The search continues...

[darylcrisp]

I mean my concerns were valid and they agreed with everything I said about the mandolin. They were very respectful but in the end I just think they were ready to move one, and sort of wanted me to do the same.
It ended on a good note but I won't lie, I'll always regret not being more patient with that one.
I've learned and that's all I can ask for at this point. :/

if you really want it, give someone you trust the funds and have them buy it and have it shipped.

kind of a roundabout situation, I had a legal eagle friend and we both were heavily into whitewater kayaking. Whitewater kayaks are as or more addictive than MAS. After he had around 4 at home, he started buying and shipping others to land at my house-he was there a lot anyhow and he just kept them stored. come to think about it, he did the same thing with a Harley too. I used to have all kinds of neat stuff he would buy and keep at my house.

just a thought
d

[JeffD]

Isn't there a difference between sincerely hunting for a mandolin and making 100+ posts in a thread you started about looking for a mandolin? I think sblock has nailed it (repeatedly).

Well, interesting.

I am thinking that there is enough fun in the shopping that ending the shopping with a purchase is kind of a bummer. I think is in agreement with sblock.

Some folks don't even stop shopping after purchase, with still more comparisons with what is available for sale, or complaints about not getting the best in the universe deal.


My own personal taste is that I love the playing so much more than the shopping, and also that whatever I buy won't be my last purchase, and that I likely will be more informed next time by gaining playing experience with what I have.

So who knows. I just enjoy folks having fun. And with so very many of my own posts it is made clear that I love talking about mandolinning a bunch.

[Demetrius]

That Campanella keeps haunting me

[Demetrius]

????

[usqebach]

Oh no! Now I'm completely sucked in!

Which one arrived with the binding coming off - the Givens F-5?

Wasn't the point made that binding can easily be reglued?

What's the verdict?

[Jeff Mando]

Which one arrived with the binding coming off - the Givens F-5?

It's only 15 pages...........what else do you have to do today, anyway?

[UlsterMando]

[/QUOTE]

Hi Demetrius,
I obviously can't hear the mandolins to compare them
but I do have a comment on one point about the way they look.
I have always loved the slight swell in the fretboard extension as seen
on the Wiens. As details go it is subtle, but it's something I really like.
In an instrument that is all about curves, it baffles me that so many
builders choose not to include this little delight.

Please continue . . .

[Billy Packard]

Actually Jeff, I gotta do my laundry! Specifically my Mt. Bike stuff AND as always I bring along a mando to play while I wait. Nice reverb in the laundry mat and I've made a big fan out of the owner!
THEN I'll get back and see the latest in Dem's journey. I think he's going for the Wiens, to be candid. Though the Givens F5 intrigues him.
Billy Packard

[usqebach]

Okay, so now I'm really flummoxed!

I got faked out when Kate (now we are getting to know D's wife - Hi Kate!) posted the video on p.14, with D's final thought on it being that the Givens was the most comfortable fit, along with D's previous post which said "the decision will be made today!". Fast forward to D's post at 12:56 today, where he originally posted "it arrived with the binding coming off" which has since been changed to read "That Campanella keeps haunting me."

That left my post making little sense to those that followed.

To take Jeff Mando's point to a higher level, it is entirely possible that my time spent unraveling this thread has cost my business almost the purchase price of any of these mandolins! I may have to buy D a mandolin and send it to him just to close out the thread and allow me to get back to work. Now that's a very clever strategy - holding someone's attention hostage with the ransom demand being a mandolin!

p.s. Upon rereading this, I want to stress that this is all in good fun. No ill intent towards Demetrius or Kate intended.

[Relio]

Hi Demetrius,
I obviously can't hear the mandolins to compare them
but I do have a comment on one point about the way they look.
I have always loved the slight swell in the fretboard extension as seen
on the Wiens. As details go it is subtle, but it's something I really like.
In an instrument that is all about curves, it baffles me that so many
builders choose not to include this little delight.

Please continue . . .[/QUOTE]

That is an interesting design feature. I actually prefer no extension because I get a lot of pick clicking. This is a really entertaining thread!

[UlsterMando]

Hi Demetrius,
I obviously can't hear the mandolins to compare them
but I do have a comment on one point about the way they look.
I have always loved the slight swell in the fretboard extension as seen
on the Wiens. As details go it is subtle, but it's something I really like.
In an instrument that is all about curves, it baffles me that so many
builders choose not to include this little delight.

