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Thread: Videos helping saies

  1. #1
    Registered User red7flag's Avatar
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    Default Videos helping saies

    Recently a thread with links to videos of Girourd instruments at the The Music Emporium has received a lot of attention. The videos have a way of bringing the instruments alive that pictures and description simply cannot. I went back on the TME website to look at Collings oval holes and not having videos stopped my lust in its place, luckily for my bank account. `
    Tony Huber
    1930 Martin Style C #14783
    2011 Mowry GOM
    2013 Hester F4 #31
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  2. #2

    Default Re: Videos helping saies

    Quote Originally Posted by red7flag View Post
    The videos have a way of bringing the instruments alive that pictures and description simply cannot. `
    Agreed

    Quote Originally Posted by red7flag View Post
    I went back on the TME website to look at Collings oval holes and not having videos stopped my lust in its place, luckily for my bank account. `
    Then perhaps your MAS is not strong enough. Real MAS is when you scour the internet for every video of every artist playing the instrument you are obsessed with.

  3. #3
    Registered User red7flag's Avatar
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    Default Re: Videos helping saies

    But, I would want to hear the particular instrument I want to buy. TME has a great selection of Collins's, but I live in Tennessee, not exactly around the corner. Being familiar with Collins's in general, I am more interested in hearing differences between different models or the same models with different woods, for example. I particularly am interested in oval A styles. There just are not many on the internet. Finding one is tough enough, hearing a videos that compare in quality, even tougher. Given TME's fine selection, I would love to hear video's to hear the one that really speaks to me.

    T
    Tony Huber
    1930 Martin Style C #14783
    2011 Mowry GOM
    2013 Hester F4 #31
    2014 Ellis F5 #322
    2017 Nyberg Mandola #172

  4. #4
    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: Videos helping saies

    If you are serious about a particular mandolin why not contact them and ask if they can make a video of that one. Just a suggestion. I would think that TME has a pretty large selection and it may take them some time to make videos of all of them.

    You are correct. Most of the Collings oval holes do not have videos except for the Cream Top.

    Jim

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  6. #5

    Default Re: Videos helping saies

    People order instruments to be built all the time. I am not sure the lack of videos discourages sales. TME sells a lot of instruments to people who just walk in there. The place is packed on Saturdays.

    Incidentally, there are things that sell there without even having a chance to have pictures taken. but if you are interested in an instrument give them a call. They will give you an assessment and I'm sure they can find someone to play it over the phone for you. Most shops will do this. They can also tell you about instruments they expect to get soon. If you are looking for an oval hole Collings there was a used Italian/Birdseye in the classified that came from there. I played that one when they got it. You won't find a better sounding oval hole.
    "your posts ... very VERY opinionated ...basing your opinion/recommendations ... pot calling ...kettle... black...sarcasm...comment ...unwarranted...unnecessary...."

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  8. #6

    Default Re: Videos helping saies

    Another thing I thought of is buying at a vintage guitar show. Terrible place to hear any instrument, let alone an acoustic instrument with all the noise going on -- yet, many instruments are sold at guitar shows. Some of the larger shows have listening rooms, but you still can't hear much. I worked for a guy who wouldn't bring an amp to a guitar show, because he felt it caused the buyer to actually make a quicker decision, otherwise they would sit there and noodle and we had to listen to that stuff all weekend. In his words, "you know, a Les Paul pretty much sounds like a Les Paul, a Strat sounds like a Strat, etc..........."

    (I have worked for many, many cynical people in my lifetime, and it has made me the man I am today!)

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    Registered User darylcrisp's Avatar
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    Default Re: Videos helping saies

    hey Tony
    they've had an instrument in the past I was interested in and a phone call garnered me a soundclip sent to my email within the day from an excellent player.
    I'm sure that's not always possible if they are busy, but they seem to go the distance for potential business.

    d

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    Registered User foldedpath's Avatar
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    Default Re: Videos helping saies

    I'm always wary of retail store videos on YoutTube because I know way too much about audio sound processing (including how that works on YouTube).

    I know how easy it is to make something poor sound great, if you know what you're doing with a little sweetening with EQ and compression. Or conversely, how to inadvertently make a great mandolin sound poor, if you don't know what you're doing. Especially with room acoustics.

    The only store videos I'd trust, even in a limited sense, are where several different mandolins are being recorded under the same conditions, so there is at least a chance to hear the differences. Not a comparison from one store's videos to another's, which for me invalidates the whole concept.

    When I bought my one and only mandolin (still a keeper!), I did a lot of research beforehand about reputable makers. I found a store that had one in stock, and before plunking down the cash, I asked the salesman to play it over the phone so I could hear it.

