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Post by vikingblues on Mar 29, 2014 20:50:03 GMT
Yep - new Octave Mandolin day. I've tried a few, and a few Irish Bouzoukis in the last month. Not being 100% convinced I'd end up using on OM a great deal or that it would necessarily work effectively in the music I want to play I've ended up going the cheap route for now I'm afraid. So if it doesn't work out I have only a small financial loss. A Romanian Hora OM, through Thomann Germany, at a very silly £120 including delivery.  But it does have a solid Spruce top, solid maple back, maple sides and neck. As you might expect it has a bright voice. No lack of volume! Now - the tuners are pretty horrible, though they do seem to hold the tuning OK. But apart from the cheesewire strings - immediately changed, all else seems remarkably good. No sharp or rough fret ends, silky smooth finish including the back of the neck, good sustain. Appearance of the wood grain is decent, edges of the sound-hole are smooth and tidy, as are the cut away holes in the body that form the pattern around it - I'd thought it was a painted or stencil design of some sort when I first saw pictures. The scale length is 23" which is more than the 20.5" to 21.5" of the ones I tried locally but it doesn't feel particularly longer. I'm amazed to find that I would rate it as better than one of and as at an equal sort of level to one of the two £320 - £330 OMs I tried recently.   I have not had a great deal of opportunity to play it yet. I did have my better half play some chords on it while I noodled some melody notes on the mandolin and the two instruments did sound very well together. Which is promising fro my future plans of playing more celtic music. So a little rough demo - I dug out a version of "The Rakes of Mallow" I recorded a little while back. Reduced the volume of the resonator rhythm guitar part and added an OM part on rhythm. Allowing for the playing qaulity it seems to sound the part OK in this sort of role.   The Rakes of MallowMark |
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leoroberts
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My main instrument is: probably needing new strings
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NOMD
Mar 29, 2014 21:04:55 GMT
Post by leoroberts on Mar 29, 2014 21:04:55 GMT
It does indeed sound good, Mark. I've got an Ozark OM and I suspect the horribly tuners are generic to this price range of instrument  |
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Martin
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NOMD
Mar 29, 2014 21:49:37 GMT
Post by Martin on Mar 29, 2014 21:49:37 GMT
I'd say that was £120 very well spent, Mark. It looks really nice and sounds great on that recording  |
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ocarolan
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NOMD
Mar 29, 2014 23:29:00 GMT
Post by ocarolan on Mar 29, 2014 23:29:00 GMT
Certainly works well does that Mark. I had a mandolin of very similar make a fair while ago - loudest thing you could imagine!
Some good sounding strummage on your remixed recording. Are you tuned GDAE? You might have some fun with GDAD if you haven't tried it - works really well as a rhythm thing, especially in key of D,as you might imagine, when you can forget about fingering the top pair altogether and get some nice sounds from the usual chord fingerings on the other strings.
Have fun!
Keith
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NOMD
Mar 31, 2014 6:35:39 GMT
Post by vikingblues on Mar 31, 2014 6:35:39 GMT
Thanks for looking, listening, and commenting guys. I do seem to see negative comments on tuners on many of these sort of instruments at the budget end of prices so I think you're right Leo. Thanks Martin - I'm still very surprised at the value for money of this OM - I was expecting much worse. Yes - tuned GDAE Keith. The GDAD is a good idea and I'll try and add it to the "Things to Do list" in my head. It is certainly proving to be fun so I can't really ask more for the price. Just did a brief test last night with nothing else except rhythm + Melody from the OM. Sounds nae too bad. Basic test - Rhythm + Melody : Ashokans Farewell................................... Funny about descriptions of this instrument - caused by the 23" scale rather than the usual of 2 to 3 inches less. Also exactly the same instrument seems to be sold under the banner Tonewood, and also Blue Moon. I've also seen the same instrument being sold and described as a Bouzouki, and also as a Short Scale Bouzouki. Under the Tonewood banner there's a 655mm and a 587mm scale version which the musicroom-online describe as Bouzouki and Octave Mandolin which makes more sense. Though that same one they describe as an OM is billed a a Bouzouki on other sites. I knew that there was a degree of blurring between the two names, but I hadn't realised just how interchangeable they can be. Mark |
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NOMD
Mar 31, 2014 12:28:40 GMT
Post by ocarolan on Mar 31, 2014 12:28:40 GMT
Don't worry about names - the whole nomenclature of 8 string beasts with longer scale lengths than a mandolin is a mess. I'd call your instrument a bouzouki, fwiw, purely on the basis of scale length. The instruments you tried are more octave mandolin length, though some might call them short scale bouzoukis! And then of course, some would call an octave mandolin an octave mandola, but don't get me started on that!
