Sobel Bouzouki questions

[kyblue]

Hubba, hubba.

I just love those Sobells. Would love to have one of his mandos one of these days!

Paula

[clarksavage]

Took my bouzouki up to Paul Hostetter today. He seemed confident that it could be made well again. I am confident he's the man to do it. I'll be back in a few weeks to share the results!

[steve V. johnson]

Congrats, Clark! Now the rehab begins! AwwwRIGHT! Enough talk, now it's really on it's way to health! Woohoooo!

stv

[siren_20]

Way cool, clark... let me know when you get it back, so we can go head to head with our Zouks (my Paul Doyle vs your Sobell...)
See you 'round campus!

[clarksavage]

Yes, stop in, J.T. Paul thought it could be a month ... have you tried my Eric Darnton OM? It is a delightful piece of wood. Come on by (and anyone else who drops by the Cal Poly State University campus in San Luis Obispo) to the computer science dept., ask for me, I almost always have an instrument or two in my office.

[danb]

I understand the glued on bridge is not common for his instruments.

Is that original? I've never seen another like that. I would expect it was added on later? normally there is a brass hoop tailpiece and a floating bridge that looks a bit like a brekke

[Mandobar]

dan, i asked a friend of mine who is a sobell nut, (at any given time he has between 6 and 12 of stefan's instruments around) and he said the early ones did sometimes have "a guitar-like bridge". mine has the brass loop tailpiece, but it is a late 90's specimen.

[clarksavage]

Stefan explained to me he made a few of these "flat tops" - this one made in the mid 80's we figure. He knew the whereabouts of 2 of them, but knew he made a few others that he hadn't tracked. The top isn't really "flat" but has some arch in it (Paul Hostetter noted that he'd be making a special caul to reglue the bridge there to the top and had to match the arch.)

I believe I saw a picture on Stefan's website of a fixed bridge bouzouki a few weeks ago, though I can't find it now... I can get a few more photos up when Paul is finished.

[danb]

Interesting! I had a 10-string of his for a while.. gee, a guy with 6.. that sounds like Joseph?

[clarksavage]

Patience just may be a virtue (wish I could bottle it, though). I told Paul Hostetter to "take your time" and I meant it. He did take his time and did some fine work on my Sobell. I drove up yesterday and had a nice chat (very fine fellow, that Paul) and picked up my (now) very sweet zouk. Paul did things to the nut, saddle, bridge... fixed some cracks and also turned me on to some higher tension strings than I expected (roughly same size as my 21 inch scale instrument on this 25 inch scale instrument). There is another dimension there to be explored.

The sound is really something. Come on over to hear it (I am near San Luis Obispo) - don't think I could capture it or explain it. It is wonderful.

One picture of the happy player -



My fingers are sore.

Clark

[steve V. johnson]

Congratulations, Clark, and thank for the pic! It's cool to see the rest of your mando-pals, too.

OK, so please tell us all about the higher-tension strings, what are they?

Thanks,

stv

[siren_20]

All right Clark! We need to have a battle of the zouks now...
Who's that guy in the picture? You didn't get rid of your Rip Van Winkle beard, did you?

[clarksavage]

Steve - Paul Hostetter put on 45's for the G string, roughly like my 21 inch scale OM, and they work nicely with the higher tension than the bigger strings that came on it. I have the original gauges, they start with 50's. I'm going to try them out just to see the difference. This instrument sounds really, really good.

JT - buddy! Yes, I took off a lot of hair and beard. I began to bicycle and the helmet and all, I wanted to be cooler, temp wise. Things are well up north in SLO.

Clark

[siren_20]

Sweet, dude! I'm back up there next week... we should do zouks at 50 paces!

[steve V. johnson]

Hey Clark,

"Paul Hostetter put on 45's for the G string, roughly like my 21 inch scale OM, and they work nicely with the higher tension than the bigger strings that came on it. #I have the original gauges, they start with 50's."

Most interesting, thanks! #I like high tensions, just for the feel of them, and at one time I went all bonkers trying to compare tensions of various brands' mfr of the same size (gauge) of strings. #I didnt' want to go much larger... #But I gave that tension research up, I think I was chasing will-o-the-wisps...

45 is pretty big, 50 is WAY big! #I think my Crump is a similar length, at 24.5" and I use 42, 32, 20wound, 16.

I wish I could just 'drop by' out there. #I was lusting after getting to play your Darntarnation OM, now THIS... foo. # Don't you -need- to visit Indiana?
Ohio? Kentucky?!?

Wonderful instruments, mon. #Enjoy!

stv