Reischman superb tone.

[JAK]

Hey Don Grieser, I thought the same thing as you when I walked into that session with John and Sharon. But after listening to both of them play side by side unamplified for about an hour, well, my ears changed their mind!

[mtucker]

ya nevah know! ...65 more years...maybe! i think there's something about Reischman's right hand. pic attack maybe? dunno..i could be off base..interesting to know where he gets that tone?

My ears would take Reischman/Loar over any combination of Gilchrists.

[Ivan Kelsall]

I've proved to myself more than a few times that holding my mandolin away from my body does help in NOT reducing it's volume.
But - does it work for a listener ? - i don't know,but for the player it certainly does,
Ivan

[Mandoplumb]

Doublestoptemelo I agree if you need more volume as you play it could help, as I said and Ivan agrees it does sound louder to the player. The point I was making in my original post was it doesn't surprise me that the tone guard didn't make the one louder than the other or by that reasoning saying the Gil was a better or at least louder mandolin than the Loar. It may have been louder but from your perspective the tone guard was immaterial. Just MHO

[Ivan Kelsall]

'Tone-gards' are not a form of amplification in any true sense of the term. What they do is to prevent the body of the player from 'damping' the vibrations of the back of the mandolin. In other words,they're allowing it to behave in an un-restricted manner. It's our bodies that are 'dampers', not the Tone-gards that 'amplify'.

I don't know absolutely,but i suspect,as i mentioned in my last post,that they work more for the player than the listener. As Mandoplumb infers,for a listener,a Tone-gard will possibly have no effect at all on what they hear - except maybe a tad more 'clarity' of tone due to a lack of 'damping'.

As far as my own mandolins go,i find that i produce enough volume & i can hear everything perfectly well without a Tone-gard - but that's just me,
Ivan

[Hendrik Ahrend]

ya nevah know! ...65 more years...maybe! i think there's something about Reischman's right hand. pic attack maybe? dunno..i could be off base..interesting to know where he gets that tone?

I'm with Don on that one. I played that Loar several times, and believe me, it's really great.

[bernabe]

i think there's something about Reischman's right hand. pic attack maybe? dunno..?

John describes it at 4:40 in this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvB2PxEsGbM

[Nick Gellie]

Yup it is described in the peghead course of his and as I have been following it I can just about get my Collings MT to approximate his tone. I am not saying it is just like him playing his Loar but it is getting close.

[dylanferris]

I've had the pleasure to get to know John from a young age (when I first started playing mandolin, aged 9) and since have spent a decent amount of time around him/playing with him/listening to him. I can say without a doubt that I have never heard mandolin so sweet. I listen to plenty of mandolin players, and have been around some of the best of the best, and John's sound is just on another level to me. Of course it's all subjective, and I may be a bit biased, as he mentored me as a young kid when I was starting out, so I look up to him quite a bit. But there is something so smooth and pristine about the combination of his hands and that mando. His Loar is only part of the magic, John's skill takes it to the top. I've been lucky enough to play his Loar a few times, and it's the nicest sounding mandolin I have held on to by far, but it doesn't sound like John when I play it - hehe.

[Ivan Kelsall]

From dylanferris - "...but it doesn't sound like John when I play it - hehe.". Very likely,it doesn't 'sound like John to John' when he's standing behind it !. You really have to be in front to hear it properly. That's been demo'd on my own mandolins by friends many times.

John's talent on mandolin is truly amazing,maybe matched only by one other mandolin player i listen to (IMO) regarding the variety of music he plays - the late & very sadly missed Butch Baldassari !,
Ivan

[pit lenz]

nice to see that the tonegard discussion finally got back to the original topic 😜.
Just came back from SoreFingers where I had the privilege to attend JR's mando class for a week and,yes, his tone is the sweetest I ever heard! (even when he played the students' instruments at the little mando tasting session on the last day).......

[red7flag]

I really enjoy that tune. Mandolin tone was impeccable. Love the work of the other instrumentalist. I have a guitar question.
I am used to seeing Kenny Smith play Collings guitars. What was the guitar he was playing with the oval label on the headstock?

[sgarrity]

I know Kenny likes old Washburn guitars. Not sure what the one in the video is though.....

[JeffD]

I know I'm in the minority but I don't use a tone guard and don't think it really helps anything other than the one playing the mandolin. I have taken the test, hold the mandolin next to your belly and play, then hold it away and play..

Here is the real test. Sit in a chair in the corner, facing the corner, like you were five years old and being punished. Play the mandolin as you normally do. Then play the mandolin while scrupulously keeping the back away from your belly.

