Eastman Octave Tonegard (First one!)

[Eric Platt]

Decided to order a Tonegard for my Eastman octave mandolin. Sent Tony the drawing of the back and he worked his magic. Fits perfectly. Now, just got it in the mail today, so haven't had time for a long term test. I do have Tonegards on 2 other mandolins and believe they make a good difference. Don't have a reason to believe different about this one.

This is the first one he's made. So if you've been thinking of ordering one, he now has the pattern and can make one for you. If nothing else, it helps with the slight neck dive.

[NotMelloCello]

Purpose?

[OneChordTrick]

Purpose?

I think the purpose of a Toneguard is to trigger a long internet debate about whether they improve the sound. Will form broadly into three camps: those who think they do, those who say it makes no difference and those who haven’t tried. There will also be a small splinter group who say they’re unnecessary with good technique.

[/thread closed]

[Ray(T)]

What about the difficulty of getting hold of one in the UK?

Ray [Toneguard owner! ]

[OneChordTrick]

What about the difficulty of getting hold of one in the UK?

Ray [Toneguard owner! ]

I thought they were illegal here?

[Eric Platt]

Sorry I brought the subject up. Need to learn to keep my opinions to myself.

[Chris Daniels]

Sorry I brought the subject up. Need to learn to keep my opinions to myself.

Dude what? Don't let the inevitable chatter about Tonegards dissuade you. There are plenty of us who 1) Already love having Tonegards on their existing mandolins and 2) Are thinking about an Eastman (or other) OM someday. A success report from the field is much appreciated.

C.

[OneChordTrick]

Sorry I brought the subject up. Need to learn to keep my opinions to myself.

Sorry if my attempt at humour upset you - I haven't seen a Toneguard myself from reading threads here what I do know is that they seem to divide opinion.

Apologies again.

[Ray(T)]

Illegal? No, mine came (allegedly used) from Scotland!

The Eastman OM is retailing at circa £750 in the UK and the price of a Toneguard, shipping, import costs and currency exchange charges would be likely to add a further 30% to that so I can't see anyone rushing to give one a try on this side of the pond.

I would like another one for my A style though. What we need is someone to bite the bullet and import a few.

[Seter]

I can see the headlines now: Scotland Yard Breaks Up East End Mandolin Tone-Gard Smuggling Operation

[Ray(T)]

Nah - Scotland Yard is nowhere near Scotland. "Scotland Yard" is currently in it's fourth location in London (that's that strange country in the south of England - near Europe - where all the foreign tourists head for), whilst Scotland is just beyond England's northern boundary (north of the wall that did get built - by Hadrian, nearly 2000 years ago) and full of tourists from London.

Many people from London think that there is nothing worthwhile seeing or doing in the space between the two. At the moment, there are no tax implications for importing a Toneguard from Scotland into England but I'm not sure about London!

[John Kelly]

Ah Ray, wait till after Brexit and Scotland somehow manages to remain in the single market so that it will be cheaper to bring in your Toneguards via the Caledonian route. Bagpipes and fiddles will of course be exempt from any taxes.

[Lord of the Badgers]

Tonegard makes a very noticeable difference to my f5 mando, less so the a5. Everyone I've shown that to agrees - and I usually don't tell them what it does when I show them. So that's probably why there's a debate - it's dependent on the instrument!

#debatewhatdebate



Cool btw, might look at one for my Shippey

[Mandobart]

I've had Tony custom build tone gards for my 10 string mandola and my OM. They work great for me.