Re: what kind of milanese mandolin is this odd ball thingey
Originally Posted by
ollaimh
smergel? is that like a smeagel, i.e. a gollum mandolin?
Shmergel (spell check) is the obscure Patagonian firm responsible for the world's best mandolin, the Shmergel Devastator. While sightings of this banjo-eviscerating tone monster are rarer than total solar eclipses, those who know continue to rate this as at least 27.6% better, in terms of overall sound, appearance, mojo, and "wow" factor, than the best Loar F-5 they've ever heard.
Pictures of the Devastator are never available, since its blinding finish brilliance fries the circuits of most cameras; recordings don't exist, since its sound is so overpowering that microphones self-destruct in its presence. It remains the Holy Grail that other mandolins and mandolinists can only try, feebly, to approximate.
And no, I don't own one. Nor do I know anyone who does. I once knew someone who thought he'd seen one, but the docs switched his meds, and now he's not sure.
Allen Hopkins
Gibsn: '54 F5 3pt F2 A-N Custm K1 m'cello
Natl Triolian Dobro mando
Victoria b-back Merrill alumnm b-back
H-O mandolinetto
Stradolin Vega banjolin
Sobell'dola Washburn b-back'dola
Eastmn: 615'dola 805 m'cello
Flatiron 3K OM
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