Originally Posted by
Randi Gormley
Just from personal experience, when I ask a question, I expect a complete (and honest) answer. Now, honesty can be situational, and complete has different meanings depending on who you ask.
If you ask someone whose livelihood and reputation are dependent on complete, specific and, well, perfect answers how to do something, you'll get one answer. If you ask someone else who merely knows in a general way how things go, you'll get another. And both will be right. It depends on who is asking the question, what they asked, what they want to know -- what they need to know -- as to which answer is better. If you want to build a specific replica of a specific mandolin, then you actually do need all the little details or it isn't what you want. If all you need to know is how to turn a truss rod, then the simplest answer will be the best. And arguing perfection vs "good enough" is what civilized people with a dedicated interest and the time to do it do for entertainment. And they can get pretty hot about it. But that doesn't mean their opinion is anything other than their opinion. It works for them. It might not work for you.
I think, because this is a site for people who are interested in mandolins and you're asking something on the builder's forum, there's an assumption you want as much of the nitty gritty as someone can give you. People answering the question make an assumption that perfection is what you're after or striving for or whatever. And if perfection is their goal, than perfection is what they emphasize. OTOH, some of the answers in some of the other topic forums are a lot more like "if it works, good on you and enjoy." I particularly recall a string (because I know the poster) about fingering. This guy preferred to use his own fingering over the standard classic kind of thing -- you know, two frets per finger, finger A on string B to play note C etc. etc. Why, he asked, couldn't he play whatever finger suited him on whatever fret on whatever string? And the general consensus was "whatever floats your boat."
You can check out all the strings that ask whether, why and when to upgrade. The general answer is if you can't tell the difference, what you have is fine. If you're someone who works with what you have and it works fine, then you can look at the more finicky answer and say "nice" and move on. Someone else reading the string might benefit from the discussion even if you are taking a different path. It's all good.
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