Draleon Royale

[Larry S Sherman]

Vincent: And you know what they call a... a... a mandolin that looks like a cross between a classic jazz archtop

and a Selmer-style gypsy jazz guitar...with Cheese in Paris?

Jules: They don't call it a mando with cheese?

Vincent: No man, they got the Django system. They wouldn't know what a mandolin is.

Jules: Then what do they call it?

Vincent: They call it a Draleon Royale ...with cheese.

Jules: A Royale with cheese. What do they call an F-5?

Vincent: Well, an F-5's a F-5, but they call it Le F-5.

Jules: Le F5. Ha ha ha ha. What do they call a banjo?

Vincent: I dunno, I didn't go into Burger King. But you know what they put on mandolins in Holland instead of

J-74's?

JULES: What?

VINCENT: Flatwound JM-11's

JULES: Get outta here!

VINCENT: I seen 'em do it man!

JULES: Uuccch!

Here are a few pictures of the Royale prototype that I bought from Steve Perry at Gianna Violins.

[Larry S Sherman]

Here's an attempt to post a picture...

[Larry S Sherman]

The label...

[Larry S Sherman]

End view...

[Larry S Sherman]

Another view...

[Larry S Sherman]

Top view...

[Larry S Sherman]

Headstock...

[Larry S Sherman]

Back of the neck (and my Wife's flowers)...

[Larry S Sherman]

And the back...

[Larry S Sherman]

I haven't had enough time to give you a good review yet. Steve did a bit of Voodoo before he sent it my way. He replaced the nut with bone, and added a Husky fossil walrus bridge top.

I lowered the action and put on a set of Ted's JM-11 Jazzmando strings-my new favorite.

Here are some first impressions:

1. Excellent fit and finish

2. Neck is kinda thick

3. The tuners will have to be replaced...not very good at all

4. Good intonation right up the neck

5. No position markers on the fretboard, only on the side of the neck.

6. A++ in the design department...what could be cooler than this shape?

It sounds great so far...nice jazz sound and it gets the bandolim sound I was hoping for with a Wegen 150 (which is good because I can't find a bandolim anywhere).

Don't get me wrong...my Michael Terris F-5 is still my main instrument...but now I have a really fun backup mando. And finally get to experience the oval hole sound.

Larry

[Brad Weiss]

First: Dig the Pulp Mando send up. Then: Ever had a chance to play a Djangolin? Just wonder how they compare- I had a Djangolin with the D-hole (Maccaferri style, I suppose) and I did think it had a cool sound for choro- big, ringing tone with plenty of sustain.

It's a beaut!

[JEStanek]

Hopefully Gordon will address the tuner concerns in production models. No one can complain about the headstock logo... Maybe you could pop some black electrical tape on it anyway...

Thanks for the photos. It sure is a handsome mandolin.

Jamie

I've been thinking of building one of those IV kits and inlaying a piece of plastic so it looks like electrician's tape. Figured I'd get ahead of the situation.

[halfamind]

That is just beautiful Larry... my MAS is getting unbearable... get the Gimp!

Gordon told me that he's doing something quite different from the norm on the production models' headstock logo... I'll let him give away the secret...

[J. Mark Lane]

Damn, that's gorgeous! I don't even play jazz or gypsy or whatever the hell people are supposed to play on those things, but I still want one. Anyone know where these can be sampled?

[MandoGordon]

So there we were. It was the week of IBMA in Nashville a couple of years back and we were eating breakfast at that diner place just off Music Row when I turned to my wife and first proposed this new venture.........

# # # # # # GORDON
No, forget it, it's too risky. #I'm
through doin' that makin’ F-5 copies “stuff”.

GORDON”S WIFE
You always say that, the same thing
every time: never again, I'm
through, too dangerous.

# # # # # #GORDON
I know that's what I always say.
I'm always right too, but --

# # # # #GORDON”S WIFE
-- but you forget about it in a day
or two --

# # # # # #GORDON
-- yeah, well, the days of me
forgittin' are over, and the days
of me rememberin' have just begun.

# # # # #GORDON”S WIFE
When you go on like this, you know
what you sound like?

# # # # # #GORDON
I sound like a sensible mando makin’
man, is what I sound like.

# # # # # GORDON”S WIFE
You sound like a duck.
(imitates a duck)
Quack, quack, quack, quack, quack,
quack, quack...

# # # # # # GORDON
Well take heart, 'cause you're
never gonna hafta hear it again.
Because since I'm never gonna do it
again, you're never gonna hafta
hear me quack about how I'm never
gonna do it again.

# # # # # GORDON’S WIFE
So you don't want to be another
Pac rim scroll robber?

# # # # # # #GORDON
Naw, all those guys are goin' down
the same road.

# # # # # #GORDON”S WIFE
And no more F-styles?

# # # # # # #GORDON
What have we been talking about?
Yeah, no more strap hangers.
Besides, it ain't the giggle it
usta be. #Too many foreigners
makin ‘em.

# # # # # # #GORDON”S WIFE
Well, what else is there, day jobs?

# # # # # # # #GORDON
(laughing)
Not in this life.

# # # # # # #GORDON”S WIFE
Well what then?

# # # # # # # # GORDON
What about making something different for a change?
Maybe something Frenchy looking, something that the hip jazzers could play?