    After a few licks, we both agreed... yep, even over the phone, it sounded like a mandolin. I bought it, I'm happy. But a lot of that was figuring out what the desirable "can't go wrong" builders were to begin with.

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  14. #9
    Registered User red7flag's Avatar
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    Default Re: Videos helping saies

    I guess what really stimulated the original post was the chance to listen to all four new Girouards played by the same person with the same basic video set up by The Music Emporium. I guess I got spoiled and wished I had the same opportunity with the Collings they have. I am probably really glad that they did not have videos of the Italian topped MT2s they had or I would be trying to decide what to sell now.
    Tony Huber
    1930 Martin Style C #14783
    2011 Mowry GOM
    2013 Hester F4 #31
    2014 Ellis F5 #322
    2017 Nyberg Mandola #172

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    Default Re: Videos helping saies

    Quote Originally Posted by Mandobar View Post
    People order instruments to be built all the time. I am not sure the lack of videos discourages sales. TME sells a lot of instruments to people who just walk in there. The place is packed on Saturdays.

    Incidentally, there are things that sell there without even having a chance to have pictures taken. but if you are interested in an instrument give them a call. They will give you an assessment and I'm sure they can find someone to play it over the phone for you. Most shops will do this. They can also tell you about instruments they expect to get soon. If you are looking for an oval hole Collings there was a used Italian/Birdseye in the classified that came from there. I played that one when they got it. You won't find a better sounding oval hole.
    I think you're right that not having videos won't discourage sales, but it is nice when places like TME, Elderly, and obviously the builders create videos of different artists and instruments. For me it also helps in finding new and interesting builders. Of course, 99% of these instruments are completely out of reach for me, but living vicariously through the videos is not a bad thing!

  16. #11

    Default Re: Videos helping saies

    I am in the camp with Folded Path. Videos are fun to watch, and naturally the buyer would prefer to see them while shopping, but they are so far off from what an instrument sounds like in person and you just can't compare with different recording situations.

    Recording with no EQ or processing at all is not the answer either... Rooms, recording gear and mic setup will vary greatly. The best case scenario would be to do some tweaking of the recording in the same room as the instrument is recorded to attempt to match the recording to the live tone. Of course this is only going to work on similar playback gear. How many would be listeners are using anything past some computer speakers or worse yet, the speaker on their phone? I can answer that... A small percentage.

    Even higher quality home stereos are rarely setup to be accurate, especially with acoustic instruments.

    I am not a big fan of phone demos either.
    Humans Hear 20 - 20,000 Hz.
    Land line phones are optimized (basically limited to) 300 -3300hz (and can be an even narrower range). You are getting such a limited sample of the instrument over a phone. The open G string on a mandolin is 196.00 hz. While 3300 hz is high enough to give a good representation, you lose the high harmonics that give that airy tone quality. Phones and the whole system is specifically designed to give the clearest voice communication with the least bandwidth possible.
    Robert Fear
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  18. #12
    Registered User red7flag's Avatar
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    Default Re: Videos helping saies

    Robert, I am totall with you in what you say. I think that was one reason that I enjoyed the videos of the Girouards done by The Music Emporium. They were all done close the same time, apparently with the same equipment, and played by the same musician. The music played was different, most like picked to emphasize the strengths of each instrument, not to provide the same to tune to A/B the instruments. But, as you know being an internet vendor, the long distance buyer must use the tools available to them and some times make a leap of faith. With dealers like you, Elderly, Carter, and the like, making those leaps of faith are easier.
    Tony Huber
    1930 Martin Style C #14783
    2011 Mowry GOM
    2013 Hester F4 #31
    2014 Ellis F5 #322
    2017 Nyberg Mandola #172

  19. #13
    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: Videos helping saies

    There really is no substitute for playing in person, however impractical for many of us. Even in person, tho, there is a real difference in the sounds that the player hears vs. the sound that an audience or some one, say, ten to twenty feet in front of the instrument hears. So, in most cases, you are always talking a chance on disappointment until you finally receive the instrument.

    I am currently looking for another guitar and have my sights set on one model in particular, but no local stores have that exact model available to try and even if there were one it might not sound exactly the same as the one I end up buying. So it goes.
    Jim

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  20. #14
    Registered User JAK's Avatar
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    Default Re: Videos helping saies

    And then there is the factor that the person playing in the video is going to make the mandolin sound different than in the hands of another player(s). The person playing in the videos at the Music Emporium is a mandolin contest winner, unlike most of the rest of us.
    John A. Karsemeyer

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