Mando Jargon

[wooq]

"bark" - a chop cord sounds loud and abrupt, like the sound a dog makes. It's a midrange "pop" that projects. Basically, saying that the mandolin is loud and has some harmonic in its tonal character which gives it presence.

"dry" - a raspiness to the tone, a short-lived high-midrange resonance that doesn't sustain.

"woody" - you can tell from the sound of the mandolin that it is made out of wood instead of some other material. A complexity of tonal character, including rich harmonics and some slight "fuzziness" in the midrange and high overtones, similar to the sounds you'd get from striking a block of wood.

[pelone]

I like "round," "tinny,'" "woodsy,"....and my favorite....."throaty."

[Br1ck]

Things could be worse, we could be wine snobs. Has anyone ever tasted apricot or rassberry finish?

Mandolins can sound great or suck, and it mostly depends on who is playing them. Alas, I fall on the sucky side of things.

[Jim Hudson]

"Crisp", "well defined", "even tone", are perhaps more descriptive and meaningful terms ... but I like and use many of the terms being lambasted here as well. Ironically, the older I get the less need I feel to have everything so well defined.The mystery is rich.

[Billy Packard]

I just got home from work and viola! All this great commentary.Thanks everyone.

Reading through, it seems there are a few words that resonate (!) like "bark". Beyond that there seems to be a varying degree of ambiguity. Which is a bit of a relief....like Br1ck says, Things could be worse, we could be wine snobs. I'll never get that jargon! But I do love wine!

Once while visiting Roger Siminoff he pointed out the difference between a mando'LIN' ( For crotchety Ron! ) that was 'dampened' to one that was 'woody' as the wooden body producing the sound rather than the strings, hence 'woody', like wooq alluded to.

Also I appreciate what Allen said about using more common words to describe sounds. That may loose a bit of mystery or color but would be more accessible. But not necessarily more descriptive. Such is the task of describing in a different medium--words vrs. how a mandolin sounds.

But, 'tubby', 'dry', 'throaty'...I probably haven't played enough mandolins to relate. Or perhaps without someone saying, "there, that's what tubby sounds like" I don't recognize it?

BUT I have made the promise to myself to make reasonable journeys out to try various instruments. To date I've played..., a 1928 Gibson F5, six Loars, a Wiens F5, several Gilchrist mandolins (outside of my own), a couple of Nuggets, 2 Monteleones, several A2Z....I enjoy the search but I have discovered that it is a per instrument evaluation. For example, I went into Gryphon's a week ago and sampled a new Northfield blond Big Mon and a new Collings F5. The Northfield was priced at $4500 and the Collings at $9000 and guess what? The Big Mon appealed to me way more. Perhaps a mandolin Sommelier would point out this and that and obviously I am a simpleton but it was pretty obvious to me.

I will say, if I had to describe their sound I would be stumped.

Then there is how they FEEL!

Y'all are great, thanks again.

Billy

[Ron McMillan]

I'm with Moderator Mike. 'Plays like butter' makes me want to throw up. 'Killer' is so uninformative it makes me turn the page immediately, and whenever I read about someone 'pulling the trigger' I always wonder how insensitive people can be with firearms metaphors.

That said, there's no denying that the only word to describe the sound of my 1920 A2 is tubby.

There are still a tiny number of people who call me Ronald, but they're all of a vintage that their numbers are fast depleting.

[BrianWilliam]

What's wrong with "Mando"?

[farmerjones]

"Did you scoop your florida or just cut it off?"


Naw, I think if you chop on an oval hole mandolin it sounds like Woooof.
If you chop on a f hole mandolin it sounds like a bark.
It's just how they move the air differently.

[MikeEdgerton]

The Florida name for the fretboard extension doesn't bother me a whole lot. Some of the words used to describe certain aspects I find really amusing. My favorite is the "South Jersey" pick guard found on some older Gibson mandolins, probably because I live here.

[Randi Gormley]

wouldn't "tubby" be more like the hollow thump/echo you get from pounding on a closed or upturned tub? Oddly enough, that was the sound I heard when I played my (!) oval-holed Gibson. The rest -- bark, woody ... I don't know if I'd know if I heard them.

[pglasse]

I humbly offer this video with some usage examples.

[foldedpath]

Chorrnng

(not sure I spelled it right): The characteristic sound of a bouzouki or octave mandolin. Saw it first in the CBOM section here, might have been coined by zoukboy?

My Weber OM gives good chorrnng.

[Bertram Henze]

The the scroll entering the jargon discussion, combined with the concept of onomatopoeia, reminds me again of that most onomatopoetic art form ever conceived: the Vogon poem. And isn't mandolin jargon its very home...

O scroll unfroggly plurfling fright,
frascinating froll's delight,
open up, your frump unfurl,
embryollic wrupp your curl!

Suggintestine visceral spring,
craptivate gropening.
Great freternal Gripson, throar!
Scroll around my Lloydolloar.

[Sheryl McDonald]

So far, the worst I've seen is: "sounds like a dream" Huh?