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Thread: Looking for advice

  1. #1
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    Question Looking for advice

    Hello Everyone,

    I'm looking for some advice

    1) I am looking for a slight upgrade from my current mandolin (Stagg m50E) which i have owned for a few years. I want to be able to "substitute" into a guitar position if required in my band(by playing chords) and I want to be able to still pick out tunes when required. My understanding is that the Bouzouki is great for chords but not necessarily picking tunes. Is Octave Mandolin the way to go?

    2)I only have a budget of around £300. I have seen this (https://www.thomann.de/gb/thomann_oc...in_m1087_p.htm) and was wondering what people thought of it. I would plan on taking it to a luthier to see their opinion on it and have it properly set up replace tailpiece etc. It has an active pick up which i might upgrade as well. The reviews seem largely favorable, with a few mentioning having to file the frets etc.

    Any opinions would be well appreciated


    Many thanks
    MacAoidh
    Mo mhallachd aig na caoraich mhòr
    Càit a bheil clann nan daoine còir
    Dhealaich rium nuair bha mi òg
    Mus robh Dùthaich 'IcAoidh na fàsach?

  2. #2
    Registered User fox's Avatar
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    Default Re: Looking for advice

    Octave mandolin or tenor guitar both have similar scale lenths of around 20-23" .
    The one you linked too, looks like it has the right ingreadients but you know what they say... You get what you pay for.. and that one is pretty cheap!
    However I am sure that with a pro set up it will sound fine.
    £300 will give you a choice of a few tenor guitars, only four stings but they are great for strumming and melody work.
    Last edited by fox; Jan-10-2017 at 1:35pm.

  3. #3
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    Default Re: Looking for advice

    I think that one is really a Hora -made in Romania, I haven't played one myself but you could probably find a few here who have.

    You see them advertised on ebay ,but Thomann's price looks ok.

    Here's a video, sounds quite good : https://youtu.be/7IaxobnvcpY

    If you don't need the electrics Eagle Music have them at £160 -which would include a set up, you could get them to put decent strings on at the same time. : http://www.eaglemusicshop.com/prod/o...Spruce-Top.htm

    I prefer a shorter scale for tunes, my OM is 20" rather than 23", that said I am getting there with the tenor guitar at 23" so it's not a huge problem, the fingering will be a bit different to a mandolin though.
    - Jeremy

    Wot no catchphrase?

  4. #4
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    Default Re: Looking for advice

    I'm not exactly sure what you want to do but think you need to consider carefully which way you should go. An OM is neither as easy as a mandolin for picking tunes nor as a guitar for playing chords. If you want something to play guitar style chords you'd be better, and find an infinitely greater choice of instruments, with a guitar. You need to treat OM/bouzuki as an entirey separate instrument. I'm fortunate insofar as I have all three.

  5. #5

    Default Re: Looking for advice

    I have a Hora Irish bouzouki (though I tune it CFAD and play it more like a guitar a la Greek bouzouki), I think their octave mandolin (http://www.hora.ro/octave_mandolin.html) is more or less the same as their Irish bouzouki other than the shorter scale. I think the made in the EU is the tip off that it was made at the Hora factory in Romania. I'm happy with my Hora bouzouki considering the very low price direct from Hora on eBay, eventually I'll upgrade though of course. I imagine with the low price the quality control levels may be lower so there may be variation in what you get. Here are few songs/videos of mine:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KR-2QQgQ0wc

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-w9ShleFtww

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gz1dY_cYQjs

  6. #6

    Default Re: Looking for advice

    Brand new on MC and almost brand new on irish bouzouki. I have guitars and and 8 string uke but need some help with my confusion regarding the bouzouki.
    I recently bought a "Red Irish" bouzouki that came strung as GDAD with a plain steel and one wound sting on G. I decided to get rid of the factory strings and bought D'addario J81 irish bouzouki strings. When fitting the strings they had two wound strings on G ?.

    Sounds quite dull since. Have I bought wrong strings? I checked my my daughter's Weber OM and she has two wound strings on G.