The degree of difference you hear entirely depends on how you normally hold your mandolin. If you hold it lightly touching your belly, or already pretty much away from your belly, you are not going to notice much difference. OTOH if you hold it tight to your belly, you will hear a large difference. And that is the difference others hear, echoing back from the corner.

If you don't need a tone gard, you don't need a tone gard. Some do however, and for those, it makes a noticeable, measureable, significant difference in how the mandolin is heard. By the player and by the listener.

I don't have to convince anyone. I just have to pay attention when the person across from me at the jam asks me to pipe down a little.

[Chris Daniels]

nice to see that the tonegard discussion finally got back to the original topic ��.

Or perhaps not...

And here I was thinking I might have to ask if John (or Sharon) used a BlueChip just to extend the conversation. /s

C.

[Stevo75]

Sharon uses a Blue Chip and I believe John uses a Red Bear. I know you were kidding but I figured I'd share that info anyway.

[Mandoplumb]

JeffD I still think the better test is have someone else play it while you or across the room. Your way you are hearing back from the corner but you are also hearing from the back side. If I can't tell the difference from across the room then in my opinion the only place it helps is if you are right next to the mandolin.

[Northwest Steve]

Well here is some fuel to throw in the fire. I do fine the Loar Stradivarius conversations entertaining. Personally I don't think anyone will come up with a playing or sound test were either does not win that certain folks will accept. Just to much preconceived opinion's? I have heard John's Loar in person three times and only in a performance and not up close. As mentioned he is a great player and could make anything sound good. I have not had the pleasure of hearing Sharon play in person, but I have heard a Gilchrist (yes it is great) many times up close and at a performance. Different players, different settings, not played at the same time and my untrained ears so make a comparison impossible. But it is interesting that some one thought one mandolin sounded better to their ears than the other and was promptly told that they could not possibly be correct.......

Here is an interview with Charlie Derrington, if you want to skip to question 22 he gives a brief opinion about John's mandolin. The rest of the interview was good as well.

http://www.mandozine.com/media/CGOW/derrington.html

[JAK]

The response to Reischman's Loar's tone by Charlie Derrington (in the above Mandozine article offered by Northwest Steve) enhances the idea that there are different preferences regarding tone, evidenced by the responses in this thread. As stated in my thread (thread #4) when I was in the small room listening to both players/mandolins, I preferred the tone of the Gil, but just by a little. The bottom line is that we are fortunate to have two players like John R. and Sharon G. to bring great tone to our ears. I've been listening to Nygard, Resichman, and S. Gilchrist's, "Harmonic Tone Revealers," CD, and to my ears it is one of the best CDs produced regarding mandolin tone. It's a tone-heaven delight to the ears, and interesting to hear the two mandolins playing duets together. The liner notes don't reveal who is playing when (first or second on a tune), but I can hear a little difference between the sound of each mandolin. The mix regarding the tone of both mandolins (and mandola, and guitar) is superb. Yes, John is playing his Gibson Loar, and Sharon her red Gilchrist.

[billkilpatrick]

[QUOTE=John Kinn;1568687]Nothing beats the tone of John and his Loar.

Ain't it the truth. I also like his style of playing - buttery smooth and soulful on the slow tunes and he can run up and down the neck on the fast ones without it sounding like washing machine filled with rocks.

[JeffD]

Back on the topic, I have only heard John Reischman in recordings or youtubes. Even with compromised audio technology, he sounds great. I think the comparison with Butch Baldassari is correct.

[FLATROCK HILL]

Here is an interview with Charlie Derrington, if you want to skip to question 22 he gives a brief opinion about John's mandolin. The rest of the interview was good as well.

http://www.mandozine.com/media/CGOW/derrington.html

Thanks for posting the above link Steve. For some reason it showed up as a blank page yesterday (for me anyway) but it's working fine now. Fascinating interview.

[Ivan Kelsall]

From JeffD - "I think the comparison with Butch Baldassari is correct..". Having not really heard much by BB,i've recently been digging around the 'net for his music,& i've only just realised what an outstanding mandolin player he really was. IMHO - he was up there alongside John Reischman for his accuracy in playing & his tone production - simply awesome !!,
Ivan
'A Place In The Heart' - Butch Baldassari

[billkilpatrick]

Agreed. He plays music - not ... "ain't I something!"

[MichaelW]

I had the pleasure of hearing John play this live last week and his sound nearly knocked me off my seat. Just wonderful.