Rattlesnake tail rattles in mandolins, do they change anything?

[Jesse Kinman]

All superstition aside, do they help or hurt the sound/tone any?

[T.D.Nydn]

Not that I can tell..and I've got one in one of mine..

[bradlaird]

It's hard to set all superstition aside, I admit, but I've got 'em in mine. Help or hurt the tone is so subjective so I can't say for you, but for me, I like 'em.

It's better to have the rattle inside your mandolin, and perhaps make a nice dobro strap from the hide, than to have them creepin' around in your watermelon patch!

http://vimeo.com/217869889

[sblock]

But how, I ask, can you possibly put "all superstition aside"? That's the elephant in the room! People cling to silly, logically indefensible beliefs. This one is right up there.

Anyway, there will always be some folks on the MC who will insist that ANYTHING you do to a mandolin will alter its sound. We've even had people write in to claim that the way you attach your strap makes a difference, or an armrest, or a pickguard.

The only thing that really matters, regardless, is whether you yourself can hear a difference -- and whether you think that difference constitutes an improvement. If you don't have an actual rattle, just try breaking off a bit of a pencil, about the length of a rattlesnake rattle. Drop it into your f-hole. Hear much of a difference? Take it out. Hear much of a difference? Yeah, didn't think so.

[Ron McMillan]

Very widely discussed here, frequently (if I recall correctly) in threads that end up being shut down.

[MediumMando5722]

For whatever reason, this seems very appealing to me.

[George R. Lane]

Well, it didn't help the snake.

[bradlaird]

Fang marks in your shin aren't too appealing either. For me, it's the mystical side, the superstitious side, that makes me want them in mine. Snake mojo if you will.

I will admit that I have had mine in and out a few times over the years, but if nothing else, they are great conversation starters.

[Loubrava]

"Rattle to left Rattle to the right my baby says I can rattle all night"
Homer Callahan
Cool song Rattlen Sbaking Daddy just covered by Dave & Phil Alvin on there new album

[CarlM]

For real mojo put a live snake in there.

[Tobin]

I've got one in my Ellis. I immediately experienced a 50% increase in mojo. And yes, I measured it scientifically with a mojo-meter.

[MikeEdgerton]

I have one as a nod to tradition. There isn't any magic there.

It won't make your $50.00 Rogue into a Loyd Loar signed Gibson F5, but you'll be one step closer.

[JeffD]

I've got one in my Ellis. I immediately experienced a 50% increase in mojo. And yes, I measured it scientifically with a mojo-meter.

I think it is pronounced "mo-JOM-iter"

[Denny Gies]

It does not change the tone, sound or volume in mine. I had an old cracker tell me it keeps the mandolin in tune. Love it.

[Jesse Kinman]

I am just curious, cause sometimes I hear a mandolin(I have noticed this on recordings of Northfields on YouTube, and usually more on the more expensive mandolins) where when the lower registers are picked there is almost a vibration to the sound, and not just the note. Maybe I am hearing and imagining sounds, but I've often wondered if a rattle could help contribute to that. I don't get that sound out of my Kentucky tho. I'm not even sure I'm explaining the sound I hear very well, it's not an unpleasant sound tho, but it's just like you can hear vibrations other than the note.

And I'm sorry to rehash something that gets brought up a lot, I did some searching before I posted this, but I couldn't find any comments regarding any sound changes, maybe I didn't look hard enough.

[dhergert]

They keep the black widows out of the mandolin body.

[JeffD]

I found that it didn't make any difference what so ever.

So I kept it in there.

[Bertram Henze]

Is that to summon the ghosts of jams past, present and future to come and practise with you, or what? Humbugge!

[JeffD]

Look Bill did it. Ain't that enuf?

Why did Bill Monroe do it that way, though? One account is that Monroe believed the rattle settled the dust in his mandolin, providing a deeper clarity of sound.

From here.

[MikeEdgerton]

Actually I believe the old fiddlers thought they kept the mice from nesting in the instrument. I'm sure that Monroe saw the folks around him doing it with their fiddles. That's a bit more logical in my mind than worrying about dust. If it was dust you were worried about uncooked rice would probably have the same effect. This was those days equivalent of lining the inside of your hubcaps with tin foil.

[Oliver A.]

Is that to summon the ghosts of jams past, present and future to come and practise with you, or what? Humbugge!

'don't see why a humbug would be any better unless you like to hear a drone when the weather gets hot. Personally, I like to use a turtle shell to give the sound more "snap".

[Explorer]

There are different instruments which use a rattling or vibrating component to give a different timbre, like the bray harp and the mbira. If such a thing is positioned where it can vibrate sympathetically, it can make an instrument more audible, not because of volume, but the chanhpge in timbre.

A simple example of the increase in audibility due to a buzz, in this case with humming, is the kazoo, which some of you might have heard of.

The ones I've got were from a friend who would get them off snakes which had been run over in the night while resting on the highway for warmth. Me, I'd be worried that the snake would still be just alive enough to put up some resistance....

[Astro]

Personally, I would try to keep dust, dander, cotton balls, potato chips, and any other proteins out of the inside of my instruments.

Hang the thing from your endpin and/or a feather from your neck strap if you need a little mojo.

[HonketyHank]

I think it is pronounced "mo-JOM-iter"

Where you from? You some kinda forner?

[bradlaird]

Well, I say there is magic. I have a small glass vial containing a fingernail clipping from Bill Monroe. It gives off a plasma like glow at certain times.

But back to the subject of sound, I swear I hear some crispier highs when the reptile appendage is installed.