My family

[Sellars]

nothing like a nice family picture

[Sellars]

Sorry, wrong angle

[wannabethile]

what the heck is that 3 stringed instrument in that picture?

[mandoJeremy]

Russia Baliaka or however you spell it! I played one once and it was fun to say the least.

[Lee]

Whats the mini-guitar bodied one? Kinda looks like a Crafter, but I don't think so.

And where's the couch? I realize sofa, couch, and davenport are regional names but, around here, yours isn't long enough to be a couch.

[mrmando]

The Fender SB-4 is the one that gets me. You lucky dog, you!

Those Crafters are also sold under the Tyler Mountain and Dillion brands. What's yours say?

[Sellars]

Hi all!

Thanks for the replies.

The tiangular thing is indeed a balalaika. Its a nice toy. I use it to play dulcimer tunes a lot, because it sounds pretty nice using tose nylon strings as drones and the metal string as a melody string.

The guitar-shaped mando is my girlfriends Crafter. It sounds really well, only it plays pretty heavy

The Fender is just a dream! Its playability is superb. It has a relatively low action. When you play it unplugged (which I do a lot to save the neighbours' ears) you can hear it has a good tone, and you can feel the nice and sturdy vibrations of the solid wood. One downer, however, is that the pick up does not do it very much good. It is a cheapish and harsch sounding sound. I am planning for quite a while now to replace it with a ryder pickup.

The other Fender (the 8 string) is not really my cup of tea. Although it is a good mando, it has the same issues with the PU. Furthermore, the tuners aren't all that. (PLUG: It will be for sale pretty soon, If someone is interested, let me know).

Further on the picture: my new (old) manuel velasco mandolin. This piece is simply stunning! It is loud, complex, woody. The only downer is that its action is a little too high, so I'll have to work on that.


The two-pointer is my first mando. It is a Samick with a solid top. It is a nice mando, and it is especially strong in the high tones. The basses, however, aren't that good. I think this is common in cheap instruments.

To conclude, my ukulele and baglama are featured on the picture. The uke is a near-toy like instrument, but it is fun to play with. The baglama is a relatively good baglama, and has a very aggressive focussed sound. It is greak for greek music, and Irish music.

[mandroid]

I refitted my FM61se with an EMG strat stacked humbucker [$20 at stewmac] in same order got more parts, a dual pot so both are on the same shaft, some plastic for another pickguard, black this time, and a jack, & disc capacitor .. running thru my 8w vibrochamp with treble rolled off a bit the tone is decently jazzy.

[Sellars]

Thanks for the tip! could you post a picture of your Fender after the surgery?

[Unseen122]

What tuning is a Balalika?

[Sellars]

I tuned mine EEA, so 2 nylon drone strings tuned in unison, and a metal A string as melody string.