend money on a bottom-of-the-barrel instrument that won't hold its own in a group setting.

If you could increase your budget up to the $1500 range, you'd be in the market for a decent used Eastman or other brands. Maybe even some vintage ones. Mandolas just aren't out there in enough volume to have saturated the low-price market. There's still an entry fee to the mandola game, as it were.

[Dr H]

Here's a mandola for under $200 US:

http://www.hora.ro/rg_2_mandola.html

People have given mixed reviews of Hora instruments, but I've had one of these for several years and been happy with it. No, it doesn't sound like a $5K custom made instrument. But it is tuned like an mandola, it is reasonably playable (I had to do very little set-up tweaking to mine), it has a decent sound, and it plays in tune up the neck.

Mandocello is a harder one. Currently, I'm looking at one of these:

http://www2.folkreps.com/index.php/m...solidwood.html

But I'm waiting to get some more information on the company.

Buying instruments over the web from overseas is always a gamble, and expect to pay through the nose for shipping. That said, I've bought maybe a dozen instruments from all over the world in the past 2 years, and only had to send one back as unacceptable.


I am intrigued that you are intending to play ragtime; I'm a big fan of ragtime, and have composed over a hundred rags myself. Most are for solo piano or solo guitar, but I have arranged some of them for other instruments and ensembles, and I did write one especially for mandola.

Good luck with your group!


ETA: Interesting tuning on that bari. I also have an Alvarez baritone guitar, but I tune it a 4th down from the standard guitar: B E A D F# B.
Just had a full setup done on it, with a new saddle compensated to the strings I'm using. The difference is amazing; that setup is the best $200 I've ever spent on an instrument.

[jkndrkn]

Thank you for indulging my "cheap mandola / mandocello" fantasy! I bought a Syrian Oud once and was very satisfied with my purchase. I played ragtime in a string band in New Orleans briefly and wanted to bring that sound back to Gainesville, where I am living now.

[Martin Jonas]

Not sure about "affordable" mandocellos. I play a Suzuki, which is nice and below $1000, but to my knowledge not distributed in the US. It also has an even shorter scale than the one you've tried (21.5"), which makes it easier to play but less punchy in the bass. The Gold Tone mandocello is not yet on the market, but may address your needs once it's available.

In the meantime, you may wish to look at a five-course cittern -- these are popular with Celtic players and available at price points from a mid-level Asian import (e.g. the Ashbury, designed by Phil Davidson) to larger UK makers like Fylde up to individual luthier models. They can be played in a variety of tunings, including CGDAE which is just fine for classical mandocello playing. The Ashbury has a scale length of 23" and the Fylde Touchstone has 24-3/4".

[Dr H]

FWIW, the scale of the Folkreps Mandocello is 615mm (a little over 24"), and the neck width at the nut is 46.5mm (about 1-13/16").

[Seonachan]

I recently got a Wishnevsky mandocello. If you can handle the odd look of it and rough fit & finish, it's a pretty good-sounding thing for under $400.

[jkndrkn]

I recently got a Wishnevsky mandocello. If you can handle the odd look of it and rough fit & finish, it's a pretty good-sounding thing for under $400.

I used to own a fretless Wishbass. I loved it and only sold it because I rarely played fretless. Didn't know Steve made acoustic instruments as well!

[jkndrkn]

I recently got a Wishnevsky mandocello. If you can handle the odd look of it and rough fit & finish, it's a pretty good-sounding thing for under $400.

Mind posting pictures?

[Scot63]

Seonachan will likely post his, but here are two pictures of my Wishnevsky mandocello, which I bought in November 2015 for $450. This one has a Spanish cedar top, persimmon fretboard (persimmon is quite hard), a walnut back, and a maple neck, no truss rod. The body is roughly the size of a tenor guitar. Steve makes them with other body shapes as well. For the money, it has a great sound—pretty punchy in the bass, nice high end, and has nice resonance. It's not as nice as a Gibson K2 mandocello I played at Carter Vintage Instruments recently, but it also doesn't cost $3750. I did have the bridge heightened to get a slightly better string angle to the fretboard, which also kept the C-string course from popping out of its grooves in the bridge. I'm really happy with it and haven't been put off by the rough appearance. Just feel a bit like a Druid! If you're interested in contacting him, Steve's website and contact info can be found here: http://www.wishnevsky.com/mandolinfamily.html

[Seonachan]

[Dr H]

That's actually a pretty cool looking instrument.
Kinda looks like it was carved out of a tree with an axe.
I like the aesthetic.

[MediumMando5722]

Proper intonation on that low C is gonna be tricky on any scale length shorter than you commonly find on guitars. Most guitar players who go lower than D on a standard scale (24.75"-25.5") are metal guys who aren't using the low strings much higher than maybe the 5th or 7th frets.

I had a 26.5" electric a long time ago that could go down to F# with a .080" on the bottom and it sounded good. However, I rarely played with a super clean time at the time. For an acoustic instrument, I think the longer scale will be necessary to retain the definition and proper intonation.