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Thread: F Styles uncomfortable?

  1. #26
    Registered User Roger Adams's Avatar
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    Default Re: F Styles uncomfortable?

    I can not warm up to the A style. It will not "stay put" when playing seated for me. Feels like a football! I find no difference between the two when standing and playing.
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  2. #27
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    Default Re: F Styles uncomfortable?

    I have both an A-style and an F-style. Before I got the F-style, I thought I would like the way it hangs on a strap better, because of the scroll. With my A-style (Weber Bitteroot), I tie a leather strip around the base of the neck, under the extension, and attach my strap to the leather strip. It actually hangs very nicely, and feels balanced. My F-style (Summit) actually feels less balanced, and seems more "neck heavy". I don't like the headstock diving when I let go of the neck, which only happens on the F-style. I think it has more to do with the headstock mass than anything else. The typical F-style headstock must weigh significantly more that a typical "snake-head" type headstock. So, I actually feel more comfortable playing my A-style, which I would not have predicted. But in the end, I play my F-style more often. The look just fits the bluegrass music. That said, I'm not getting rid of my A-style anytime soon.

  3. #28
    Barn Cat Mandolins Bob Clark's Avatar
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    Default Re: F Styles uncomfortable?

    I can think of a number of different instruments that don't have nearly the heterogeneity of styles that mandolin-family instruments offer. Lucky for us that we have all this to choose from.

    There really are no right or wrong answers here. The choices are all good, depending on the indivuals' preference, and perhaps genre of music. The world of mandolins sure has a lot to offer and we are each lucky to have found these instruments. I count myself lucky, that's for sure.

    These choices also give us a lot to debate here on the Cafe. Again, lucky us.
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  5. #29
    Registered User Russ Jordan's Avatar
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    Default Re: F Styles uncomfortable?

    Quote Originally Posted by Bob Clark
    ..........." heterogeneity of styles".........
    whew, I bet you don't hear "heterogeniety" over on the banjo forums! (g)
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  7. #30

    Default Re: F Styles uncomfortable?

    Quote Originally Posted by itstooloudMike View Post
    I have both an A-style and an F-style. Before I got the F-style, I thought I would like the way it hangs on a strap better, because of the scroll. With my A-style (Weber Bitteroot), I tie a leather strip around the base of the neck, under the extension, and attach my strap to the leather strip. It actually hangs very nicely, and feels balanced.
    Exactly the same way I strapped up my A and it hangs perfectly. Even seated, one can hang the mandolin and not have to worry about having points that dig into the legs.
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  8. #31
    Registered User mandolin breeze's Avatar
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    Default Re: F Styles uncomfortable?

    Yes, I often find F styles uncomfortable . . . especially under my left butt cheek where my wallet sits . . . ouch!

  9. #32
    Registered User Timbofood's Avatar
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    Default Re: F Styles uncomfortable?

    As long as I get to play, I don’t much care. The talking about it takes more effort that playing.
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  10. #33
    Joe B mandopops's Avatar
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    Default Re: F Styles uncomfortable?

    I have both A & F body style Mandolins. Love them both. I played for many years before I warmed up the the F style.
    I have played both seated & standing. I don't find either body style "Uncomfortable". Now, I tend to keep straps on even when seated. It just evolved over time. With the F style sitting, I like the lower body point as a leg rest.
    My aesthetic observation is, I think A's "look" better played while seated & F's "look" better played while standing.
    Joe B

  11. #34
    My Florida is scooped pheffernan's Avatar
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    Default Re: F Styles uncomfortable?

    Quote Originally Posted by Mandobar View Post
    I prefer A’s for the same reason. I have never found a strap that has made an F style as comfortable to play as an A.
    Has anyone? I was gifted a beautiful hand-tooled leather strap to go on my F5, and I find myself wrestling with it a lot more than the Long Hollow Softies I use on my A-styles. Similarly, I struggled with braided straps in the past. I'd be curious if anyone has found a better solution.
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  12. #35
    Registered User Steve Sorensen's Avatar
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    Default Re: F Styles uncomfortable?

    You realize that you do have other options . . .

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    Default Re: F Styles uncomfortable?

    I have only owned A5s. I like them plenty but only prefer them for the price.
    IMO, if F-style mandolins were half the price of comparable A styles there would be no viable market for A style mandolins.

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  15. #37
    formerly Philphool Phil Goodson's Avatar
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    Default Re: F Styles uncomfortable?

    I must admit that if I had no sight, I'd never buy an F style. But.... I LOVE the beautiful curves of the F style.

    I agree with Steve; a nicely designed 2-point is also a thing of beauty!!!!
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  17. #38
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    Default Re: F Styles uncomfortable?

    No F/A content.

    As a few others have said, but here it is again. If you stand at all, wearing a strap while seated means keeping your instrument in the same playing position for either. I always use a strap while standing or sitting.
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  19. #39
    Registered User Roger Moss's Avatar
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    Default Re: F Styles uncomfortable?