# # # # # # # # GORDON”S WIFE
What, here in a coffee shop?

# # # # # # # # #GORDON
Nah, those guys only play in Italian restaurants.
# # # # #
# #
The Young Woman visibly takes in the idea. #Gordon
continues in a low voice.

# # # # # # # # #GORDON
See, I got the idea last liquor
store we stuck up. #'Member all
those customers kept comin' in?

# # # # # # # #GORDON”S WIFE
Yeah.

# # # # # # # # # GORDON
You got the idea to take
everybody's wallet.

# # # # # # # # GORDON”S WIFE
Uh-huh.

# # # # # # # # # GORDON
That was a good idea. We can use that money to start
up a new company making really interesting and different
stuff.

# # # # # # # # GORDON”S WIFE # # # # # # # # # # # # #
(into it)
I'm ready, let's go, right here,
right now.

# # # # # # # # # # GORDON
Remember, same as before, you're
crowd control, I handle the
employees.

# # # # # # # # #GORDON”S WIFE
#Got it.

#I love you, Pumpkin.

# # # # # # # # # # #GORDON
#I love you, Honey Bunny.

And that’s exactly how Draleon Custom Instruments came to be.

Gordon
ps. Sorry, I couldn't resist.

[halfamind]

HAH!!!!!!! Now I've gotta clean diet pepsi offa my powerbook...

too damn funny!

[DryBones]

where did the name Draleon come from?

[MandoGordon]

Draleon is an eastern european word for dragon. We thought it was auspicious since it is a romany gypsy word, it has a china connection since the dragon is china's national symbol where my partner is from, it has leo in the middle which is a lion, the national symbol of England where I am from and it contains the first two letters of his name al for Alex and the last two letters of mine Gordon. I get a kick out of this kind of wordplay, I was an english major.

Larry is right about the tuners, they will be upgraded on the production models and as soon as I have them I will be sending him a set. Put up with those for a few weeks Larry. Steve at Gianna will be getting a couple more of these in about two weeks and then you will start to see the real thing popping up elsewhere in about a month or two.

Glad you like it, next thing will be to move the family into a caravan.
Gordon

[Ted Eschliman]

GORDON: I was terrified. But I pressed on. And as I made my way past the row of F5 cases, a strange calm came over me. I don't know if it was divine intervention or the kinship of all living things, but I tell you, Jerry, at that moment, I was a Mandolin Mogul.

[ELAINE arrives.]

ELAINE: Gordon, I've just been reading this thing in the Mandolin Cafe. It's unbelievable.

GORDON: I know, I was just telling them the story.

KRAMER: Come on, Gordon, finish the story.

GORDON: The NAMM floor was angry that day, my friends, [pause] like an old man trying to send back soup in a deli. I got about 50 feet inside and, suddenly, Django stood before me. I tell you, he was 10 stories high if he was a foot. As if sensing my presence, he let out a great 4 octave percussive arpeggio. I said, "Easy, big fella!" And then, as I watched him struggling, I realized something was rattling in his instrument. From where I was standing, I could see directly into the soundhole of the great Ukulele.

JERRY: Mandolin.

GORDON: Whatever.

KRAMER: Then, what did you do next?

GORDON: Then, from out of nowhere, a huge notion lifted me, tossed me like a cork, and I found myself right beside him face to face with the Petit Bouche hole! I could barely see through the strings, but I knew something was there. So I reached my hand in [reaches into his coat], felt around, and pulled out the obstruction. [Pulls out his hand, then shows a Tri-cornered pick.]

KRAMER: Is that a Wegen?

GORDON: [Nods.]

KRAMER: A hole in one, huh?

[B. T. Walker]

GORDON:...I could see directly into the soundhole of the great Ukulele.

JERRY: Mandolin.

GORDON: Whatever.

Now that nearly made me spew coffee.

[MandoGordon]

Was that uke a "Big Kahuna"?
Gordon
ps. This conversation must be a little puzzling to those normal people out there that haven't memorised the entire dialog of Pulp Fiction/Seinfeld etc. Apologies from the grown up versions of those wierdoes that sat at the far table at high school lunch laughing too loud and playing with their Star War dolls. AV rules!

[JEStanek]

Mercy! Funny Dennis Miller-esque references and J. Mark Lane drooling over a PACRIMM import all in the same thread!

I need a powder!

Jamie

[halfamind]

I had to read the opening of this thread to my wife, first thing this morning. When we were first dating I took her to see Pulp Fiction... we went back to see it 5 more times before it left the theatre... I knew I'd found a soulmate... a deeply weird soulmate... #

Over the years we also found that in most every day there was a situation that demanded a PF quote (which made our "unenlightened" friends nuts... philistines).

...as far as the star wars dolls "my name's Paul, and that's between ya'll".

[Jim Garber]

Draleon is an eastern european word for dragon. We thought it was auspicious since it is a romany gypsy word, it has a china connection since the dragon is china's national symbol where my partner is from, it has leo in the middle which is a lion, the national symbol of England where I am from and it contains the first two letters of his name al for Alex and the last two letters of mine Gordon. I get a kick out of this kind of wordplay, I was an english major.

Also, DR is the initials of a famous Gypsy musician who played and made famous this mandolin's ancestral guitar.

Completely irrelevant is that it is also an anagram for LOAR DEN or LEONARD

Jim