Any Mandolin Players???

[Platefire]

 I've had a on/off relation with my mandolin playing the last 20+ years. Right now it's on:>) First one I bought was an old Kay arch top Venetian style has Birdseye Maple back, sides, neck and Spruce top. This mandolin I sent off to Luther Paul Hill and he re-worked the frets, installed a new bridge and set it up. This one has a nice ring to it with plenty of volume.

I latter bought a new cheap  A style GuitarWorks one. They buy Chinese instruments, set them up and put the GuitarWorks name on them. Much to my disappointment the top started caving in underneath the bridge but what can you expect for $150 with case. It's still playable somewhat with the bridge raised as high as it will go to compensate for the dropped down top. Has a lot mellower tone than the Kay.

Somehow when I play a mando I tend to go in a Bluegrass direction. The mando makes me think of the Smoky Mountains and Mountain music

[rake]

Play one? Not really! LOL!
I did build a solid body electric mandolin back in the early 90's though.
Learned just enough to do a few REM songs.

[Platefire]

You must of been drawn to Mandolin a bit to make one. I don't even know who REM is? Of course, I'm way old school, so that may be it

[rake]

REM A southern jug rock alternative band formed at the University of Georgia

[Platefire]

OK, Thanks! Now I know. About the video. A couple of mis-conceptions of Angles is nowhere in the Bible is it mentioned Angles having wings and also no Female angles mentioned I didn't realize that to only recently myself

[SEL49]

When I think of mandolin, two names always pop up...

[Willabe]

I bought a Veillette Avante Gryphon 12 string that's tuned to the 10th fret on a guitar, so 1 whole step lower than an octave guitar. So it sounds a lot like a mando. Very chimmy, and loud! I love it. Play it like a guitar, no new fingering to learn. The necks a little wide, but it's manageable.

Veillette Avante Gryphon 12-string - Tobacco Burst New | Gruhn Guitars

i=6xWvYufKUT4nwAgU

Go to 1:46 for the playing demo;

i=VZgKUIBQJB0OWGiH&t=105

[Rontone]

Somehow when I play a mando I tend to go in a Bluegrass direction.

wait a second... your telling me theres other ways to play it 

[Platefire]

SEL49
 Yelp! Rickey is top dog when it comes to Blue Grass Mandolin, no doubt. I never got to see Ricky in person but got to see his inspiration Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys twice. Sings high and plays fast:>)

Willabe
The High Tuned 12 Strings sounds great. I didn't know such a thing existed. I was thinking watching the video, sometimes sounds like two guitars playing. Sounds mighty full and nice ring to it.

Rontone
I hear tell there are other ways to play it, but I didn't believe it

[bmccowan]

I saw Ricky Skaggs and Ry Cooder play with Sharon White about 10 years ago. Was a fantastic night of gospel and bluegrass.
Bluegrass festival season will be firing up soon. Lots of great younger players out there. No drummers to bitch at so they have to keep telling the banjo player to tone it down!

[Platefire]

This is my old Kay Venetian and the GuitarWorks A style

[Platefire]

Was in Shreveport La this week and  stopped by the Guitar Center. I was wanting to lay hands on a good quality Mando just to see what it feels/sounds like as compared to mine:>). They had a "The Loar" A style($200+), F style($400+ and had 2 Rogues styles($100).

The Loar A style was ok and the Loar F had a bad string buzz. The 2 Rogues was way up on the wall out of my reach.Seems like they would put cheap Rogues on the bottom within reach and put the more expensive Loars up high?They were out of tune, not set up and I didn't hang around long>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

[rake]

The Rogues were where they belong. Wall hangars.
The Rogue guitars I've seen in the shop were about two to three steps below an Esteban! 

[Platefire]

One thing it did! Made me appreciate what I already have better

I have an electric that is identical to other Rogue strat copies I've seen except the name on it is Behringer I Axe 393.I upgraded the wiring, string trees and pickups. Works pretty good
 

[Platefire]

I did record the Kay Mando about 15 years ago on this song. The Mando part is located from 2:30 to 3:13
https://soundcloud.com/connie-and-bob-scott/23-beulah-land

[rake]

One thing it did! Made me appreciate what I already have better

I have an electric that is identical to other Rogue strat copies I've seen except the name on it is Behringer I Axe 393.I upgraded the wiring, string trees and pickups. Works pretty good

The headstock reminds me of the old Hondo brand. Most low dollar imports can benefit greatly from upgraded electronics and quality components. Even Alpha pots are a huge upgrade! I have a couple "pro" customers that actually prefer Alpha over CTS.

[scstill]

inspiration to dig out my Mando
years ago I used to listen to Tone Poems a lot

for some reason there is just music no video.
What's awesome is Grisman and Rice played these incredible rare instruments on this album
verbally described as well, would be nice to see the instruments

[scstill]

Almost forgot
Some time ago I acquired two bowlbacks and a case
They needed repair which I did at these links.
The stave repair is still open and stumping me as to how to glue
Lately been trying a inflatable bladder just have not executed on it yet. Thoughts?
https://stillampd.com/mandolin
https://stillampd.com/mandolin-bowlback-stave-repair
https://stillampd.com/mandoline-case-repair

[scstill]

I have a F style/hole Johnson That plays pretty well
But its currently buried in the bowels of the poltergeist closet

[Platefire]

rake
I was referring to the Rogue Rocketeer shown below. Even though it has a humbucker bridge position, only two control knobs(different from mine), the body shape, pick-guard shape and head stock shape are identical to my Behringer. Just goes to show on these budget guitars in a lot of cases they sell pretty much the same guitar with different brand names.