    Any reasons for the factory fitted plain steel string on G ?. should i fit a plain steel on G?

    I frequent irish and olde time music sessions .

    Slange!

  7. #7
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    Default Re: Looking for advice

    Quote Originally Posted by Allbaman View Post
    Brand new on MC and almost brand new on irish bouzouki. I have guitars and and 8 string uke but need some help with my confusion regarding the bouzouki.
    I recently bought a "Red Irish" bouzouki that came strung as GDAD with a plain steel and one wound sting on G. I decided to get rid of the factory strings and bought D'addario J81 irish bouzouki strings. When fitting the strings they had two wound strings on G ?.

    Sounds quite dull since. Have I bought wrong strings? I checked my my daughter's Weber OM and she has two wound strings on G.

    Any reasons for the factory fitted plain steel string on G ?. should i fit a plain steel on G?

    I frequent irish and olde time music sessions .

    Slange!
    Bouzoukis can be strung in two ways. Yours came strung as "octaves". In other words, for that G you refer to, the wound G is an octave lower than the plain steel G. This gives a 12 string guitar sort of sound.

    The strings you have bought probably say "unison strung" on the packet. This means you get two identical strings, both tuned to the exact same pitch, like an Octave Mandolin.

    In Irish bouzouki playing you will find both types of tuning used. Octave strung instruments are great for accompaniment, but I find it a bit odd to use such a bouzouki for playing tunes.

    The reason your instrument sounds dull is that you no longer have that 12 string sound, with the higher G and D strings on the bottom two courses ringing out.

    Hope that makes sense. In future look for bouzouki strings that say "Octave strung".

    Robbie

  8. #8

    Default Re: Looking for advice

    Quote Originally Posted by Ray(T) View Post
    I'm not exactly sure what you want to do but think you need to consider carefully which way you should go. An OM is neither as easy as a mandolin for picking tunes nor as a guitar for playing chords. If you want something to play guitar style chords you'd be better, and find an infinitely greater choice of instruments, with a guitar. You need to treat OM/bouzuki as an entirey separate instrument. I'm fortunate insofar as I have all three.
    Having just gotten my bouzouki yesterday (and only got to spend about 20-30 minutes on it), I discovered this very quickly. Also have guitar/mando and now bouzouki. I reckon I ought to prepare my NBD thread!

  9. #9
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    Default Re: Looking for advice

    The first 20-30 minutes are the worst and I was quite surprised how easy it was to convert from mandolin to OM. It's mainly a matter of working out what to play and not simply trying to replicate what you play on mandolin. I have a mandola arriving next week so I'm expecting an interesting time playing something between the two.

  10. #10

    Default Re: Looking for advice

    Thanks for the help Robbie. Will replace with a plain steel string and enjoy it again.

    Allbaman

  11. #11
    Mangler of Tunes OneChordTrick's Avatar
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    Default Re: Looking for advice

    Quote Originally Posted by MacAoidh View Post
    Hello Everyone,

    I'm looking for some advice

    1) I am looking for a slight upgrade from my current mandolin (Stagg m50E) which i have owned for a few years. I want to be able to "substitute" into a guitar position if required in my band(by playing chords) and I want to be able to still pick out tunes when required. My understanding is that the Bouzouki is great for chords but not necessarily picking tunes. Is Octave Mandolin the way to go?

    2)I only have a budget of around £300. I have seen this (https://www.thomann.de/gb/thomann_oc...in_m1087_p.htm) and was wondering what people thought of it. I would plan on taking it to a luthier to see their opinion on it and have it properly set up replace tailpiece etc. It has an active pick up which i might upgrade as well. The reviews seem largely favorable, with a few mentioning having to file the frets etc.

    Any opinions would be well appreciated


    Many thanks
    MacAoidh
    Bit late to this but....

    I've got the Thomann Mandola that you linked to (well the version without the pickup but I assume they'll sound the same "unplugged"). I'm very happy with it. Has a great sound at least to my ears.

    I'd also guess, based on the pictures and the pattern around the sound hole that the Thomann, Ozark and Hora have all come out of the same factory?

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