New pair of electrics: short scale OM and long scale bouzouki.

[Tavy]

Hot off the bench... a short scale (19") electric OM, and a long scale (25") bouzouki. My usual hollow bodied construction, however, my usual EnduroVar didn't look so hot over the maple, so by way of experiment, these are TruOil taken up to a full gloss on top. I'd rate it as semi-successful - still doesn't "pop" quite as much as I'd hoped, but way better than my test strips using Var. I guess if there's such a thing as a perfect finish, I haven't met the man who's found it yet!



Here's the obligatory video.... this time a like for like comparison between the two which gives a reasonable idea of the effect of the scale length on the sound... note that the second pickup on the 'zouk allows for a much greater tonal pallet than presented here, since for a fair comparison, I used the neck pickup alone:

[Ivan Kelsall]

Terrific !!!. Unmistakeably ''mandolin in tone' (to my ears) & i just loved both of them - great work.
Maybe another couple of clips being played 'flat' without any reverb ?,
Ivan

[trevor]

Beautiful.

[Bertram Henze]

Hotel California, on the Road to Lisdoonvarna
Fascinating sounds from the borders of acoustic and electric.

[Tavy]

Hotel California, on the Road to Lisdoonvarna

That sort of sums up the band I play with too - I mean we switch lead between mandolin and saxophone for heavens sake - eclectic doesn't even begin to cover it

[Bertram Henze]

A new pair of eclectics, then...

[derbex]

I was going for Eclectic Light Orchestra.

Very nice work as always.

[Tavy]

I was going for Eclectic Light Orchestra.

LOL, I'll have to run that one past my bandmates, love it

[darrylicshon]

Nice liking the 19" and being red only helps

[sonic]

Nice work as usual Tavy.
Definitely a difference in tone between the two. My fingers would prefer the shorter scale my ears the longer one.
Might I ask what strings/gauges are you using on the octave?

[Tavy]

Nice work as usual Tavy.
Definitely a difference in tone between the two. My fingers would prefer the shorter scale my ears the longer one.
Might I ask what strings/gauges are you using on the octave?

.014 .014, .028w .028w, .036w .036w, .024w .048w.

Those are pretty light at that scale length, you would need something heavier on the bottom for a 19" acoustic I think.

[sonic]

I have a 20" five string that I built which is tuned CGdae. But the C string is about as thick as you can go without buying bass strings. I went with 20" opposed to 19" as I wanted to tune with the low C. However I can see a 19" similar built in the future. Not sure on body shape (my single string electrics are SG shape). I do like the fact you have a traditional mandolin shape which works for the eight string floating bridge design.
Is there a particular reason behind the G string choice I assume it's octave tuned?

[Tavy]

Is there a particular reason behind the G string choice I assume it's octave tuned?

Yes, I tried it unison strung first, but a pair of .048's drive the pickup so hard that the G course made a bid for world domination On the assumption that the vast majority of melody playing isn't going to be using the G course... switching to octave strung on that one course tamed it down very nicely. Helps to fill out chords a little too IMO. An alternative would be to keep the unison stringing and just turn the bass down on the amp a little, but I like to try and keep them reasonably well balanced even with flat EQ, so you're really just refining your sound on any EQ/tone adjustments.

[sonic]

That makes sense, I suppose a bass cut option in the wiring would be another way.

[Tavy]

That makes sense, I suppose a bass cut option in the wiring would be another way.

Lot's of ways to approach this, or you could just leave the strong bass and sound like this