I Bought A Mandolin Yesterday

[ProfessorGAC]

Yeah i posted this in the musician's group, but i'm sitting in a hotel room in a small town in Ontario, so i'm posting it here to! So sue me.

Full Disclosure: I have all my guitars hung on the wall. Two reasons:

First it looks really cool!

Secondly, i have 11 of them and i know myself. If i had one out and the rest in the cases, i would never have the ambition to pull others out of the case. So, i'd have 11 guitars and only play one, probably until a string broke. (I think we've already established that i'm too lazy to change a string immediately.)

Well, there's this one space on the wall with nothing on it. No painting, no guitars, no amp against the wall, no piano, no nothing! So, i figure in his skinny spot a mandolin would look really cool.

Anyway, i got a pretty good bonus for 2006 and i took a little slice of it and went to buy a mandolin. I thought it would be fun to have a different acoustic instrument to go with the four guitars. Since they're all tuned differently, having the mandolin tuned in 5ths would be five acoustic instruments in five different tunings.

So, i try out this inexpensive Fender in a "mando-pak". OYG! What a piece of crap! The tuning pegs were so cheap that 3 of the 8 had worms so loose you couldn't control the tuning of the string. Then, once i get it in tune, (which took 20 minutes!), the 2nd string would only play in tune to the second fret! No exagerration, by the third fret the two strings were so out of tune with one another it was unplayable. The neck had to be twisted or had a lump under the fingerboard.

So, i try an even cheaper Hondo! "BIG MISTAKE ALERT" The thing had more rattles in it than it had strings.

So, i play this Yamaha which is about at my upper limit of what i was willing to spend. It played ok, but i thought it lacked any richness of tone.

So finally, i play this Ovation. Yeah, it's pricey, but you guys know me! So, i get it out of the locked case and played it in a separate room. I loved it!

I walk out and tell the guy, "What can we do on this?" He does some number crunching and, near as i can figure, wanting to get rid of the inventory of this expensive mandolin, he gives me an OUT THE DOOR PRICE OF 57% OF LIST! Yeah, out the door. Taxes included. 43% off. So, i end up spending about what i thought i would spend for the Yamaha, which was about my upper theoretical limit. But, i got a superb instrument.

And, on top of all this, it's the Adamas style, so it looks REALLY cool hanging on the wall.

Mission Accomplished.

The Professor

BTW: Yeah, i can already play Battle for Evermore, Day by Day (The Hooters), and the theme from the Godfather.

[hippywife]

1. Absolutelty love the mando!

It really is my favorite instrument. Fan of Sam Bush?

[ProfessorGAC]

3. Not Really

Just wanted to have one. Sometimes one cannot explain the cravings of a musician and the need for more toys. Mark O'Connor is the biggest name in virtuoso mandolin i know.
The Professor

[hippywife]

7. I usually think of

Mark O'Connor as a fiddle virtuoso. Not sure I've ever heard/seen him play mando.

It really is the one instrument that can add that extra sparkle to a really good song for me. Give it that extra ethereal something.

[ProfessorGAC]

8. Fiddle Is What He Did As A Kid

He won those fiddle competitions as a kid. Then he changed to a flatpick guitar player and started stunning everyone at that. Then, at the urging of Ricky Skaggs, he started recorded with his band on mandolin. I saw an article in Guitar Player where Ricky said "I wish i never suggested that to him!"

The Professor

[ghostsofgiants]

2. Awesome.

My grandfather plays mandolin. Always wanted him to teach me, just so I can play "Drunken Lullabies" by Flogging Molly.

[ProfessorGAC]

5. It's Pretty Darned Easy

I mean if you already know guitar, and if you understand fundamentals (it's tuned to 5ths like a violin), it's pretty easy to be competent. I have already learned 15 chords and i bought it at 1pm yesterday, and left the house at 7 this morning for the airport.

But, if you decide to get one, buy used. The new cheap ones, as i said, are pretty much crap.
The Professor

[supernova]

4. You must play Lara's Theme from Dr Zhivago

:D

I love the sound of mandolins. My grandmother played one.

[ProfessorGAC]

6. Yeah. I Do Have To Learn Some Of The Cheesy Mandolin Stuff

There's nothing wrong with a little cheese.
The Professor

[GOPisEvil]

9. One of my all-time favorite local bands features the mandolin.

One of the guys in the band is Max Johnston who was in the last incarnation of Uncle Tupelo and the first generation of Wilco. He's one of the mandonliniers.

