Mandolin Orange Guitar Awesomeness
 

I've recently become quite a fan of Mandolin Orange. There is such a sweetness to their guitar/mandolin/violin.

"Golden Embers"
https://youtu.be/fEt2lf7L13g

I've listened over and over to Andrew Marlin's guitar work on this song, and its just amazing. I have no idea how he gets that kind of tone in his picking/strumming.

Any thoughts on how to approach this technique?

Excellent article/interview from Music Radar:

https://www.musicradar.com/news/mand...dic-instrument

They are awesome aren't they! I became a fan last year when another forum member posted a video of them. I'd never heard of them until that moment.

They play a Pre*War branded guitar.

There you go. Just order a $5k+ guitar, wait a year or so (no practicing necessary in the meantime), and you'll have the answer in your hands!

Thanks for sharing, that was really good.

Lol! If you've seen the way some guys buy guitars you'd think this might be true.

I'm glad you saw the humor in my post!

I saw Mandolin Orange at Old Settlers last April, and they were maybe my favorite - the Lone Bellow's performance might have been more exciting. Anyway, I love their music. (I think the NC governor's mansion vid has been posted here - if not, go find it!)

I'm pretty squarely in the "not the arrow" crowd. Yes, it helps to have an instrument that is the correct type and set up/voiced right if you really want to mimic a specific player, but the technique is going to be pretty effective on lots of instruments, and the D-18 the OP has in his list should be good for a start. (I'd put mediums on if not already.)

P.S. Maybe start saving for the Pre*War, or at least a nice old D-28!

youtube lessons
 

On YouTube Tim (don't know his last name) teaches the guitar parts (note for note, I think) of four Mandolin Orange songs, including "Golden Embers". His lessons are some of the clearest and most helpful I've encountered (paid or unpaid).

Mandolin Orange is my favorite band these days, with or without their bandmates. Both Andrew and Emily (when she's on guitar) seem to play on the inside strings a lot, which I find very appealing. (Obviously they're great on other instruments, and singing together, but in a guitar context it's that inside picking that strikes me, combined with a lot of minor chords and combination chords. It those are the right words.

I too would be interested in knowing more about their guitar technique; Andrew mentions being inspired by the Stanley Brothers, but that presumably doesn't apply to his guitar technique.

will

I've seen them live twice. Both times the plugged in sound of that guitar blew me away. I would like to know what kind of pickup is in it and what else they play it through.

From the Andrew Marlin website -

Andrew is proud to play:
Sullivan Mandolins, Straight up Strings, Gilchrist Mandolins & Pre-War Guitars

I'm going to see them in concert, tonight!

'Wildfire' is a great song. Check the lyrics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9jwGansp1E

If you ever watch Andrew play, you'll notice that most of his sound comes from using heavy picks (over 1mm) while strumming and picking with a very loose hand and played lightly (especially the strums). You will achieve that amazing shimmer when strumming like this and it is even more pronounced when using a capo for some reason. The pick is not chocked up at all in his hand and very evident when paying close attention, leaving little to no string noise. Tony Rice also does this when playing ballad type stuff as I'm sure others do as well. This technique mixed with a full scale (tighter string tension) solid wood dreadnaught will yield you similar results. Most of their recordings sound like a rosewood back and sides and sitka/Adirondack top, scalloped forward shifted bracing to me (think HD-28ish or a new D-18 with scalloped bracing).

Crazy thing, I was obsessed with Pre-War guitars for a while, but couldn't justify spending that much $$. I bought a Recording King RD-328 (Adirondack/rosewood) and stripped the poly with razor blades and very carefully hand sanding and then sprayed several light coats of nitro from Stew-Mac. I also chopped the headstock to Martin specs. This was just an experiment and meant to be a traveling guitar (camping...etc.), but rivals any of my other guitars for "that" tone (HD-28, D-15, J-45) in tone, volume, and playability.

Andrew built his dreadnought at the PreWar factory.

I like Wildfire a whole lot too! Great song. Andrew is a wonderful songwriter as well as everything else that makes them great whether duo or with others. I learned about them pretty recently as well. Here, actually. Thanks AGF!