No arm rest, no pickguard, no toneguard.
No arm rest, no pickguard, no toneguard.
I use armrests to keep my arm off the sharp edge of the instrument and believe they alleviated tingling/numbness from the elbow down on my right arm.
Russ Jordan
If you decide to use an arm rest, be sure to scrape off the imitation cork from the bracket and replace it with a thin strip of leather in order to protect the finish.
2021 The Loar LM700 VS
Have an armrest inbound from Northfield. Thanks for the input!
"I actually wanted to be a drummer, but I didn't have any drums." - Stevie Ray Vaughn
Northfield F5S "Blacktop", K&K Pickup
Yes
aka: Spencer
Silverangel Econo A #429
Soliver #001 Hand Crafted Pancake
Soliver Hand Crafted Mandolins and Mandolin Armrests
Armrests Here -- Mandolins Here
"You can never cross the ocean unless you have the courage
to lose sight of the shore, ...and also a boat with no holes in it.” -anonymous
Helps me keep my hand away from the bridge.
You might consider an alternative to the very fine McClung armrests, and you might consider Steve Smith at Cumberland Acoustic.
I like them because they are slimmer, sleeker and don't take up a lot of room on my mando's top. Yet still serve the same function.
https://cumberlandacoustic.com/product/armrests/
Chris Cravens
Girouard A5
Montana Flatiron A-Jr.
Passernig Mandola
Leo Posch D-18
I used one for a while, but it just seemed to crease my forearm in a slightly different spot than than the edge of the mandolin did. Not really an improvement. I finally nixed it because the clamp was causing some finish damage (which my forearm never has). YMMV
Mitch Russell
I love them. Never had one till I bought the Collings MT that came with one, now I have one on all of my mandolins. Keeps the edge of the mandolin from cutting into my arm, so it's a comfort thing, not positioning or finish protection. However, it probably helps with resonation of the top by keeping my arm off it, but my reason is comfort. Everything else is gravy!
Yup, same here. Armrests on both of my F-style mandolins, in addition to pickguards and ToneGards. Keep my body parts from deadening the instrument. To my ears it works.
And I do like that these instruments are pretty protected too. Doesn't keep them in like-new shape, but it helps.
-- Don
"Music: A minor auditory irritation occasionally characterized as pleasant."
"It is a lot more fun to make music than it is to argue about it."
2002 Gibson F-9
2016 MK LFSTB
1975 Suzuki taterbug (plus many other noisemakers)
[About how I tune my mandolins]
[Our recent arrival]
I only put one on my old Flatiron a year or so ago, after I already had cracks and fogging showing up in the finish. Turns out I was damping the top all those years and now I have a tiny bit more volume, as well. Only took a week to get used to it. I'm way past the point where resale value is important to me after all the money I've put into improvements, but this was one of the cheapest and easiest I've ever done.
Steve Lavelle
'93 Flatiron Performer F
Customized Eastwood Mandocaster (8str)
Another sharp edge binding reason here , rounded edge Mix A5 no problem ..
writing about music
is like dancing,
about architecture
"Flow, river flow. Let your waters wash down, take me from this road, to some other town." - Roger McGuinn
I have bought or made arm rests for every banjo, mando family instrument and guitar I have except for my new HD-28. I find a nice smooth arm rest is much more comfortable than the instrument's edge. It also helps to keep my arm from dampening the soundboard.
Sound/tone is first. Playability second. Looks is far down the line, for me.
Now that the summer outdoor season is upon us, I bought a pair of those wrist sweat bands that basketball players use. I got the idea after a sweaty, 2-hour farmers market gig last summer, and just today remembered to buy a pair. Where I live, congregate housing and farmers markets are still doing gigs, outdoors. They require social distancing and some people wear masks.
At $5.99 a pair the wrist bands are cheaper than a wooden arm rest. The right arm band is positioned to sit on the edge of the mandolin to protect it from the sweaty arm.
I treat arm rests like pick guards. If the original instrument as designed has one, I keep it on. If it doesn't, I don't add one.
Some of the arm rests are such beautiful pieces of art I worry about wear and tear on their surface.
David Hopkins
2001 Gibson F-5L mandolin
Breedlove Legacy FF mandolin; Breedlove Quartz FF mandolin
Gibson F-4 mandolin (1916); Blevins f-style Octave mandolin, 2018
McCormick Oval Sound Hole "Reinhardt" Mandolin
McCormick Solid Body F-Style Electric Mandolin; Slingerland Songster Guitar (c. 1939)
The older I get, the less tolerant I am of political correctness, incompetence and stupidity.
well, when I opened this thread I was going to reply, "no". I am a minimalist in most everything I do or own. I don't like any "add on". I am a cyclist (bicycle) and I have a few friends who have every electronic gadget that comes out. the handlebars are all cluttered and imo, they miss the beauty of the ride because they are always pushing this or that or checking this or that. I just ride-don't care how fast or how far I've went-my body tells me all I need to know.
instruments, I like bare bones as possible-typically don't even like anything thru the post bridge strings-unless its outright necessary. but.......
a few months ago I was playing my banjo(clawhammer) and Tom Collins was doing this "check in" on your elbow/forearm movement. he does indepth video/discussions on this sort of thing and has always had a forearm rest on his banjo. I noticed how his forearm appeared to lever off from the rest on his banjo and how that put his picking hand in a more relaxed inward natural position. rather than how I was coming pretty much straight down in a lateral position. hummm.
I had a brand new cocobolo rest in the hardshell case(another thing I don't use) in the instrument hardshell case graveyard-er, closet. this was a Nechville and Tom Nechville has a real easy noninvasive design that attaches to some of the metal work on his banjos. put it on, and i'll be dang, it did in fact feel better and position my arm better so that my hand moved inward to picking position better. I honestly don't care for the way it looks sitting there on the top edge of my banjo, but I've long forgot about that and I do like what it does, so that's the realist section of me.
I plant my palm on my mandolin bridge, a lot. in fact I have to watch at times as i'll move forward and mute my strings. this mandolin arm rest might be something I will investigate further. don't want it for looks or finish protection, but only for improvement to my picking hand position.
humm
d
Thanks Doug, I received the armrest from you the other day.
I decided to try one to keep my forearm sweat off the top of my mandolin. But from the playing perspective I like how it is keeping my hand mostly off the bridge. I was getting annoyed with rubbing against the sharp edges of the bridge and this seems eliminate most of that.
Jim
Another YES! here. I recently refurbished a mando I built back in the 80s and sold to a friend. Over the course of a decade or so he had worn right through the nitro on the top at the spot where his forearm crossed the edge. I made McClung style ones for two of my mandolins. What I like about them is that they make it easy to get your arm up over the top of the instrument and keep your pick centered over the sweetspot at the end of the fretboard. Also just so much more comfortable.
You do have to be careful of the finish. I put suede on the bracket surfaces for mine. Getting them tight enough that it won't slip around without marring the finish is a balancing act. Since they are my personal instruments which I don't plan on selling, the arm rests will be staying on them, and I'm not worried about the underlying finish.
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