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04 Aug 97 - 05:49 PM (#10044) Subject: Mando-bass?!? From: Öjje Can anybody please tell me what a Mando-bass and a Mando-cello is? Öjje |
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04 Aug 97 - 06:18 PM (#10046) Subject: RE: Mando-bass?!? From: rapunzel I'm pretty sure it's a larger version of a mandolin. Vio-lin................Mando-lin Violon-cello (cello)...Mando-cello Bass...................Mando-bass (I wonder if there's a Mandol-a , like a viol-a) I just got an album at an outdoor concert in Salt Lake City where The guy was playing probably one of these It looked like a Mandolin twice as big as usual. I'm sure someone else can give you more detailed information on this, though, this is just my best guess rapunzel |
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04 Aug 97 - 06:31 PM (#10048) Subject: RE: Mando-bass?!? From: Jon W. Follow this link to an article I found by doing a search on mando-bass (also on mando-cello). There seems to be a lot of interest and a lot of information. Rapunzel, I'm from the Salt Lake area - what group? Were they local? I'll keep an eye out for their next concert. |
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04 Aug 97 - 06:33 PM (#10050) Subject: RE: Mando-bass?!? From: Öjje Jon W: I´m going to check out the link! rapunzel: You are probality right about it but this big mandolin you are talking about, can it be a bouzouki? Anyway, thank´s! Öjje |
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04 Aug 97 - 06:39 PM (#10051) Subject: RE: Mando-bass?!? From: rapunzel I can't remember the name of the group. Well it was a couple of people, rather. I don't feel like calling home to my S.O. to have him check the CD, since he's giving a music lesson. It was the same day as the Day's of '47 parade at a downtown artsy-type square near the convention center. I was in town for a conference. I'm not local to the area, as you can probably tell. I'm pretty sure they were local, but you never know. I'll go home and look it up and get back to you. Yeah, he was playing with this guy who was on what was apparently a tenor fiddle. It was pretty cool kind of folksy/classical sounding. rapunzel |
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04 Aug 97 - 09:08 PM (#10064) Subject: RE: Mando-bass?!? From: Jon W: Darryl Anger plays the violins of all sizes Mike Marshall plays the mando- things (and George Marsh plays.... the triangle) On the album I have they are called Chiaroscuro, but there were other albums with these people with other people under other group names. But those are the names Alison Frane (aka rapunzel) |
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05 Aug 97 - 09:59 AM (#10099) Subject: RE: Mando-bass?!? From: Earl Rapunzel, There is a mandola, tuned a fifth lower than a mandolin. In the last century there were mandolin quartets, made up of one of each type of mandolin, which played string quartet music. There is also an octave mandolin, aka "Irish bouzouki" (discussed elswhere in this forum) tuned an octave lower than a mandolin but it's not offically a menber of the mandolin family. Mandola's and octave mandolins are great for playing mandolin music without other musicians. Mando-cello (if you can afford it) is a beautiful substitute for bass in accoustic music. |
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05 Aug 97 - 11:28 AM (#10103) Subject: RE: Mando-bass?!? From: Bert Hansell I saw a beastie in a music shop in Nashville. It had a mandolin neck & head and a banjo body. |
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05 Aug 97 - 11:46 AM (#10106) Subject: RE: Mando-bass?!? From: Bill in Alabama I have seen photos of turn-of-the century mandolin orchestras in which Mando-basses were included. They were bass-viol-sized mandolin-shaped instruments which rested on the floor beside the player, with the neck across his/her lap. Bert: Also at the turn of the century several companies manufactured such instruments as you describe. I have an August Pohlmann mandolin-banjo manufactured in 1888. I also have a banjo-lute, which has the body of a giant A-model mandolin and the neck of a 5-string banjo. It was made by The Deerings, in California, and it's a great instrument for accompaniment and for recording. |
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05 Aug 97 - 01:01 PM (#10116) Subject: RE: Mando-bass?!? From: Jon W. Thanks Alison aka Rapunzel. Chiaroscuro rings a bell, I'll see when they're playing sometime. I've seen a lot of sites on the net offering unusual instruments such as the mandolin-banjo (sometimes called a banjolin) and I think Dobro (Gibson) is now manufacturing a five-string resonator guitar with a banjo neck. |
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05 Aug 97 - 11:26 PM (#10131) Subject: RE: Mando-bass?!? From: Earl I forgot to mention mandolin banjos. I own two, one with a full sized body and one with a six inch body. I know they were sold at least into the 1920s and were used by jugbands. I think someone has recently started making them again. Also, National made an all steel, resonator mandolin with a surprisingly mellow sound. |
