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  #16  
Old 11-08-2018, 06:16 PM
Rudy4 Rudy4 is offline
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Yes, If there was excessive amounts of cash lying around my house I'd probably have a Fletcher Brock guitar-bodied octave. I have about $100 in my Kay and do love it!
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  #17  
Old 11-08-2018, 09:04 PM
Mycroft Mycroft is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Silly Moustache View Post
and don't forget Eli West :



and Tim O'Brien

Morrison and West I've seen locally, both together and with others. They live here. Nice playing in the clip.
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  #18  
Old 11-09-2018, 01:13 AM
PHJim PHJim is offline
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I have a Trinity College from before the turn of the century. When scratches started appearing I added a pickguard and I swapped out the tailpiece when one of the hooks gave out.
I keep it tuned GDAD and sometimes use a capo, although I don't on the mandolin. My friend Steafan Hannigan gave me a Quickdraw capo which now resides on my OM.
I have recorded mandola parts by tuning the first string up a tone and putting the capo at the fifth fret.
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  #19  
Old 11-10-2018, 02:27 PM
THart THart is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mandobart View Post
I may get in trouble for this but there is a whole sub-forum on octave mandolins, mandola, citterns, bouzouki, mandocello, etc. over on mandolin cafe.

I'll share my experience: I wanted to get into octave mando and bought a Michael Kelly Octave plus. Not a great instrument. I later bought an octave from Tom TJ Jessen that I love and play often. He makes truly great A and F style OM's. I've played Webers, Clarks, Mowry's, Herb Taylor - and they are great. But one of TJ's will sound awesome for 1/2 to 1/3 the price. Joe Mendel also builds some great octaves.

Many other people are quite happy with Trinity College octaves as well.
I'm a fan of TJ's too, got him to build me a guitar bodied version octave that I'm very happy with. It may have a bit more of a rustic quality to it than the Weber's, Mowry's, Clark's etc. but the pricing is more than reasonable & the tone & playability first rate. He's in the process of building another GBOM right now. If you're on facebook you can check it out. https://www.facebook.com/Cricket-Fid...1224535892030/
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  #20  
Old 11-10-2018, 05:26 PM
SongwriterFan SongwriterFan is offline
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I don't know what your budget is (and this will be a bit "spendy" for a first instrument, though it's the path I took)

https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...d.php?t=525502

Check out the 5-course mandocellos (essentially a mandocello and an octave mandolin combined) by Dammann in my thread above.

Note that they also make them in a guitar-shape (see the Dream Guitars link in the second post on that thread).

You can get the pairs of strings as either unison or octaves.
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  #21  
Old 11-12-2018, 11:45 AM
fatt-dad fatt-dad is offline
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I went with a brand new Eastman MDO-305. I have owned/played many mandolins. I have no other experience with the octave; however. It's fun enough, but don't really know how it stands up against others? There are youtubes of it and you can see for your self.

It was under a grand brand new - maybe like $800 bucks?

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  #22  
Old 11-13-2018, 09:49 AM
catt catt is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by norseman View Post
My quest has ended successfully, at least for the moment. I now own a used Trinity College octave mandolin. This will give me an opportunity if try my hand with an instrument larger than a mandolin - something I hope will broaden my musical horizon.
So, whaddya think? Are you learning anything?
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  #23  
Old 11-13-2018, 11:11 AM
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norseman norseman is offline
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Default Learning anything?

Yes - but mostly how little I know. I'm still getting the Trinity College octave mandolin in playing condition. It arrived in need of new strings, but I did manage to tune the old strings to standard mandolin settings and try my hand at playing basic chords and scales. I'm experiencing interference with my guitar playing habits (and uke "habits") - if that is the right label. Mix in a little tenor guitar and I find myself spending a lot of time looking at chord charts - something I rarely do when playing guitar alone. Out of this confusion will come some kind of understanding - at least that is what I want to believe.

If anyone else has been down this road, I'd be interested in hearing your story.
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  #24  
Old 11-13-2018, 12:10 PM
catt catt is offline
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Well good!

