mandovark
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Post by mandovark on Nov 25, 2018 22:41:05 GMT
Wow - that’s lovely. Congratulations, Martin . If it’s anything like as good as the guitars RosieTGC had in Halifax last year, it’s definitely a keeper. Enjoy! But let’s have no more of this nonsense about getting over GAS
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mandovark
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Post by mandovark on Oct 16, 2018 14:25:20 GMT
Looking forward to watching this. I went to a workshop he did at the Lancaster Music Festival last year. There were only about 12 people in the audience, but it didn't bother him at all. He took it as a chance to get us involved in the conversation and see what we wanted him to play and talk about. He was only supposed to be on for an hour, but after about 75 minutes he suggested that we all go and get some coffee and come back. In the end he did about 2 hours, and only stopped then because there was another event in the room. The whole thing was fantastic. He's such a generous man who obviously loves the instrument and seemed as interested in hearing about our music as in talking about his own.
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Post by mandovark on Sept 4, 2018 20:49:28 GMT
You know what they say about great minds, @robbiej
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Post by mandovark on Sept 4, 2018 20:47:50 GMT
Brook are only a little above that price and will build with custom scale lengths. They have a couple of 000-sized models, which I think are 14-fret as standard, but again they’re happy to customise. Both of my Brooks (Tamar and custom OM) have 650mm scale lengths and medium strings, which is my preference for C tunings, but I believe Phil Taylor plays Brooks with shorter scales and tunes them down without any problems.
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Post by mandovark on Sept 4, 2018 20:34:14 GMT
I’m a big fan of Tanglewood’s guitars in that price range - I used to work opposite a shop that stocked a lot of them and I thought they were great value for money. I’d also suggest checking out the Breedlove Discovery range. They’re a little over your price range, but you will sometimes find them discounted. I played an OM from that range a while back and in terms of sound and playability it had everything you could reasonably ask for at that price.
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Post by mandovark on Aug 5, 2018 22:31:45 GMT
I just had a look on Adrian's website mandovark, but couldn't see it. Sounds like the one you bought is similar to the Shippey Axe model that Robbie pointed out to me (which I have spent a lot of time looking at - and unfortunately, I think the prices just went up.....!). It is still there, but it’s cunningly hidden at the bottom of the ‘steel string guitars for sale’ page. I haven’t played any Shippeys so can’t really compare them, but they have a great reputation among players on the Mandolin Cafe forum. I was very tempted by one of his octave mandolins a while ago.
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Post by mandovark on Aug 5, 2018 21:38:46 GMT
There is a very pronounced difference between arch top and flattop. You need to play both to see what you like. Then of course there is are makers like Paul Shippey who builds an brilliant mandolin called the ‘Axe’ which has a flat top but arched back. And Rory Dowling of Taran builds an arch top but flat back (like Sobell). In fact Paul’s Axe is only a little above your top budget 😉. Robbie Ah, man, those Paul Shippey instruments are stunning. Thank you for the mission creep assistance Robbie - most (un)helpful! (Note to self: stop dribbling at the mando-porn, Peter, and go practice something). We do seem to be spoilt for choice with quality Mandolin luthiers in the UK, covering a pretty broad spectrum of the higher-end price bracket don't we? Our own ajlucas built a pair of mandolins as an experiment a few years ago, with identical specs except that the back of one was carved and the other was flat (both had carved tops). I played them both, and there was a noticeable difference - the flat back sounded a bit more open, where the carved back had a clearer, more bell-like tone and I think a little more punch. It suggested that although we tend to talk a lot about the top, the shaping of the back can have a similar effect on the sound. I ended up buying the carved back one, but I believe the flat back is still available on Adrian’s website. It’s a really nice mandolin.
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Post by mandovark on Jun 24, 2018 21:36:14 GMT
What Pete and Keith said Try to keep your wrist relaxed, and don’t play too hard: you can get a strong rhythm sound without needing to thrash the strings. Start by letting most of the movement come from your wrist. When that becomes more familiar, try keeping your wrist a bit more rigid and letting more of the movement come from the elbow. You’ll probably find you can get more of a driving rhythm on the bass strings that way. Personally I prefer to play more from the wrist as I find it more comfortable and more versatile, but it’s worth experimenting with different techniques to see what works for you.
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Post by mandovark on May 31, 2018 21:54:42 GMT
What a lovely guitar. I could listen to that for hours.
Congratulations, Chris, and thanks for sharing this song.
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Post by mandovark on May 12, 2018 7:05:22 GMT
I might make it over there at some point in the afternoon.
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Post by mandovark on Apr 19, 2018 9:44:18 GMT
]Spot on. Please don't buy guitars mail order or over the internet (except Nigel's of course). If you want an instrument to live with take the time to check it out ... All good advice... but what if you commission a guitar and it's not what you were expecting? Jonny There's obviously an element of risk when you commission an instrument. I think it largely comes down to choosing the right builder. When I commissioned my custom Brook, I had a very specific idea of what I wanted, so I was a bit nervous about whether what I had in mind would be what the guitar sounded like when it was built. Obviously I'd talked it through with the guys at Brook, but of course that always brings you back to the problems of describing sound. The main reassurance for me was that before I ordered I'd played a lot of Brooks (and already owned one). I didn't know exactly what my guitar would sound like, but I was fairly confident it would sound like a Brook, so beyond that it was a case of fine-tuning and getting the details right. Beyond that, I think it's about how well you know and can trust the builder if you were to end up in a situation where you really weren't happy with the finished instrument.
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Post by mandovark on Mar 28, 2018 13:54:40 GMT
Another recommendation here for the Orchid. It's about as user-friendly as it gets, and as Keith says it's very easy to get a good sound with minimal adjustment. It's ideal if you're planning to play several instruments through the same channel - I regularly switch between two guitars, mandolin and cello-mandolin, and it only needs the slightest adjustments (I like a bit more bass on the cello-mandolin, and I tend to turn the treble up a notch if I'm playing slide). Having it clipped to the mic stand makes it easy to tweak the EQ mid-song if you need to.
I've used a Fishman in the past, which was fine for a single instrument, but if you need to change instruments the Orchid is much easier to work with.
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Post by mandovark on Mar 21, 2018 20:57:09 GMT
Latest picture from Dave, and CBM is now looking very much like an instrument! It isn't finished yet - literally, Dave hasn't put the finish on it - but this is what it looks like strung up for the first time. Dave also sent me a recording of the first notes to come out of it - you'll have to take my word for it, but it sounds EXCELLENT... cbm first stringing (pre-finish) by Simon Marsden, on Flickr
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Post by mandovark on Mar 18, 2018 21:38:49 GMT
If you have an idea of what you’re looking for, the best thing to do is just drop them an email. Andy and Simon are very open to custom work, and they’re very happy to talk about ideas - the list of custom options on their website is really only a starting point. I had quite a few custom requests when I ordered my OM, and they were fine with all of them. They even came up with a better cutaway design than the one I’d originally had in mind, when I explained that I wanted it for slide playing on the high frets. They sent me a spec sheet before they started the build, so I could check I was happy with every part of the spec, including all the cosmetic features. It’s definitely worth chatting to them if you want something that doesn’t quite fit into their standard specs.
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Post by mandovark on Jan 18, 2018 16:07:42 GMT
That looks lovely. I got a custom OM from Brook a couple of years ago (Euro spruce and red gum, with a cutaway and 650mm scale) and never regretted it. They're great guitars.
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