Re: Do you take your best or most valuable mandolin to gigs?
We'll get into the tall weeds really quick if I try to differentiate between best and best-sounding. But cost considerations are easier to define. I would never take my most expensive instrument to a gig - not the kinds of places I play and the amount of drinking that audience members undertake there. I just got the blessed F-4 half a year ago, for goodness' sake. I want to take care she doesn't get roughed up. But I will take, with no reservations, either of my plain As. They're seasoned warriors and in no way collectors' items (until I become famous, that is ). Also, they are both modified, with Fishman bridge pickups wired to 1/4" endpin jacks for easy amplification. I doubt I will ever do that to either the F-4 or the A-4, the second-most expensive instrument in my collection - not that they're museum-quality, but I don't think it's right or necessary to cross that line. In any event, I still prefer the sound of the plain As to either of the pricier ones. Burying the lead a bit here, but they are my best-sounding instruments, to my ears, so that's what I'll use. And I am fine with that. So fine.
Maybe someday, if I ever play in a concert setting, acoustically miked, that may be different. It will also help greatly if my luthier can tweak the set-up on the snazzy ones to the point of them sounding as good as the As. I hope so (and I hope the As aren't eavesdropping), as that was a good part of why I shelled out as much for them as I did - looking to sound my best. I did use the F-4 for the lead work on one song on my latest recording project. Safe environment, why not? Besides, I need to justify the expense. Can't just own it and not use it!
But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller
Furthering Mandolin Consciousness
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