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Poor ickle mandola - 'ee go twang...
Jul. 16th, 2009 07:44 amI have this hankering for double coursed instruments at the moment. It's mostly showing itself in my overpowering lust for a bouzouki. Tragically, my bouzouki fund currently contains a cobweb and three bottle tops. Despite tentative enquiries about buying 2nd hand ones, I've not found anyone willing to part with one, and the only serious offer I've had was from a band-mate of Tim's who said he'd make me one (he's a rather famous luthier) - I *know* I can't afford that, so ho hum!
So, whilst unloading stuff out of the garage last night (Tim sold some old drum hardware - hurrah!), I came across the dusty case for my old mandola. I bought it whilst rather drunk at Sidmouth (as one does), and enjoyed playing it a lot. My problem came when I bust a string - I bought replacement strings, but never put them on as they looked twice as thick as the ones that it came strung with. I was already struggling with the action a little, so just made do with a single E string, and vowed to find some mandola extra light strings.
After a year or so, it ceased playing in tune. Don't ask me what happened, but it just sounded *weird*. A friend at a folk club suggested I tuned it "irish" (CDGA). I tried. The bottom four strings flopped around and buzzed like bumble bees on a hot summer afternoon. I thought I'd take it back up again (EADG). Bust another top string. Argh!
Tim played at Whitby Folk Festival and as a "sorry for having had fun whilst I've been away" gift, he brought me a new set of mandola strings. I excitedly took them out of the packet and... just the same as the first ones I'd bought. ACK! I asked another friend about how much his friendly luthier might charge for a set-up and re-string. The ball-park figure was about the same as I'd paid for the mandola to start with. Maybe not...
So, I put the mandola in the case and stuck it in the garage. One day I'd find extra lights, or someone who could tell me what went wrong, but for now it was gathering dust on the pile of half-used paint cans and outgrown bicycles.
Until last night. The urge for a bouzouki has been getting especially strong recently - I find myself cruising past ebay and just *checking* to see what might be there, even though I know I can't afford it. So when I discovered the mandola in the garage, and realised that I knew where the new strings were... Well, it might be unplayable, but it was worth a try, I figured.
Three hours later I had removed, repaired and replaced the tailpiece (mending delicate instruments with hammers, oh my!), and replaced the old strings with the heavier ones in pairs. I had experimented with both irish and folk tunings, and found that folk worked much better. After I'd settled the new strings in and stretched them out a little, I had a play.
Wow! It's like having a new instrument! OK, the strings are a little heavier, but nothing as bad as I'd expected, and I'm thinking that maybe the mandola was previously strung with mandolin wire - which would explain the heavy action for the light strings and the tendency to break very easily. The proper mandola strings are fun, loud, brassy and full of yummy harmonics. It's a good thing that I've been playing a lot of guitar recently and my callouses are coming back - I have a feeling I'm going to need them. (In associated news, can I just mention that my callouses are getting really weird - the guitar ones are extended around the corner of my fingers into harp ones. It's never happened before - but then again, I don't think I've ever played quite this much before, either!).
I wish you all the joy of a forgotten instrument :-D
So, whilst unloading stuff out of the garage last night (Tim sold some old drum hardware - hurrah!), I came across the dusty case for my old mandola. I bought it whilst rather drunk at Sidmouth (as one does), and enjoyed playing it a lot. My problem came when I bust a string - I bought replacement strings, but never put them on as they looked twice as thick as the ones that it came strung with. I was already struggling with the action a little, so just made do with a single E string, and vowed to find some mandola extra light strings.
After a year or so, it ceased playing in tune. Don't ask me what happened, but it just sounded *weird*. A friend at a folk club suggested I tuned it "irish" (CDGA). I tried. The bottom four strings flopped around and buzzed like bumble bees on a hot summer afternoon. I thought I'd take it back up again (EADG). Bust another top string. Argh!
Tim played at Whitby Folk Festival and as a "sorry for having had fun whilst I've been away" gift, he brought me a new set of mandola strings. I excitedly took them out of the packet and... just the same as the first ones I'd bought. ACK! I asked another friend about how much his friendly luthier might charge for a set-up and re-string. The ball-park figure was about the same as I'd paid for the mandola to start with. Maybe not...
So, I put the mandola in the case and stuck it in the garage. One day I'd find extra lights, or someone who could tell me what went wrong, but for now it was gathering dust on the pile of half-used paint cans and outgrown bicycles.
Until last night. The urge for a bouzouki has been getting especially strong recently - I find myself cruising past ebay and just *checking* to see what might be there, even though I know I can't afford it. So when I discovered the mandola in the garage, and realised that I knew where the new strings were... Well, it might be unplayable, but it was worth a try, I figured.
Three hours later I had removed, repaired and replaced the tailpiece (mending delicate instruments with hammers, oh my!), and replaced the old strings with the heavier ones in pairs. I had experimented with both irish and folk tunings, and found that folk worked much better. After I'd settled the new strings in and stretched them out a little, I had a play.
Wow! It's like having a new instrument! OK, the strings are a little heavier, but nothing as bad as I'd expected, and I'm thinking that maybe the mandola was previously strung with mandolin wire - which would explain the heavy action for the light strings and the tendency to break very easily. The proper mandola strings are fun, loud, brassy and full of yummy harmonics. It's a good thing that I've been playing a lot of guitar recently and my callouses are coming back - I have a feeling I'm going to need them. (In associated news, can I just mention that my callouses are getting really weird - the guitar ones are extended around the corner of my fingers into harp ones. It's never happened before - but then again, I don't think I've ever played quite this much before, either!).
I wish you all the joy of a forgotten instrument :-D