Personally, it's something I find most evocative about strings/gtr: delving into new forms. Wrt new tunings/systems, it's been the most useful thing for me, as I get bored easily.
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  #25  
Old 11-13-2018, 12:29 PM
ceciltguitar ceciltguitar is offline
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These folks were at the East Coast Guitar Expo in Chesapeake, VA last weekend. I was impressed with their instruments. Yes they make mandocellos, they also make guitars. All their instruments are made out of local woods, and they make double-top instruments.

https://www.mandocello.org
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  #26  
Old 11-14-2018, 10:07 AM
Mandobart Mandobart is online now
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Quote:
Originally Posted by norseman View Post
... Out of this confusion will come some kind of understanding - at least that is what I want to believe.

If anyone else has been down this road, I'd be interested in hearing your story.
When I was 10 years old I started playing violin. This of course is usually tuned in 5ths just like mandolin. When I was 13 I started playing 6 string acoustic guitar, and electric bass guitar (and I got into bluegrass fiddle). I found each instrument was different enough from the others that I didn't get the fingerings confused. Many years (35) later I started playing mandolin. It came quite naturally to me as it is a little like melding the violin and guitar skills together. I soon got into octave mandolin and mandocello. I started making more sense of basic music building blocks like chord structure, intervals, different modes, transposition, etc. When you know the fretboard/fingerboard of your instrument; when you know where all the notes are, it becomes harder to confuse chord forms and scales between your instruments. Knowing where the root, 3rd and 5th are for each chord inversion on each instrument, and training your ear to identify those intervals is a huge help.

If none of this makes sense or if it seems too theory oriented, most of the pickers I know couldn't care less about any of this and they play just fine. It has worked well for me - I became an advanced mandolin-family instrument player in my 40's in less than 2 years. To reach the same level of proficiency on guitar took me over 5 years in my teens, when my mind, fingers and tendons were much more elastic and I didn't have to support a family.
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  #27  
Old 11-15-2018, 07:23 AM
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Default Typical or Atypical?

Thanks for that brief musical bio Mandobart. Your early introduction into the world of stringed instruments has surely been significant for your growth over the years. I've noticed that many skilled performers often got an early start - sometimes in a musical family - learning at the knee of a parent or grandparent (think of Brad Paisley, for example). I'm envious of that. Many things are learned best when we are young. But I'm an old dog now so I wonder if my quest to learn new instruments with unfamiliar fretboards is a fantasy? Effort and commitment have a lot to do with success. I tend to ebb and flow in both arenas. I hope some other "old dogs" will share their stories here. How realistic is it for a yeoman guitar player to spread his/her wings and fly in a new domain such as the mandolin world? What did it take to succeed?
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  #28  
Old 12-16-2018, 03:52 AM
Malcolm Kindnes Malcolm Kindnes is offline
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Hi there,
I have played guitar for over fifty years and mandolin off and on for twenty. I love the sound of an octave mandolin and have owned two in the past.
It largely depends on what you want to play. Tuned an octave below mandolin, the scale length is very difficult for playing melody and yet a bit short for strumming chords. My advice would be, get an Irish style bouzouki if you want to play chords, and stick to the mandolin for playing melody.
Playing in a group situation it's good to swap between mandolin and octave mandolin, as some tunes sound great an octave lower, but the stretches are hard on the left hand.
Hope this helps
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  #29  
Old 01-29-2019, 05:14 AM
varmonter varmonter is offline
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When I was gassing for an octave I wanted an arch top f hole model.
Found they were too expensive a toy. Many folks convert arch top guitars
Like Kay and Stella but the scale length really isn’t right. I found a Gibson
TG-50. Tenor guitar which is basically a Gibbs L50 with a tenor guitar neck.
I was going to drill 4 more holes but liked it so much I left it as is.tuned
GDAE. Like a mandolin it’s sounds sweet. Scale length is just under 23 in.
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  #30  
Old 01-29-2019, 10:20 PM
Mycroft Mycroft is offline
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Hey, this thread again...Cool.


I was down at Dusty Strings last week, and they had a used Northfield archtop octave mandolin. I don't really play mando, but I know a half dozen chords. So I too it into one of the quiet rooms and had a go.

I needed a strap...

Really a gas. Great tone. Great sound. Extremely responsive. I want one...

Unfortunately not in the cards right now, or even on the card. I have an order to be delivered next month, so...

I thought that I had filled all the niches that I would want to fill. I guess that I was wrong.

Ah, GAS. It never ends...
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