[Willabe]

Just goes to show on these budget guitars in a lot of cases they sell pretty much the same guitar with different brand names.

Valco. 

[Platefire]

scstill
Yes it would have been nice if the video was available with the audio. It would be nice to see all those rare instruments as they brought them out and played them. Never the less it's pretty interesting just hearing the difference between all those vintage rare instruments. I'm not to familiar with David Grisman and Tony Rice but they have great command of their playing. Seems like nearly all those instruments had a pretty mellow tone and not overly bright--which is a good thing IMHO

I checked out you mando repair. Looks like some pretty precise work your doing there! How does those bowlbacks sound compared to standard mandolins?

One thing I like about a mandolin other than the sound is they are so small and very convenient to lay around nearby and not take up much space handy to just grab up and rattle off some music at the drop of a hat. So you better drag out you Johnson F style out of that hole before something bad happens to it

[scstill]

Bowlbacks do sound good. But we are talking about 100++ year old wood. And that wood is beautiful.
Most instruments that old sound good.

These are made by Weymann which was one of the best in the day.

To me bowlbacks are hard to hold.
Kinda like playing an Ovation guitar. But then I don't play mando very much.

Been looking for original end piece cover for years.

[rake]

It's amazing how little the bowl backs are worth considering the workmanship required to make them!
F & A style models sell for a whole lot more!

Don't know if you guys saw this back from the dead shop project of mine?
https://el34world.com/Forum/index.php?topic=29793.0

[Platefire]

That's a mighty fine looking repair work rake and scstill on the mandolins. Since there is some folks with experience in the house,I got a question about my GuitarWorks A mandolin. First of all this is a cheap one and isn't worth a whole lot of anybody's time. It was $150 new with a pretty nice case. So IMHO it would be in my best interest to put my money in a better quality mandolin and give this one to Good will or chunk it.

So the top under the bridge and back of sound hole is collapsed I would guess 1/4". Apparently the top wasn't properly braced. If you look at the attached picture you might can see it. The bridge adjustment is all the way up. Right now it's still pretty playable but if the top drops anymore, the strings will be right on top of the frets, fretting out.

So in very general simple terms, what would have to be done to fix that----just to satisfy my wondering about it:>)
 

[rake]

Without having the "patient" here in front of me this is just a guestimation.
For the price I doubt it's a carved top, most likely braced heat pressed plywood.
Either way, repairs in the box require the back to be removed. Broken brace?
Warped brace? Improperly braced? Either way a labor intensive repair.

[Platefire]

  That's about what I figured except I was thinking the top would have to come off. I shinned a light in the sound hole back toward where the bridge sits and I couldn't see any bracing. The top is flat except where it has collapsed. It looks like the back is arched a little. I guess I'll continue  banging around on it since it's still playing pretty fair for the shape it's in. I'll keep my eyes open for a good deal on a better made one in the meantime.  The Kay plays pretty good but the neck is so small and narrow. The GuitarWorks neck is larger and more to my liking.
Thanks, Platefire

[rake]

They're far easier to repair from the back. To get the top off the fretboard would have to come off first.
We need to come up with a bridge doctor for mandolins! 

[scstill]

maybe try this with adaptation to your center hole

[rake]

Seen that "fix" on an old Washburn 30 years ago.
It sounded awful! Plink, plink, plank, plink....... 

That one got the back off.

[Platefire]

Hay thanks for the options to try. I think I'll leave it as is for now. It's still playable and sounds pretty decent. When I do buy one I'm going to move up a little bit. Kentucky and Loar has some pretty decent ones in the 2 to 3 hundred buck range but are made in China which will be at Tariff prices 

[dpm309]

I have a Rogue mandolin that I got for Christmas awhile back and found a set up guide on-line that allowed me to set it up perfectly. Has a pickup also. I used this in a cover band I was in a few years ago. Played it on Losing my Religion and a couple of other songs. Sounded good and got a lot of compliments. I realize that the Rogue mando was a low end instrument but after setting it up, it sounded like a more expensive one.

[Platefire]

I guess I just got a bad one on the GuitarWorks One. It does seem that a lot of folks buy cheap mandolins that the top don't cave in on theirs. Anyway I got the Kay to fall back on to keep my mando chops up:>)

BTW---how did the pickup on your Rogue work out playing live?

[dpm309]

The pickup on the Rogue worked just fine. I plugged it into my pedal board and used a little compression and reverb. One of our gigs was outdoors and everyone said they could hear it just fine. Haven't been playing live for awhile and i really need to brush up on the mandolin. I am now doing an acoustic duo (a lot easier on my ears) and want to work the mandolin into some of our originals.

[Platefire]

Thanks dpm309, think that might be better than trying to get a vocal mic to pick it up sufficiently 

Here is a Country Rock Gospel song I wrote on my Kay Mandolin and featured it for the lead part that I recorded about 20 years ago. Be it known, I know I'm not a singer but when you write a song that requires a vocal and a good singer is not available, you do it yourself. That's why they are called demos entitled "Under This Louisiana Sky"
https://soundcloud.com/connie-and-bob-scott/under-this-lousisana-sky