This is my most meaningful acquisition ever!

[Grandturk]

Re: This is my most meaningful acquisition ever!

Now route it out for a Khaler and drop in a Super Distortion! [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

Seriously, very nice mando - that finish is really purty. I've always wanted a banjo or a mando to do the bluegrass thing, but get serious "sticker shock" when I look at them. I'll drop a grand on a guitar without blinking, but can't bring myself to do the same on a banjo or mando (and that's the cheap end for those instruments).

[1trussell]

Re: This is my most meaningful acquisition ever!

That is a nice looking mandolin. I live in Maryland Hts. so I've been down to Fazio's a couple of times. It is indeed a nice store with some good people and a great selection. Congrats again.

[Budman68]

Re: This is my most meaningful acquisition ever!

<font color="aqua">Beautiful story Tom! Your wife is a charm so don't ever let that one go my friend. As for the mando, it's beautiful and the plain look is actually very attractive. I have actually built an "F" style mando and it gave me an even greater respect for those builders! [img]/images/graemlins/notworthy.gif[/img]

Congrats bro on a beautiful instrument and apparently a beautiful person you have as your wife. [img]/images/graemlins/toast.gif[/img] </font>

[tmdiamond]

Re: This is my most meaningful acquisition ever!

Thanks for the kind words about my wife...and the mandolin too. You are correct, 1800 is definitely on the low end of the scale when it comes to high-end mandolins. Weber's top of the line F-style is called the Weber Fern. Without additional custom work, it starts at around 5k. I would add, however, that it is incredibly beautiful as is and the only custom work I could see doing would be maybe a custom inlay or something like that. I should post a pic of my wife one of these days....but then she'll get flirted with like Sam's wife does. Ahhh, what the heck....

[dinkyjacksonman]

Re: This is my most meaningful acquisition ever!

That looks great!
I didn't know you play Mandolin..
It's cool to play something differnet from regular guitar.

I would love to have a ukulele from Hawaii and it's a custom hand made to your spec with Hawaiian Koa and comes with a custom case as well. [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]
One day..

[hippietim]

Re: This is my most meaningful acquisition ever!

Tom, you should pick up everything and anything with David Grisman on the mandolin. That guy is a monster player. I have several of his David Grisman Quartet CDs - they're kickass. Also, David did a number of recordings with Jerry Garcia that are absolutely wonderful. My favorite of theirs is called Shady Grove. They just play old traditional tunes - Jerry sings a wee bit off key now and again (like he did in the Dead) but it's great stuff - very sincere - those guys played from the heart all the way.

Naturally this stuff is more stomp your feet kickass than bang your head kickass [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[Bengal65]

Re: This is my most meaningful acquisition ever!

That's really cool, the wife first and then the Mando. I bought a Washburn F-5 style back in 1990, to play in the church. I was always bringing in different stringed instruments for variety. Now, if I can every get the hang of a fiddle. Maybe with frets! Congrats on the aquisition! [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[tmdiamond]

Re: This is my most meaningful acquisition ever!

Tim, I'll check Grisman out. Bengal651...thanks for noticing that I put my wife first. I ALWAYS put my wife first not because I should or because I'm supposed to but because I want to. She is an incredible human being, of that ther is no doubt. One of these days, I'll post the whole story about how blessed I am to be married to Laurie.
I'd also like to try learning violin. I believe the tuning is the same as a mando. I always wondered whether the fretless aspect would make it tougher. My sister took violin lessons for a while but stopped after a few months. She's a great pianist but couldn't quite grasp the stringed instrument concept.
Tom

[LarryL]

Re: This is my most meaningful acquisition ever!

That's a great story. It's nice when you can make a connection like that with an instrument. I've had plenty of nice guitars come and go but in the end, great playing instruments are a dime a dozen. It's not easy to end up with some that are truly special.

[sully]

Re: This is my most meaningful acquisition ever!

[ QUOTE ]
I'd also like to try learning violin. I believe the tuning is the same as a mando. I always wondered whether the fretless aspect would make it tougher. My sister took violin lessons for a while but stopped after a few months. She's a great pianist but couldn't quite grasp the stringed instrument concept.
Tom

[/ QUOTE ]

violin is tuned g-d-a-e, and yeah, it's probably the hardest instrument to learn and get good on. the fretless aspect makes you really pay attention to your... heh... fingering.

sully

[tmdiamond]

Re: This is my most meaningful acquisition ever!

he he...he said "fingering"....
Mandolin is also tuned GDAE which makes scales easy to play. I must say, you play a lot of chords that take on a completely different "feel" because many of the open chords don't have the root in the bass. Open chords may not be the best term to describe them. For instance, where we as guitarists USUALLY will play a standard major chord, like G lets say, with a G as the bass note and first note struck. On a mandolin, there are hundreds of ways to play a G, just like on guitar, but it seems that more of the chords will have say, the V (D) as the first note struck or maybe even the III (B) as the first note. Gives the chord a whole different feeling or voice.
Since I've started doing this mandolin thing, my guitar chops have become cleaner, mostly on alternate picking stuff. The bad thing is, on a guitar, a lot of times I play legato. If I really want to burn when playing a lead, I'll go legato. On a mandolin, it is very, very difficult to get a solid note doing hammer ons and pull offs repeatedly.