Good job on Ashokan Farewell - it's a lovely tune, and your instrument sounds good on both rhythm and melody duties - sounds like you're enjoying yourself - good!
Keith
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NOMD
Mar 31, 2014 12:37:11 GMT
Post by Martin on Mar 31, 2014 12:37:11 GMT
Sounds fabulous, Mark and great playing on this one |
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leoroberts
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NOMD
Mar 31, 2014 12:43:37 GMT
alig likes this
Post by leoroberts on Mar 31, 2014 12:43:37 GMT
A great sound, Mark ... really lively!
To correct an error in my earlier post, my OM is a Blue Moon. If we do the Swap/Trade table at HB5/ASBO2 then I'll be bringing it to that - Molly has made it redundant (it didn't get a name, so I'm not too attached!)
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NOMD
Apr 1, 2014 19:40:18 GMT
Post by vikingblues on Apr 1, 2014 19:40:18 GMT
Thanks Keith, Martin, Leo - appreciate your risking hearing my efforts and for commenting. It is proving to be a very enjoyable instrument to play, and a good sound .... much to my relief on both counts! It stirs the creativity, and that for me makes it a good piece of gear to own. Of course it was so far under my budget that I could stretch to some other instrument around my birthday time - I've been having frequent internet sorties the last couple of months looking at citterns. My interest doesn't seem to be on the wane and I find the sound / tuning very intriguing. Oh dear!  Glad to hear it's not just me that feels the nomenclature is a mess Keith (though I'd have struggled to find the right word). I did spend some time before I started to get my head around what all the alternative names were and meant. Reference the Blue Moon Leo I noticed this ... Blue Moon Bouzouki ... very like the Hora OM!... dead ringer! Just possible the poor tuners of our two OMs were down to them being made at the same factory perhaps? I've not given any guitars a name for a long time - it really does make it much more difficult to part with them if they have a name. Mark |
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NOMD
Apr 3, 2014 7:30:15 GMT
Post by walkingdecay on Apr 3, 2014 7:30:15 GMT
Now that's a good sound, and some great playing to boot. I think I may have its ancestor. Same country of origin, solid spruce top and some similar design principles - but in this form terrible sound, and longbow action, even after much fiddling and sanding. It's literally been gathering dust for some time, as you can see! The upside is that I bought it for 30 quid from someone at the folk club. Sound sample |
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NOMD
Apr 8, 2014 7:32:52 GMT
Post by vikingblues on Apr 8, 2014 7:32:52 GMT
Sorry ... I missed noticing this post. Shame about the longbow action! Won't help the sound any, or the intonation for that matter, but the sound sample you linked was much better than I was expecting given your description. If the players good enough even a bad instrument can sound OK. Still for 30 quid it sounds pretty good to me! Thank you for your kind comments on my test recording by the way - I'm enjoying the sound of this very playable instrument, and am still amazed at the quality for the price I paid. |
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NOMD
Apr 8, 2014 9:34:22 GMT
Post by walkingdecay on Apr 8, 2014 9:34:22 GMT
I think it sounds less thin and dry through speakers than it does in actuality - and it's like trying to fret the cables on a suspension bridge. I may try sanding the bridge a bit more and strapping it to the back of an upright speaker for a few months. The latter certainly helped mature a dulcimer I have.
Yep, it's amazing what you can get at the budget end these days. I bought an all solid Kentucky mando for something over 200 quid last year and finally got around to taking it out and playing it for a few hours yesterday. Turns out that while it's still a bit stiff it has a really pure, sweet tone. I can't stop myself picking it up and noodling on it now.
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The Rakes of Mallow
Jo whoever he is.
