Mandolin

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Do any members play one?  There seems more online sources to find music and TAB notation for more historical music like reels, jigs, shanties and laments. Should I get a cheap mando........only maybe to find out 6 months down the line that I can probably only be able to play as badly as I play my other stringed instruments. Or should I persevere to try to play this type of music on my acoustic guitar?.......usually in altered tunings!
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  • StuckfastStuckfast Frets: 2393
    I have a cheapo Japanese one badged Harmony, which is actually a pretty good instrument. I think I paid about 70 quid on eBay for it.

    I'm still rubbish at it, though. It's surprisingly different from the guitar.

    In theory you should be able to play fiddle music on the mandolin as the tuning is the same.
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  • mgawmgaw Frets: 5239
    I play one, think its a great instrument, if you have enough dosh buy something good 2nd hand Eastman is a good place to go, it will be loads better than the cheapies and you will recoup most if you sell it.

    Cheap no good good no cheap has never been more apt in the stringed instrument world as with mandolin in my experience
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  • mgaw said:
    I play one, think its a great instrument, if you have enough dosh buy something good 2nd hand Eastman is a good place to go, it will be loads better than the cheapies and you will recoup most if you sell it.

    Cheap no good good no cheap has never been more apt in the stringed instrument world as with mandolin in my experience
    Thanks for the info. I'm currently making enquiries with a store that reckon they can rent out a mando to me before I decide to buy one or not. This could be dangerous as I fancy trying out a squeeze box at some point.....and maybe a banjo!!
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  • FunkfingersFunkfingers Frets: 14321
    edited December 2018
    Do any members play one?
    Rather badly and very infrequently - to the extent that I now fake it using a guitar and a Roland VG99.


    Be seeing you.
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  • I love them but cheap ones can be a devil to play which may put you off at first. It's also one of the few areas of instruments where you can get a vintage instrument for comparatively less money than old guitars - e.g. take a look at old Gibson A models from the 1910s and 20s - still fairly expensive at £1200 - 1400 or so but compare that to vintage guitars. Of course when you get to the old F models prices go through the roof but it is interesting that you can get a great old mando for not insane money. Best tips used are Eastman or Breedlove as both are easy to play. First thing to remember is the fingering is not like a guitar so instead of one finger per fret as with guitar on mandolin your index finger would take care of notes on frets 1 and 2, second would cover frets 3 and 4 and so on. 
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  • Do any members play one?
    Rather badly and very infrequently - to the extent that I now fake it using a guitar and a Roland VG99.


    What......like you only use 4 strings on your guitar tuned to fiths? And you use some electronic wizardry to make it sound like a mando.
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  • It's at times like this that I wish that I had bought one rather than talking about ' thinking of buying one' in that great little music shop that I stumbled upon in Berwick upon Tweed earlier this year. But I was looking for an acoustic guitar at the time.
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  • FunkfingersFunkfingers Frets: 14321
    What......like you only use 4 strings on your guitar tuned to fiths? And you use some electronic wizardry to make it sound like a mando.
    No and yes. The guitar stays in Standard tuning. The VG-99 handles the pitch offsets as part of the sound modelling. The original magnetic pickup signal is not used in the mix.
    Be seeing you.
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  • maltingsaudiomaltingsaudio Frets: 3098
    edited December 2018
    As it happens yesterday me and the Mrs were mandolin shopping at Promenade Music I was actually quite staggered at the difference tone wise and playability between a mandolin costing 250 ( Tanglewood/Stagg) and one costing 500 ( Breedlove) . The difference between the Breedlove and a gorgeous Moon one for a grand wasn’t as marked. 

    We  decided to save for the Moon at the end ( phew GAS fund still intact!) 
    www.maltingsaudio.co.uk
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  • FunkfingersFunkfingers Frets: 14321
    There is bound (excuse the unintentional pun) to be some difference in sound quality between a laminated top, a pressed solid top and a carved top. 
    Be seeing you.
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  • TimmyOTimmyO Frets: 7349
    My first Mandolin was a SUPER cheap one (in fact it was given to me - @VimFuego ; of this parish decided it wasn't worth selling. It was really hard to play, and the action on the fixed height bridge meant that intonation on chords was iffy.

    I bought a good one secondhand (a Stonebridge/Furch) and it's MUCH easier to play and sounds way less tinny, although I think the guy I bought it from paid about a grand new for it 
    Red ones are better. 
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  • mgaw said:
    I play one, think its a great instrument, if you have enough dosh buy something good 2nd hand Eastman is a good place to go, it will be loads better than the cheapies and you will recoup most if you sell it.

