Hi all, this is my first post. I have been lurking here for a while, but I now have an actual question and would love some input.
Brief background: I have been playing a cheap Rogue mandolin for a couple of years now. I love it. I realize it's the lowest of the low as far as quality, but honestly, that thing is so much fun to play.
A couple of days ago, I acquired a Trinity College octave mandolin. Wow, I love that too!
But while playing my new TC Octave, I have a considerable amount of string buzz on the G and D strings. The bridge seems very low to me and is not adjustable.
Another thing I notice is that the string spacing (distance between the strings) seems more even with the octave than with my regular mandolin. What I mean is when I have played other mandolins, the strings are in distinct pairs of two (duh, I don't need to point this out), but on my new Octave, the grooves on the bridge space the strings much more evenly, so it's more difficult to hit them in their pairs and I'm always running into the neighboring strings.
I haven't played any other Octaves, so I have no basis for comparison, but I have been looking at a lot of pictures online, and it seems that my strings are more evenly spaced than is typical.
So now the question: I think I would like to replace my current Octave bridge with something adjustable. It's a flat-top instrument and when I compare bridges from my Rogue and my TC, the Rogue strings are indeed spaced better. Can I put a regular flat-top mandolin bridge on an Octave mandolin? Where do I get such a thing that's functional and decent but also very reasonably priced? Any other thoughts on this issue?
I hope that all made sense, and thanks in advance for any input!
Lizzie
I'll attempt to attach two photos of my octave bridge so you can see it:
bridge1 by lizabird1, on Flickr
bridge2 by lizabird1, on Flickr
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