*like*
Thanks, John. Despite the high quality (as usual) of your work and the fun of your playing (who doesn't like a Tarantella?) you've reinforced the fact that I don't think I ever want one of these , the beautiful lumber nothwithstanding.
Intonation on this one must have been a row to hoe. Cool compensated saddle, though. Is that yours? Bone? I made a big bone one for a Sicilian mandola I have and enjoy its paleolithic ossorific scale, like this one.
Mick
Ever tried, ever failed? No matter. Try again, fail again. Fail better.--Samuel Beckett
______________________
'05 Cuisinart Toaster
'93 Chuck Taylor lowtops
'12 Stetson Open Road
'06 Bialetti expresso maker
'14 Irish Linen Ramon Puig
Ah, but you don't know what you're missing
Yes, my saddle, just replacing the one that was there before. Strangely not so very hard to compensate.Intonation on this one must have been a row to hoe. Cool compensated saddle, though. Is that yours? Bone? I made a big bone one for a Sicilian mandola I have and enjoy its paleolithic ossorific scale, like this one.
Excellent work as usual. Great intonation. I keep wanting to get one of these, but then I have no idea where I'd use it. Certainly not gonna work well for celtic or bluegrass, lol.
Your Youtube channel is one of my favorite places for mandolin "porn", BTW
Mandolins: The Loar LM-220; Lyon & Healy Special A #103; Epiphone Mandobird VIII
Violins: 19th century German Steiner copy; NS Design WAV 4; NS Design WAV 5; Reiter Alien II 7-string
Videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/Ausdoerrt
I've used one of these for solos in "bury me beneath the weeping willow", and "Roll in my sweet babies arms" and they went down very well - albeit to your typical pub audience rather than the bluegrass police
What they don't do well is subtlety... you just have to embrace the sound and go with it. I guess in some ways they have more in common with banjo-mandolins than the Gibson style of sound.
Thanks!Your Youtube channel is one of my favorite places for mandolin "porn", BTW
Sometimes subtlety isn't needed. I'd imagine these make an excellent choice for playing comfortably in loud environments. I actually have a vandalized mandriola lying around that I intend to "downgrade" to a mandolin for use in busking and such.
Mandolins: The Loar LM-220; Lyon & Healy Special A #103; Epiphone Mandobird VIII
Violins: 19th century German Steiner copy; NS Design WAV 4; NS Design WAV 5; Reiter Alien II 7-string
Videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/Ausdoerrt
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
The others all have an octave string below the melody strings - you wouldn't get a string low enough for that on the G course. For sure you could go an octave above, but that would be inconsistent. BTW the vintage nuts I've seen for these with octave stringing stick to unison on the G, and I've pretty much just copied what they did back in the day.
I have a friend who had an Oscar Schmidt one that he did string octaves on the two lower courses and unisons on the higher ones, sort of like a tiple or twelve string guitar. I was thought that the original tuning for these was unisons on all courses. Did you find that the the vintage nuts had octaves on the higher ones?
I don't think any of them are wrong, just trying to figure out if I had to have one what I would do with it.
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 wonder if this is a European vs Americas thing? I do remember seeing vintage nuts strung the way I have this one, but I can't put my finger on where right now... if you'll forgive me for quoting from a random website:
"The Sicilian mandolin was similar to the Neapolitan type but has a wider neck because it had 11-strings. The top three courses had triple strings with the lowest string on each course tuned an octave lower. The lowest course being 'G' was usually just doubled, but the modern instruments have complete triple stringing. (With the body so small, acoustically it wouldn't work so well to have an octave lower G-string. This is probably why the G only had double strings). "
Looking at these string sets they seem to have all 4 courses in octaves, but I can't find any info on string gauges?
From the Sedgwick site:
Oh, really? I can understand the fuller sound but not the "easier for tremolo picking."The extra strings gives the instrument a fuller sound and makes it slightly easier for tremolo picking. There are a couple of variations on how the instrument can be strung as described below, but once you play a 12-string mandolin it is hard to go back to a regular one.
As for the tuning: very confusing...
On the Optima sets:
So it looks like the G course has one lower string, not all unison?Set / Mandriola 12-string (4-course)
e''e''e' a'a'a d'd'd ggG
1. 2x e'' Silver steel, 1x e' Silver-plated wound
2. 2x a' Silver steel, 1x a Silver-plated wound
3. 2x d' und 1x d Silver-plated wound
4. 2x g und 1x G Silver-plated wound
I don't have a clue what players did with these contraptions in the old days. I was just saying that if I had to have one (I don't own one BION) I would string it with a higher octave string on the two lower courses. I would assume that I could use the A and E strings from a standard set for those purposes. Luckily I don't have to do that.
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
Bookmarks