Naming your Mandolin

[T.D.Nydn]

I've never named an instrument,just rifles...

[Jeff Mando]

I am a 67 year old Australian and have only known about 5 people named Bruce in my life. And they were all women.

Does Bruce Jenner count?

Well, they do convert banjos, so there is a precedent......musically speaking....

[mugbucket]

I'm not half as cool as BB King or have inherited any money to speak of.., so my mandolin just goes by the name it was given by the luthier - Weber Bighorn.

[Phil Goodson]

Guess I've been a rational adult for too many years. Sorry.

[Bren]

Some of my friends named their guitars back in the day when all the geeks knew about BB King's Lucille or Eric Clapton's Blondie or Brownie or whatever it was.
I tried it but it felt contrived and just wrong.

OP, I suggest you tell your gf that your instrument is called Lynne. Amanda Lynne.
That should satisfy both parties.

David Kennedy - me neither. I dunno what prompted Monty Python to go with Bruce but the meme was planted and resistance is useless.

As an Aussie living in Scotland, I can tell you that this is where Bruce really is a typical name

[MikeZito]

I am a 67 year old Australian and have only known about 5 people named Bruce in my life. And they were all women.

But wait - in the Monty Python skit, ALL of the Australians were named Bruce. Is it possible that they were being facetious?

[soliver]

I don't name my mandolins, but I made a canoe in college and named it Bob... does that count?

[MikeZito]

Upon further reflection on this topic (you can tell that I have waaaay too much free time on my hands if this is the best thing that I can reflect on) - I occasionally refer to guitars in certain ways, without actually naming them:

For example, I have a Gibson Flying V that I refer to as my 'Rock Star Guitar'
I have a Gretsch 12-string electric that I refer to as my 'Michael Nesmith Guitar'
and I have a sunburst Stratocaster that I refer to as my 'Buddy Holly Guitar'.

[Charlie Bernstein]

. . . I don't name instruments or any animal I may have to eat.

Are there instruments you might have to eat?

=O.

- - - Updated - - -

I don't name my mandolins, but I made a canoe in college and named it Bob... does that count?

Only if it bobbed.

[Charlie Bernstein]

I'm not half as cool as BB King or have inherited any money to speak of.., so my mandolin just goes by the name it was given by the luthier - Weber Bighorn.

How could you resist Foghorn Bighorn?

[Gunnar]

How could you resist Foghorn Bighorn?

Boy-I say-Boy..... You gotta-I say-You Gotta name your mandolin.

[Mike Scott]

I don't name any of my instruments, but my Silverangel was named "Valentina" by Ken Ratcliff.......... not sure if he still does, but he did pencil in a name on all his F's and some of his A's (one of my previous one's -an A - was named Myrle-it had a myrtle wood back).

[Astro]

There isn't anything in the world I love more than my kids. I affectionately call my boy "Boy". I affectionately call my girl "Girl". I figure that's fair enough since they call me "Dad".

I have a bad memory for names. Especially recent names. My childhood friends are no problem. But you know, people you've only known for twenty or thirty years can get dicey to spit out in time. But I've known my wife so long I can automatically call her by her first name, no problem. "Honey".

Other more recent friends I have learned to automatically call by gender since up until recently its been easy to figure. So all men I call "Bud" (or "Bo" if they're close long time friends- i.e. been drinking) and the woman I call "Darlin". If I can't tell the gender quick enough, I just call them "Darlin". I figure most times men are more forgiving when you get it backwards. And if they're not, at least it ends quickly.

The Gibson I call "the mandolin". The Eastman I call "the cheap mandolin". My banjo is called "the banjo". Because of their numbers, I mostly just point at the guitars.

Cars are referenced only according to their primary driver.

The dogs have human first names we use for yelling and nick names that vary according to degree of smell and mischief at hand.

I have tried to name instruments but they've never stuck. Whats the point, they're like the dogs and never do what I want anyway.

[rnjl]

I named a guitar once, because the name just came to me and stuck. But then I sold it- dumb XXX than I am- an haven't done so since, and never a mandolin, though I can't say why. But all my bikes have nicknames. The heavy steel 'cross bike is "The Tank," the bright orange road bike is "the Dreamcycle," (after the orange frozen confection from the ice cream truck, also, it rides like a dream compared to the Tank) and the hybrid is the Cruiser. It's not a real beach cruiser, just an upright normal hybrid bike but it feels like one compared to the others.

Now I really have to get productive for the day.

[Tom C]

I don't give inanimate objects names. I do appreciate the ones that naturally inherit their names ...The Parrot Loar or something.

[Jeff Mando]

I've never named an instrument,just rifles...

There was "Big Bertha" from WWI........

[MikeZito]

There isn't anything in the world I love more than my kids. I affectionately call my boy "Boy".

If that's the case, your member name should be Tarzan . . . .

[Joe Dodson]

Nope. I don't name cars, guitars, mandolins or bodily organs. I only rarely bother to name the housecats I feed.

[Scott Rucker]

I have an older Silverangel F5 that Ken named "Ivanna" (in marker or felt pen under the center of the top) when he was building it. My wife, however, calls it "Ole Bessie". I don't use names for any of them.

[JustAlectia]

People love to give their things names
Mine Rogue RM-100A - Jessika (that's a quite sad story...)

[CarlM]

But wait - in the Monty Python skit, ALL of the Australians were named Bruce. Is it possible that they were being facetious?

What would lead you to think that?

[mbruno]

I'm gonna share this thread with my lady haha - glad to hear I'm not alone in the no-name camp!!

[oliverkollar]

I'm gonna share this thread with my lady haha - glad to hear I'm not alone in the no-name camp!!

Right there with you brother....I refer to mine as The Duff and The Vessel.

[Doug Brock]

So I've never named my instruments - no real reason behind it, just never really did. I just call them by what they are - the Gibson, the Newson, the 5 string Mann, the 8 string Mann etc. My girlfriend is adamant that I should be naming them - I'm fairly stubborn in my "I don't care" opinion haha.

It got me thinking though - how many of you all have named your mandolins?

If you have named yours - what's the name and why?

Even though I thought "Lucille" and "Trigger" and other names for mythic instruments was cool, I've never named my instruments. To me it would just be another layer of confusion. If I say, "Goldie" in reference to my D18GE, then folks wouldn't generally know which instrument I was talking about. If I say, "The D18GE," I need explain no further. Hmmm, I sort of like "Goldie" for the D18GE. I may have to reconsider my philosophy.

[Khatarlan]

When I got Scarlett she came to me already named... and I saw no reason to change that.
I also suspect that many of the Weber mandolins done in 'Scarlet Fire' wind up with some variant of 'Scarlet' in the name...