Eastman, Gibson, Mowry - Which is it?

[Narayan Kersak]

This was posted in another thread, but it didn't really fit the thread and kind of hijacked it. (My apologies.) I'm always interested to see people's subjective responses to mandolins. Can you tell which mandolin is which from the recordings below, site unseen? (Oh yeah...and if you have time to give a description of why you made the choices you did, I think that might be helpful.)

Here are recordings of two arch tops and one flat top.

Arch Tops Include

Eastman 604
Gibson Master Model A5G

Flat Top
Mowry Two Point

I have not listed them in order, I'd like to see who can match the sound to the instrument??! Sound like fun?

Both files play a selection on one instrument, then the same selection on the second and then the same selection on the third.

The instruments are in the same order on both files.

I just took my mando down to the music shop, comandeered (sp?) two other mandos and lined them up in a line and went through playing the same thing on each.

This was recorded on a Zoom h2 using a proplec heavy pick. The distance from the recorder was the same on all instruments.

The weather was rainy, and 50 degrees. No sun shone this day. My truck did not hydroplane either on the way to Black Mountain, nor on the way back.

I'll post the correct answers Monday or Tuesday of next week to give plenty of folks time.

[Brad Weiss]

1. Eastman

2. Mowry

3. Gibson


Whatever the order, #2 sounds exceptional (to me).

[OldSausage]

That's so difficult, at least for me. No. 3 sounds a lot like my Eastman 515 so I'm going to say that's the Eastman. No. 2 does sound good, it has a lot of natural sustain and reverb, so I'm going to guess that's the Mowry, which means No. 1 would have to be the Gibson.

I fully expect to be completely wrong. I think this is a great idea.

[banJoe]

Hmmm......I'm currious to know what shape of sound hole(s) are on the Mowry. Oval or f? That info. might shape my answer.

[OldSausage]

Ignore this post

[Narayan Kersak]

http://www.mowrystrings.com/misc_gallery.htm

Oval hole.

[roberto]

1. Mowry
2. Gibson
3. Eastman

[Pete Braccio]

Just a guess:

1) Eastman
2) Mowry
3) Gibson

[Narayan Kersak]

(Oh yeah...and if you have time to give a description of why you made the choices you did, I think that might be helpful.)

It would be neat to hear the reasoning.

[Brad Weiss]

I must note: there's a lot of us Mowryophiles here in North Carolina! No. 2 sounds like an oval hole, sustain, and has a lot of complexity, and that's a Mowry for me. No 3 has the bluegrassy chop of a Gibby- so no. 1 must be the Eastman.

[yankees1]

I would like to guess but ------to quote Mark Twain, " I would rather keep my mouth shut and appear stupid, then to open it and remove all doubt"

[SChase@EastmanStrings]

All I know is that #1 is NOT the 604.

It's a toss up between 2 and 3.

[sgarrity]

My post from the previous thread:

Hhmmm......my guess is:

Eastman 604
Mowry Flattop
Gibby A5G

In order of what I thought of the tone:

2
3
1

These excercises are always kinda fun. But one thing to keep in mind is that something is always lost in recordings. Someone did this over on the Martin forum and included a '39 D-18 and a D-18GE. I had played both of those instruments right next to each other and there was a big difference yet on the recording they were darn close. In person the '39 just had this presence taht the GE didn't. But anyway, thanks for going through the effort to put this together!!

[Elliot Luber]

Yes. There's some interesting value in online comparison, but you're also comparing recording techniques, microphone placement, etc. And, of course these are individual instruments. It might be a great Eastman, a so/so Gibson and a poor Mowry, or the exact opposite. There is some value in generalizations. An Oval would be a giveaway.

[Narayan Kersak]

The Eastman and the Mowry are both oval hole. Gibson was F.

[Dave Cowles]

1 Mowry
2. Gibby
3. Eastman

[Mark Gibbs]

I see at least 2 others share my opinion.
1. Mowry
2. Gibson
3. Eastman

[hank]

This is hard. Have you tried it on locals with it live as opposed to recorded? To my ears(listening to rinkidink quarter size laptop speakers) # 3 sounded best on double stop and lead parts with a good bottom end but kind of lousy on chords. #2 sounded nice on chords and seemed to fit the more full/complex end of the three with #1 somewhere between the two. To turn that into the three choices I find particularly tough. Hmmmm???(I got a Great Gibson) Hmmmm???? #1 Eastman, #2 Mowry, #3 Gibson??????

[Brad Weiss]

Oh! I didn't realize the Eastman was an oval hole. Then I'm wrong. Hmmmm

1Gibson
2Mowry
3Eastman

[Bruce Clausen]

Seems like maybe the differences between models are not so great as we often hear on this site. So far, four listeners think #2 is an oval-hole flattop, three think it's an f-hole carved top. Interesting! (And nice playing, Ryan.)

BC

[Narayan Kersak]

Hi Bruce, Thanks for the compliment, for some reason I get nervous and make most my mistakes when I know a recorder is running. Glad I got through all those without too many hiccups.

[Narayan Kersak]

Hi Bruce, Thanks for the compliment, for some reason I get nervous and make most my mistakes when I know a recorder is running. Glad I got through all those without too many hiccups.

I'm waiting to see if Andrew replies to this thread. ; )

As for the recording techniques and what not, The Zoom H2 makes a fairly accurate recording dry. That's why I love that little device. Usually what I hear when recording is what shows up on the recording. All instruments where played 3 feet away from the front mics, with the top facing directly to the Zoom.

[hank]

original quote Yankees1
"I would like to guess but ------to quote Mark Twain, " I would rather keep my mouth shut and appear stupid, then to open it and remove all doubt."" That's no fun. Dive in with the rest of us. Besides stupid can be a relative term(as in compared to not who your kin to).

[OldSausage]

Bear in mind that 1 in 6 people would get this right just by guessing, and you have an even chance of guessing at least one correctly. So, although you won't look stupid if you're wrong, if you're right no-one has to think you're smart.

[Mike Snyder]

1) Mowry
2) Gibson
3) Eastman
So, when do we get the big reveal?