mandovark
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Post by mandovark on Mar 10, 2024 14:44:33 GMT
It's been a few years since I played a Lakewood so I can't comment on the most recent ones, but at one time they used to turn up in a couple of shops in Manchester and at Promenade Music in Morecambe. The shops mostly had the cutaway M shape, which I played in a few wood combinations. I remember really liking an M-32CP with a cedar top (I think they were usually spruce, so I'm not sure if this was a custom). All of them struck me as excellent all-rounders, which I think was the idea of the M shape. They fingerpicked nicely, but they also had a lot of headroom and strong bass for strumming and flatpicking.
I never really thought of Lakewood as having a signature sound in the way that some other makers do. Every Brook I've ever played has sounded like a Brook, but I'd struggle to put my finger on what the Lakewood sound is. Maybe that just goes with the territory of being designed as all-rounders, and it might be different with some of the other body shapes, and possibly with the more recent guitars - like I said, my information might be a bit out of date.
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mandovark
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Post by mandovark on Mar 7, 2024 11:08:37 GMT
I think someone's got a bargain there, even with the buyer's premiums. I see there's a Taran mandolin still up for grabs in the same auction too.
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mandovark
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Post by mandovark on Feb 28, 2024 16:36:04 GMT
David Oddy fixed a mandolin for me years ago, when he was doing it he told me of someone in South Devon who collected his instruments and regularly asked him to make another for him - "he must have about eight by now". He seemed bemused as to why anyone would want more than one. I knew someone in the north west who did the same thing. I think pretty much every time he went to collect one instrument he ordered the next one. David's prices were ridiculously low for instruments of that quality, which definitely appealed to repeat buyers!
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mandovark
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Post by mandovark on Feb 28, 2024 16:21:08 GMT
Very tempting...
I am wondering though whether these were actually built by David himself. There were a few years when both David and Nick Oddy were building under David's name, and Nick has gone on using it since David's death. It's a pity there's no build year listed as that might give more of a clue.
Either way though I might have to keep an eye on this one.
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mandovark
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Post by mandovark on Feb 26, 2024 9:34:36 GMT
My guess is that SoH will continue to exist in some form, but probably doing one-off events and smaller-scale things rather than full tours. I think they've already mentioned plans to join Seth Lakeman on a river cruise in the autumn - I assume to play music, and not just take in the sights! Personally though I doubt that we'll see another tour of the kind they've done in the past. It's a pity, but also understandable if they feel they need to focus on their health - Phil in particular has had some health issues in the past that made him step back from touring for a while.
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Post by mandovark on Feb 24, 2024 23:10:10 GMT
It's not easy to write a review of this. My first Show of Hands gig back in 2003 was my real entry into the world of acoustic music. They've been in the background of my musical life for the last two decades. They've shaped my own playing, introduced me to instruments I'd never heard of before, and they were my first step into a musical community that I never knew was out there. They're a big part of why I'm part of this forum now. So seeing them live for what is probably the last time tonight was a bittersweet experience.
Well, I say 'live'. Between work and family commitments I was afraid I wouldn't be able to see them on their farewell tour. Thankfully, the good people at Live To Your Living Room were livestreaming their gig from Newbury tonight. It's not the same as being there, of course, but it was far better than nothing.
This was Show of Hands in its purest form; just Steve and Phil telling stories and playing a mix of the back catalogue and a few more recent songs. It had a different feel to other gigs of theirs - more personal, more songs about their own musical journey, none of the angrier songs (no 'Country Life'!). There were some very early pieces - a revival of Beat About the Bush, as well as Phil doing a Davy Graham tribute, and Steve playing the first song he ever wrote and inviting the audience to finish the Dylan-inspired and very predictable rhymes. When they played some of their best-known songs, they gave them a gentler, more intimate sound than some of them have had in their previous incarnations. They played beatiful versions of 'The Dive' and 'Exile', and a haunting 'Santiago' dedicated to the group of exiled Chilean musicians who inspired it. They finished the main set with 'Cousin Jack', complete with an extended and strangely haunting middle section. Singing along to the final chorus, remembering singing along to it at that first gig twenty years ago, I suddenly seemed to have something in my eye.
For the inevitable encore, they played a newer song inspired by the challenges of lockdowns and the importance of holding on to community and music. In its way, it seemed to sum up a night that was about looking back over a musical life, but which was also about two friends still enjoying making music together and going out - as a touring band, at least - at the top of their game.
Thanks for the memories, chaps. It's been a pleasure.
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Post by mandovark on Jan 12, 2024 14:46:10 GMT
Looking lovely so far!
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Post by mandovark on Dec 21, 2023 10:49:47 GMT
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Post by mandovark on Dec 20, 2023 15:52:34 GMT
This from Tommy Emmanuel is basically an open fire and some mulled wine in the form of music.
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Post by mandovark on Dec 20, 2023 15:45:29 GMT
Yes, temporarily. Usually when I want to buy new mandolins instead
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Post by mandovark on Dec 20, 2023 14:28:22 GMT
Here's the excellent Keb' Mo' with a song with which I can identify far too much.
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Post by mandovark on Dec 20, 2023 14:26:43 GMT
A thread for people who are glad that Paul McCartney is simply having a wonderful Christmas time, but don't feel the need to keep hearing about it.
It's that time of year again, when the entire country puts the same set of Christmas "favourites" on endless repeat and the cynics among us start to grumble that it being Christmas every day would actually be a bit of a nightmare and that maybe Chris Rea should just have set out a bit earlier to beat the traffic. So let's take the chance to listen to some of the other Christmas music; the stuff that won't make it onto that same episode of Top of the Tops 2 that they've been showing every year since 1993.
What are your lesser-known seasonal favourites? Whether profound, silly, or just plane weird, share them here and let's make a forum playlist!
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Post by mandovark on Dec 4, 2023 15:06:06 GMT
Bog Oak gets mentioned a lot but I would take it as a rare timber, hardly sustainable, once its gone its gone. At least with rosewoods new trees can be grown. I'm not sure burying oak trees in bogs and reclaiming them in 10K years makes them sustainable... I saw this table when it was in Ely Cathedral last year: www.thefenlandblackoakproject.co.uk/the-tablePeter I saw that table too. I did wonder if the cathedral had taken precautions against luthiers trying to sneak in with saws
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Post by mandovark on Nov 23, 2023 11:15:10 GMT
The famous National from the brothers in arms cover doesn’t appear to be for sale. That's true, there doesn't seem to be any mention of that one. I'd guess that would be one of the top prices if it was part of the auction.
I recall from a TV interview a few years ago that he also has a stunning Monteleone archtop. I can't see anything on the auction site about that one either, so maybe he'd decided it's a keeper.
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Post by mandovark on Nov 22, 2023 12:51:13 GMT
I hope he gets his wish and the guitars do go to people who will play them, but looking at the prices I'm guessing that at least a few will end up in display cases.
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