    Cheap no good good no cheap has never been more apt in the stringed instrument world as with mandolin in my experience
    I went to the excellent Hobgoblin music in London - I totally agree the difference between 250 and 500 was massive not only in terms of finish (which was dreadful on all the cheaper ones) but in tuning stability and sound.  Ended up spending a bit more than I wanted to and got a decent oval hole Kentucky.  I did play some 1500 quid ones and it was interesting that the jump in quality and tone is still massive compared to not such a small jump in guitars.

    I tried the fender pack but the quality was not very good at all.  I just did a NMD post
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  • Creed_ClicksCreed_Clicks Frets: 1385
    edited January 2019
    Have a look around and you might notice some with slightly different neck widths, and as a guitar player, it was something I noticed on the 1st few frets of the mando (hard to bloody play!).
    I have tipped around on one for years, a fender semi acoustic (similar to the Bob Schmidt sig), that I've sold on since.
    There's a few Tanglewood ones with wider necks at the nut which felt more comfortable to play. Not sure if I'll get back into the mandolin again, but if I were, I'd consider an octave mandolin or something with a wider neck for sure.
    I was kind of a 50/50 strummer, tune player. I wouldn't have called myself a "mandolin player".
    I agree with previous posters on the difference between cheap and not so cheap. Saying that, I played a roundhole, oval body Tanglewood in a shop a while back and the neck was lovely. Wide enough. It was around £200 or so.

    The Pono octave mandos look and sound great, based on the videos, but aren't cheap.


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  • octatonicoctatonic Frets: 33725
    I play mandola, which is the viola of the mandolin family.
    If you have large hands you might like playing the slightly larger instrument.
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  • VimFuegoVimFuego Frets: 15475
    I'm vim, and I play the mandolin. Been on it about a year, as tim said I was given one for free (by some kind soul here who's name I've forgotten, sorry) just to see if I could get on with it, when I realised I probably could, I bought a nice 2nd hand fylde from noisy and gave tim the cheesegrater. 
    Sadly I seem to be developing an issue with my left hand, not sure what it is, but it feels kinda fuzzy and I seem to have lost the fine motor skills needed to play stringed instruments, so the fylde may be for sale at some point. 

    I'm not locked in here with you, you are locked in here with me.

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  • TimmyOTimmyO Frets: 7349
    VimFuego said:
     I seem to be developing an issue with my left hand, not sure what it is, but it feels kinda fuzzy and I seem to have lost the fine motor skills needed to play stringed instruments,
    whaaaat? :-( 
    Red ones are better. 
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  • BidleyBidley Frets: 2912
    VimFuego said:
    I'm vim, and I play the mandolin. Been on it about a year, as tim said I was given one for free (by some kind soul here who's name I've forgotten, sorry) just to see if I could get on with it, when I realised I probably could, I bought a nice 2nd hand fylde from noisy and gave tim the cheesegrater. 
    Sadly I seem to be developing an issue with my left hand, not sure what it is, but it feels kinda fuzzy and I seem to have lost the fine motor skills needed to play stringed instruments, so the fylde may be for sale at some point. 
    T'was me :) glad to see it's been doing the rounds. That's not even the worst mandolin I've owned! Genuinely sorry to hear about your condition - don't give in if you can help it.
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  • VimFuegoVimFuego Frets: 15475
    ah yes, it was bidley. It was actually a pretty good sounding mandolin and I was very glad for the chance to try it out. I'll keep plugging away at it, mando is not too bad on the hand, guitar and fiddle seem to effect it more, guess it's the angles you're at on fiddle and the stretches on guitar, mando it a bit more ergonomic. 

    I'm not locked in here with you, you are locked in here with me.

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  • i bought a cheap one (stagg)  a few years ago. within a couple of days i was playing all the cliche favourites, maggie may, losing my religeon, galway girl. sadly i havnt really moved on from those but it has come out a few times at an open mic i run and even at a st paddys day gig last year. It has a magnetic pickup and doesnt sound and play too bad for a cheapy but i havnt really gassed for anything better yet.
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  • ToneControlToneControl Frets: 11789
    What......like you only use 4 strings on your guitar tuned to fiths? And you use some electronic wizardry to make it sound like a mando.
    No and yes. The guitar stays in Standard tuning. The VG-99 handles the pitch offsets as part of the sound modelling. The original magnetic pickup signal is not used in the mix.
    I had a vg99
    Great fun, the 5 string banjo patch is fun too

    I made some very strange tunings, I really liked this one for atmospheric ECM sounds, like Metheny I think

    AEAAAD

    A (-7); E (-5); A (-5); A (+2); A (-2); D (-2)


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