    Quote Originally Posted by mandolin breeze View Post
    Yes, I often find F styles uncomfortable . . . especially under my left butt cheek where my wallet sits . . . ouch!
    How can you play with your mandolin back there?
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  20. #40

    Default Re: F Styles uncomfortable?

    Quote Originally Posted by Roger Moss View Post
    How can you play with your mandolin back there?
    When he does it that way, he's providing the percussion.
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  21. #41
    Registered User Timbofood's Avatar
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    Default Re: F Styles uncomfortable?

    Quote Originally Posted by Teak View Post
    When he does it that way, he's providing the percussion.
    Is that where the breeze comes in?
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  23. #42
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    Default Re: F Styles uncomfortable?

    Quote Originally Posted by dhergert View Post
    Hmmm, I wish I still had to worry about that. Over the last 20 years or so, I seem to have grown in my mid section enough that my belt buckle is never a problem anymore. I remember having to wrap a square of leather over the belt buckle. Things change.

    I took care of that problem and now I wear suspenders.

  24. #43
    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: F Styles uncomfortable?

    My favorite, though, is the two pointer. Especially an asymmetrical two pointer.
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  25. #44
    music with whales Jim Nollman's Avatar
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    Default Re: F Styles uncomfortable?

    One issue seems missing from this discussion. F hole mandolins focus sound 4-6 feet in front of the instrument. My own F hole mandolin is strapped on to me at about waist high because that's most comfortable. But when I perform in a string band quartet, I often bring the instrument up to chest high, just to hear my own playing better. It seems to be a rather common phenomenon among mandolin performers.
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  26. #45
    Registered User Cochiti Don's Avatar
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    Default Re: F Styles uncomfortable?

    I forget who it was that helped me at the mandolin store , Brian?, anyway I bought a nice strap from him when I bought my MTO. He strung the neck end in between the top two and bottom two pegs on the head. It made it sometimes awkward to tune but it was very well balanced. When I get my f style soon, I’m going to strap it the same way and to heck with what everyone else thinks.
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  27. #46
    The Amateur Mandolinist Mark Gunter's Avatar
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    Default Re: F Styles uncomfortable?

    I had two F styles, both cheap instruments (pressed top Ibanez, and Eastman 315), and when I first started, it was important to me for some reason to have the look of an F style. Now, I only have a couple A styles, a Washburn and a Collings, and I like them way better than either of the F's I had.

    +1 for using a strap both sitting and standing.

    I run the straps under the fingerboard extension and around the heel. On the F's I used the traditional "strap hanger" approach. Was happy with all of that, and I don't think I'd be happy tying a strap anywhere near the headstock. Used to do that on guitars, don't like it. I'll put a button in a heel before I do that.
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  28. #47
    The Amateur Mandolinist Mark Gunter's Avatar
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    Default Re: F Styles uncomfortable?

    Quote Originally Posted by sheets View Post
    I've had this happen with guitars, I had a really nice Gibson ES-335 that sounded great, but I have never been physically comfortable playing it. I just didn't fit my body. A-body mandos are great for me, teles are effortless...
    Are you still on the subject of sitting, or was it not comfortable either way, sitting or standing?

    I'm just curious if it was sitting, do you rest the waist of a guitar on your right leg? I used to do that, and I know very well that most folk musicians do that (folk used widely here, basically non-classical), but a few years back I began resting the waist of a guitar on my right leg, in the classical position, and find it way more comfortable for different body styles. Took a while to get used to it, but IMO well worth it. I can't play a guitar on my right leg anymore, puts my body in a weird position.
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  29. #48
    Registered User Randi Gormley's Avatar
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    Default Re: F Styles uncomfortable?

    I've tried out a variety of F styles just to hear them and I've only found one (a 1913 Gibson F oval hole) that didn't immediately feel like it was going to take a header off my left hand onto the floor. I'm probably just unlucky, but I find the Fs awkward and badly balanced on my lap -- I play seated 99 percent of the time. I think they're lovely looking instruments, but they've just never been comfortable to me.
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  30. #49
    Registered User Roger Moss's Avatar
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    Default Re: F Styles uncomfortable?

    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Gunter View Post
    Are you still on the subject of sitting, or was it not comfortable either way, sitting or standing?

    I'm just curious if it was sitting, do you rest the waist of a guitar on your right leg? I used to do that, and I know very well that most folk musicians do that (folk used widely here, basically non-classical), but a few years back I began resting the waist of a guitar on my right leg, in the classical position, and find it way more comfortable for different body styles. Took a while to get used to it, but IMO well worth it. I can't play a guitar on my right leg anymore, puts my body in a weird position.
    I don't understand what you mean. You seem to be saying that you switched from resting the guitar on your right leg to resting it on your right leg. Am I wrong?
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  31. #50
    Registered User Kevin Stueve's Avatar
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    Default Re: F Styles uncomfortable?

    I think he meant he went from right leg to left leg which is the classical guitar approach
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