Mandolins - show us yer mini axes!

[Born 2B Mild]

I'm a life long admirer of Dave 'Fairport' Pegg. He's not only (IMHO) one of Britain's best bass players he also plays a neat mandolin.

I'm no great shakes on mandolin, but I've just been persuaded to dust off my mando to help out with my band's rendition of Gallows Pole (and maybe JM's 'Over The Hill').

It got me thinking ...who else on Basschat has a mandolin,[b] and let's see some pics to prove it![/b][i][/i]

[GreeneKing]

Here's my wee beauty:

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

[franzbassist]

I don't have a mando (although the guitarist in my band does and plays it regularly) but I do have a tenor guitar, which is a close relative I guess.

Mine is the first production one made by [url="http://www.fyldeguitars.com/guitars.html"]Fylde[/url], tuned GDAE, and totally lovely.

[Born 2B Mild]

And here's my black beauty

[GreeneKing]

Very nice

[BigRedX]

Does this count?



Manne Mandobass. 26" scale normal bass string spacing but tuned an octave up.

[GreeneKing]

Is that a Mandolin i.e. surely it needs more strings and is therefore a Uke?

Re-reads your post - Mando bass yes it counts

My favourite Mandobass player Hilary James

Edited March 11, 2009 by GreeneKing

[pete.young]

Never really got into mandolins, although I inherited this one from my great uncle, and am in the process of fitting a new bridge:



This is much more fun. It's a flatback bouzouki, made for me by Paul Doyle in 1979. The back is 4 pieces of plum. Tuning is G-D-A-D, mostly an octave down from a mandolin, as popularised by Donal Lunny of Planxty, Bothy Band and Moving Hearts.

Edited March 11, 2009 by pete.young

[BigRedX]

More details [url="http://www.manne.com/eng/custom.htm"]here - about two-thirds down the page[/url].

[Born 2B Mild]

[quote name='GreeneKing' post='431957' date='Mar 11 2009, 10:09 PM']Is that a Mandolin i.e. surely it needs more strings and is therefore a Uke?

Re-reads your post - Mando bass yes it counts

My favourite Mandobass player Hilary James

[/quote]
Ha, I was just going to post a pic of Hilary & her Mandobass!

[Born 2B Mild]

[quote name='BigRedX' post='431961' date='Mar 11 2009, 10:13 PM']More details [url="http://www.manne.com/eng/custom.htm"]here - about two-thirds down the page[/url].[/quote]
That's got some interesting creations on it. Off topic, but I'd love to try out the first one; a 30" neck sixer.

[BigRedX]

I like the one immediately below that with the extended cut away. Take the frets off and that would be exactly my kind of bass!

[Golchen]

Always fancied a mandolin. Maybe one day ..............

[franzbassist]

I know it's not a mando, but it's tuned the same way, is a "mini axe", and is folky.



And here it is next to its big brother...

Edited March 13, 2009 by walbassist

[BassBod]

Made by a bass maker...but a bit smaller

[attachment=21942:DSCN0463.JPG]


I've also got a solidbody/electric made by John Marlowe under the stairs..anybody want to buy it?

BB

Edited March 13, 2009 by BassBod

[skankdelvar]

I've been thinking about Mandolins recently. Don't want to spend bundles - are these cheapo Staggs any good, just for a first try-out?

Edited March 13, 2009 by skankdelvar

[Delberthot]

Don't have one but always fancied one of the Mandobirds

[url="http://img22.imageshack.us/my.php?image=42177p5280605.jpg"][/url]


Very folk 'n roll

Edited March 21, 2009 by Delberthot

[ahpook]

i've been thinking i quite fancy learning the mandolin...

any advice on cheap-ish, but good vfm models ? an electric pickup would be useful too.

cheers me dears

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

[quote name='Delberthot' post='440863' date='Mar 21 2009, 08:48 AM']Don't have one but always fancied one of the Mandobirds

[url="http://img22.imageshack.us/my.php?image=42177p5280605.jpg"][/url]


Very folk 'n roll[/quote]

and unfortunately these days very Jonas Brothers...

[alanbass1]

They are fun to play, although the tuning takes some getting used to. Here's mine, a Weber longhorn:

[Born 2B Mild]

[quote name='alanbass1' post='441053' date='Mar 21 2009, 02:14 PM']They are fun to play, although the tuning takes some getting used to. Here's mine, a Weber longhorn:

[/quote]
That looks nice ...and old. Not seen a shape like that before.

[hillbilly deluxe]

Old thread revival.
Is there any more mandolin love on here ? I've had my Stagg A type mandolin for god knows how long,but only started playing it about two years ago,IMO it's a really good instrument,especially for the price which i think was about £80.Now that im a bit more confident on it i plan to play it regularly with my new band.the only problem i have with it is,it is the fact that it's purely acoustic and i need an amplified one.
Do i 1,bite the bullet and buy an electric ?
2,buy a bug type pickup ?
3, fit half of a precision pickup,vol & tone ?

[mart]

Depends how much you want to spend.
For my mandola I just bought a piezo buzzer from Maplins, jammed it under the bridge and wired it to a jack socket. Looks awful, but sounds insanely good for the cost (approx £2.50!). A mate did something similar with his mandolin, but I think he glued the buzzer under the soundboard, and fitted a volume control. So his looks a thousand times better, but sounds about the same. The next step up would be to wire in a preamp to match the impedance better, but then you're looking at a massive outlay of, ooh, nearly £20.

I wouldn't think that buying an electric is a good bet - you'll get more for your money by spending it just on a pickup rather than on a whole new instrument. On the other hand, if feedback is likely to be a problem, or you want the looks of an electric mando, then electric may be the way to go.

[hillbilly deluxe]

Thanks,i'll look into that.