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Thread: Gourd mandolin on Shop Goodwill

  1. #1
    Registered User mreidsma's Avatar
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    Default Gourd mandolin on Shop Goodwill

    NFI, but saw this cool looking gourd mandolin (dated, supposedly to 1957, although they don't say how) on ShopGoodwill.com: https://www.shopgoodwill.com/Item/87897853

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  3. #2
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    Default Re: Gourd mandolin on Shop Goodwill

    Very cool, in its way, and well worth the price. You gonna go for it?

  4. #3
    Full Grown and Cussin' brunello97's Avatar
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    Default Re: Gourd mandolin on Shop Goodwill

    Very nice! Tuning might be a little tricky in the current state....

    Mick
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  5. #4
    Registered User mreidsma's Avatar
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    Default Re: Gourd mandolin on Shop Goodwill

    I'm not in the race. I shouldn't even be looking at that site! I have no room for the instruments that need repair as it is! Sigh.

  6. #5
    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: Gourd mandolin on Shop Goodwill

    That is a cool folk-instrument but my guess that it is primarily wall-hanging fodder. I don't believe that a gourd is strong enough to withstand full mandolin tension. Usually you have something like a banjo dowel stick running from the neck through to the tailpiece end. If it stays at that price might be fun to fool around with it but I am not even sure the nine frets it has are even in the right place.
    Jim

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    Default Re: Gourd mandolin on Shop Goodwill

    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Garber View Post
    ….. I am not even sure the nine frets it has are even in the right place.
    I think the utility of frets is greatly exaggerated. Set yourself free, remove the frets altogether, become guided by your ear to play in tune.

  8. #7
    Mando accumulator allenhopkins's Avatar
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    Default Re: Gourd mandolin on Shop Goodwill

    Maybe the bridge alone is worth the price; highest mandolin bridge I've seen...
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  9. #8
    Full Grown and Cussin' brunello97's Avatar
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    Default Re: Gourd mandolin on Shop Goodwill

    I've seen way worse action on many a bowlback.....pairs of nylon strings? Tailpiece is worth 15 clams.
    Back in the early 90s I was one of the founders of the Texas Chapter of the American Gourd Society.
    They still have their obsessive appeal.
    Mick
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    Registered User Peter K's Avatar
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    Default Re: Gourd mandolin on Shop Goodwill

    This is a true story. When I was about 5 years of age, my grandfather decided it was the time for me to learn how to swim. The old Italian way. He tied two large dry gourds to my chest with a piece of old rope, and then he threw me into the crystal clear Mediterranean water. Obviously, the gourds did very little in terms of keeping my head above water, although they themselves were staying afloat just great. The net result was that I had to start swimming without delay. Yup, that was the venerable Italian trick: sink or swim in the true sense of the word.

  11. #10

    Default Re: Gourd mandolin on Shop Goodwill

    Quote Originally Posted by Peter K View Post
    I think the utility of frets is greatly exaggerated. Set yourself free, remove the frets altogether, become guided by your ear to play in tune.
    Frets aren't just for intonation. Frets add volume and sustain. Violins don't need frets because the bow continuously creates sound. Think what violin pizzicato sounds like. That is the sound of no frets.

  12. #11
    Full Grown and Cussin' brunello97's Avatar
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    Default Re: Gourd mandolin on Shop Goodwill

    Quote Originally Posted by Peter K View Post
    This is a true story. When I was about 5 years of age, my grandfather decided it was the time for me to learn how to swim. The old Italian way. He tied two large dry gourds to my chest with a piece of old rope, and then he threw me into the crystal clear Mediterranean water. Obviously, the gourds did very little in terms of keeping my head above water, although they themselves were staying afloat just great. The net result was that I had to start swimming without delay. Yup, that was the venerable Italian trick: sink or swim in the true sense of the word.
    Good story. Sounds like a very Texan swimming education system as well.
    Not to disparage i miei fratelli Italiani, but maybe the gourds weren't quite big enough for the job.
    Argungu Fishing Festival, Nigeria. Those are some gourds.


    Mick
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