Sounds like you scored a great deal. :thumbsup:

[ProfessorGAC]

11. Boy It Looks Good Hanging There

My wife gave her approval as well, so i'm clean on that.
The Professor

[djeseru]

15. Haha!

You said "scored." ;)

:hug:

[GOPisEvil]

16. Are you threatening me?

/Beavis

:hug::*

[ProfessorGAC]

17. Quit Trying To Hijack My Mandolin Thread

The last thing you want is for one of my instruments to get mad at you! You wouldn't like them where they're angry.
The Professor

[GOPisEvil]

18. Yeah, I hear they have points!

:scared:

[ProfessorGAC]

21. Well, That Does It

Now, the electrics are mad! I'm 600 miles away, and i can tell. I hope you're happy!
The Professor

[GOPisEvil]

23. Well...if they're already mad...

[djeseru]

19. I found that threats work better.

Just give me what I want and no one gets hurt. :P




Sorry about the threadjacking ProfessorGAC.

[Karenina]

10. Bela Fleck

[ProfessorGAC]

13. I Thought He Did Banjo!

Mandolin Too?
The Professor

[Karenina]

22. Just talkin' concept and technique

;-) For the Mandolin folks, go here:
http://mandozine.com/index.php/greats/index.php

[ProfessorGAC]

26. Now I Get It

Well, it won't become my main instrument or anything, but i have a really attractive wall hanging that i can take down and play. Can't play a painting! (We do have three paintings in the room too, so it's not just guitars on the wall. My wife could only take so much.)
The Professor

[TrogL]

12. Let's hear "Smoke on the Water"

played like Nash the Slash (see other thread)

[ProfessorGAC]

14. That's A Weird Enough Idea For Me To Actually Do It

I don't hear the most normal things in my head, musically. Now, you've started something. Happy now?
The Professor

[RetroLounge]

20. Check out these guys!

http://www.milmando.org/



RL

[ProfessorGAC]

25. Wow. Those Folks Are INTO IT!

I listened to half a dozen clips, too. They're interesting.
The Professor

[RetroLounge]

35. Yeah a friend of mine plays with them...

Hardcore...

RL

[leftofthedial]

24. isn't that one of those french gizmos

that makes juliennes?

[ProfessorGAC]

27. Hey, Anything Will Make Juliennes. . .

. . .if you're willing to break what you're using. Throw a potato really hard at the strings, and voila! Now, the instrument might not survive, but you would have those julienned potatoes.
The Professor

[leftofthedial]

29. hot freedom-fried licks coming up

now you can spend even more time tuning!

[oneighty]

28. Vivaldi

Concerto for Mandolin and Orchestra.

I just put it on can you hear it?

180

[ProfessorGAC]

30. No. Turn It Up

I'm 90 miles north of Toronto, tonight. Face the speakers that way!
The Professor

[oneighty]

31. Close I am near Buffalo

Recently became interested in Vivaldi. The Mandolin pieces kinda grow on one.

My uncle down in Alabama long ago made Banjos and Violins. I do not know about Mandolin.

180

[ProfessorGAC]

32. Really? In Buffalo

I used to fly in and out of there to get where i'm at today. But, the fare schedules changed to make more sense. When i flew in and out of your town, i could do it for $180, but in and out of Toronto would be $800! Then, the rental cars are cheaper out of your airport. Now, the fare is essentially the same. So, i save the extra driving time by flying right into Pearson.

Geez, i am almost close enough to hear it.
The Professor

[oneighty]

33. Check your PM

180 is a good dollar amount. Hee hee

180

[Chemical Bill]

34. I've always wanted a mandolin...

but I only have three guitars, so I have some catching up to do. Thanks for the buying tips.

I also want a sailboat named the Amanda Lynn. What do you think?

Bill

[6000eliot]

36. Do the mandolins have fiberglass bodies?

I never liked the sound of Ovation guitars because of that. Also, in standard tuning, are mandolin chords much different from guitar chords? Two more songs: "Holiday Inn" by Elton John and "Mandolin Wind" by Rod Stewart.

[ProfessorGAC]

37. Yes & Yes

Normally i'd agree with you about Ovation. I think they are a little harsh in the upper mid. But, the Adamas design with the sets of various sizes projection holes made that a lot different than standard Ovation designs.

Also, because mandolins are so thin anyway, it seems this is even less an issue. So, the combination of the design of the top and the basic dimensions of mandolin make this a non-issue.

Yes, in standard tuning the chords are not at all related to guitar. The instrument is tuned in fifths, low to high. C - G - D - A. So, the "fret to next string" relationship is at two frets off plus, remember that a guitar has the 3rd to 2nd string relationship of a major 3rd. So all the intervals on the guitar aren't the same, and on the mandolin they are. So, it's a whole new ballgame.

But, my four acoustics are all tuned differently so i'm sort of into learning different fingerings for the same chord. So, this is just more of the same.
The Professor