Please continue . . .

That is an interesting design feature. I actually prefer no extension because I get a lot of pick clicking. This is a really entertaining thread![/QUOTE]

"If you want to get the soul baby, you gots to get the scoop . . ."

[UlsterMando]

" It is better to travel than to arrive "
Buddha

[grassrootphilosopher]

I like sustain, and a complexity of tone... Stringy ... I can't tolerate. (good is) ....dark tonally ...Decision wil be made today!

Thanks for clarifying. I believe I understand better.

Now for "criticism":
- dark works alone...but not necessarily in a band/ensemble context. If you want a dark mandolin you need a bright(er) complementary instrument (brighter guitar etc.). All dark instruments don´t work together.
- Stringy is subjective. One may call the typical prewar F-5 sound stringy... I tend to call it muscular. The LL-sound (to my ears) is not voluptouos/creamy...

To make matters worse (he, he, he, he...); look and listen here (and you know why):




or




But dark and complex leads me to think:



But that opens up a whole new can of worms (f vs. oval).

The hatchet is being droped today... with a haunting Campanella to go along...? So which one is it?

[Bob Clark]

That Campanella keeps haunting me

Campanellas can have that effect. Although I believe I am one of the few who have actually been cured of MAS, if ever I suffer a relapse, a Campanella will be the cause (and likely the cure).

[Bob Clark]

" It is better to travel than to arrive "
Buddha

Or as Harry Chapin put it "It's got to be the going not the getting there that's good."

I have always enjoyed the search, but ultimately it's an itch that must be scratched. Playing the new mandolin does the scratching. Let's hope this search gets the job done for Demetrius.

[Russ Donahue]

This journey has caused my (abated) MAS to flare again...has me thinking of how to leverage several instruments to acquire a new one...as has been pointed out, it's that thinking, questioning and anticipating that makes MAS such fun!

Keep going D!

[Demetrius]

Usqebach.
I think there was a mix up... I was refering to the Gilchrist that had arrived with binding separated in a few spots.
I was answering someone else with that.

[Demetrius]

Jim, You can totally buy me a mandolin though.
Id gladly accept lol!

[The Musician's Wife]

Hi, usqebach... Jim?

Yeah, there was a bit of a delay in posting the video - about a day, in fact. Oh, how quickly things change in this quest for a mandolin ;-) Sorry for the confusion.

While I'm also sorry that this thread has been distracting you from work, I'm glad it's been entertaining at least! I can't believe how much I'm checking posts now, too...

Kate

[Demetrius]

Relio!!!! I completely know what you mean about that fret board extension thing. I believe a builder by he name of holobek also does this same thing. That is so so neat that you noticed that.

[Demetrius]

Grassrootphilosopher,
Do you hear the creaminess in the dudes low end in those videos?
I enjoyed playing the Gil in those as well. It can be slightly dark,
But as long as the mandolin has killer mid range then it'll cut through.
I had a Brentrup f5c that can be destined as this perfectly. It was dark but
Bright too? Where it needed to be and amd had killer focused mid range.

[pheffernan]

- dark works alone...but not necessarily in a band/ensemble context.

So if I'm reading you correctly, Demetrius (and by extension I and the rest of us) needs more than one dream mandolin, i.e. a darker one for solo play or perhaps smaller ensembles with a brighter one in reserve for band and ensemble contexts? I must confess I had an intuition that might be the case.

[JeffD]

So if I'm reading you correctly, Demetrius (and by extension I and the rest of us) needs more than one dream mandolin, i.e. a darker one for solo play or perhaps smaller ensembles with a brighter one in reserve for band and ensemble contexts? I must confess I had an intuition that might be the case.

Cannot argue with this.

However, it might be accomplished, to a large extent, with pick choice. A great mandolin with a 1.4 mm BC pick or a 1.5 mm Primetone might have a dark creamy tone, and then the same mandolin with one of those pointy 0.75 mm Pickboys might sound bright and scintillating.


So the bad news is you might not need two mandolins. But the good news is you have to try each mandolin both with heavy picks and light pointy picks to see how it performs at each end of the spectrum.

More stuff to consider, now we are getting somewhere.

[Demetrius]

Id be lying if I said two mandolins wouldn't be a good plan.

[JeffD]

Id be lying if I said two mandolins wouldn't be a good plan.

Yea but then the decision is easier. Take your time, find the one that does both. We are having fun watching.