Take your best mandolin to the festivals?

[oldwave]

When i go to festivals I usually take my National. The problem is that the level of jam etiquette varies widely cutting through gets your solos heard, though i must say if the jam is loud all the time, i don't stay long. The key to playing an Rm-1 is the control the dynamic range, all that volume potential takes experience to not be too loud.
I usually match the mandolin to the gig, bar his with potential for damage gets the Kentucky, concerts get the better instruments. I am lucky to have a number of choices unlike the first 25 years of playing when i only had the old f-4. The best mandolin is the one you have with you. Festivals can be magic and inspiring and great source of learning and making great friends. However as a cautionary anecdote at Clifftop three years ago i witnessed the headstock being broken off a beautiful Collings guitar when a drunken festival goer crashed into it. I always put my stuff in the case when i set it down.

[JeffJones]

Regarding playing "out" versus playing alone, I think I have a solution. Actually it is the solution some of my fiddle friends have adopted. Which is to find a fiddle buddy.

Got to be careful here. Before long you will think to you self "Hey, why don't I get Fiddle Buddy A and Fiddle Buddy B together and we can have a nice jam session" and then before you know it you have band. And now instead of one problem...

[mandolinlee]

Ivan mentioned in #42 about the guy w/ the Monteleone walking in and the other mandolin player storming off.
Whenever someone with a fancy instrument comes to a jam I'm in, I ask them to play something so I can hear how it sounds.
I find no reason for jealousy of someones better instrument or scorn for someones lesser instrument, we all have to spend our money to suit ourselves. Buy what you can afford, play what you buy.
Enjoy,
Lee

[JeffD]

When i go to festivals I usually take my National. The problem is that the level of jam etiquette varies widely cutting through gets your solos heard, though i must say if the jam is loud all the time, i don't stay long. The key to playing an Rm-1 is the control the dynamic range, all that volume potential takes experience to not be too loud.

Controlling the volume on the RM-1 is a real challenge. I found it to be a skill I had to deliberately develop. Of course the upside is with control of the volume you can take advantage of its incredible dynamic range and play more expressively.

The RM-1 is the perfect mandolin IMO for outdoor jamming, as at a festival.
- It can be heard.
- Its tone is crazy cool.
- It's a looker.
- It's not a fragile instrument. You can't beat on it, but it's not an egg shell.
- And one more thing - because it is naturally loud, you can play at reasonable volume with much less pick pressure, so you can really play faster than you think you could.

The downside, for festivals, is that it is kind of heavy. Clifftop is a good example, because there are significant distances between the things I like to do. Takes some effort to shlep the rez around all day. But what the hey, banjo players do it all the time.

[Bob Bronow]

I received my Sorensen less than a week before the Topanga Banjo and Fiddle Contest. I asked Steve if I should leave it home and take my Kentucky instead. He said, "I build them to be played. Bring it!"

[journeybear]

True enough. They're all built to be played, and with some sensible care-taking will last a long time, during which time they will be played a lot. One hopes. I often wonder what kind of a life my instruments led before they came into my possession: who played them; who has heard them; how much and how often; where, when, and with whom else; what kind of music; where have they travelled; what historical events have they witnessed. After all, some of them are nearing a hundred years old. I expect I have added to their experiences, some more than others. After all, not every one of them get played every day, and some haven't been played in a while, for various reasons. The more they get played, the more of a full life they have led. The nicks and scratches and dents they showed up with, the ones I have added, all tell stories of some kind. If instruments could talk, what tales they would tell!

[Caleb]

I don't have much experience with festivals, and I don't know many popular or standard tunes, so I've only taken out an instrument on a couple of occasions. But the subject of fancy/high-end mandolins at jams reminded me of something.

I was at a old-time music festival and met two mandolin playing brothers. They both owned Wayne Henderson oval hole, A-style mandolins. What are the odds of finding anyone with a Henderson instrument, much less two in one place?

Anyway, these guys were just great people and one of them played my Eastman while I played his Henderson the whole time. And, man, what a nice instrument. I can't imagine owning something like that.

I guess my point is that there are some truly wonderful people and experiences out there in the world of acoustic music.

[Bertram Henze]

Why some people are like that i don't know - but they are,

Be glad he didn't kill you...


So when you hear someone invisible play an invisible F5 beside you, THEN it's time to storm off and leave the place...

[oldwave]

Cool,
We should get a resonator jam this year.