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06 Aug 97 - 10:34 AM (#10143) Subject: RE: Mando-bass?!? From: Whippoorwill Earl, is there a difference between a mandolin banjo and a banjo ukulele? I've seen a banjo uke; it is single-strung and tuned e-b-g-d like the uke or tenor guitar. |
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06 Aug 97 - 01:51 PM (#10163) Subject: RE: Mando-bass?!? From: Jon W.- Not to usurp Earl's reply but a banjolin would be double strung tuned gdae just like a mandolin or violin. As an experiment in resonator instrument building, and the start of what I hope will be a longlasting and satisfying hobby I built a resonator mandolin with a pie tin as the resonator, a maple laminated pot encased in a steel body, a maple bridge and neck with a rosewood fingerboard. It sounds surprizingly good considering I got the pie tin for a quarter. I hope to build more instruments - a banjo, a resonator guitar, a harp for my eight-year-old daughter - but I've got a house to finish remodeling first. PS my wife says she saw Andy Griffeth playing a resonator mandolin on Matlock. |
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06 Aug 97 - 05:08 PM (#10171) Subject: RE: Mando-bass?!? From: Earl Concerning Banjo ukes I would only add that they use nylon strings and sound the same as regular ukes but louder. A mandolin banjo has a sound somewhere between a mandolin and a tenor banjo. Jon W., Did you build your resonator mandolin from plans? I've heard of people using pie tins but I was wondering if there is any science to it. |
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06 Aug 97 - 06:19 PM (#10172) Subject: RE: Mando-bass?!? From: Jon W. I made up the plans myself. The biggest science to it (and any fretted instrument) is the fret spacing. I bought a preslotted mandolin fretboard from Stewart-MacDonald. But I also found the formula for calculating fret position in a book, so I could have done it myself. The pie tin is made of light steel, not heavy aluminum or aluminum foil. I got it at a thrift store. I thought it would be strong enough to withstand the string pressure, and light enough to vibrate well, and I am fairly pleased with it (of course my ears are tin too). But I don't actually play it much, being more of a finger picking guitar & banjo type of guy. Anyone who wants more details can e-mail me at jdwhitney@wpmail.code3.com. |
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07 Aug 97 - 05:04 AM (#10182) Subject: RE: Mando-bass?!? From: Rick One of the best mandolin / mandola players in Europe is a guy called Patrick Vaillant. I lit a concert of his (with Ricardo Tesi, melodeon) recently and I was mega-impressed, especially with his chording speed on the mandolin. He's French, from the area around Nice, and also sings in the Languedoc language. Check out his recordings with Riccardo Tesi (e.g. Un ballo liscio) Cheers Rick. |
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07 Aug 97 - 11:27 AM (#10186) Subject: RE: Mando-bass?!? From: Whippoorwill I spoke with a dulcimer maker some time ago who said he strings the instrument first, then determines fret positions with a piece of coat hanger wire under the strings. Said he'd tried using the mathematical formula, but was sometimes just a shade off. This way, he said, gave a truer pitch. |
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07 Aug 97 - 12:19 PM (#10191) Subject: RE: Mando-bass?!? From: JESTER! Mando-basses are tuned like a double bass, (EADG, low to high) and resemble them, except they're pear shaped, have frets, and round sound holes. Ok, so they're nothing like a double bass. Gibson (and others?) manufactured them back in the good old days, sort of preticessors (SP?) to today's acoustic guitar basses. I heard of one recently bringing $2 grand at a show in Philly, but those that still exist are mostly in rough shape. The gutair and amp shop in Harrisonburg, VA (inches off interstate 81) has two of them, but the guy is a collector, mostly of tipples and ukes, and doesn't seem anxious to sell. Pretty cool axes, though... |
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07 Aug 97 - 12:27 PM (#10192) Subject: RE: Mando-bass?!? From: Jon W. Whip, I wonder if your dulcimer maker was setting his frets so the dulcimer would have a true scale rather than a evenly tempered scale. My limited understanding is that an evenly tempered scale is somewhat of a compromise so an instrument can be played in different keys without retuning it. This would not be a consideration with a mountain dulcimer since they are only played in one key. The true scales do sound better (or so I'm told). The math formula for frets is probably based on an evenly tempered scale. |
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07 Aug 97 - 05:32 PM (#10196) Subject: RE: Mando-bass?!? From: Earl JESTER!, I saw a mando-bass in a great guitar store in Rochester NY but I don't think it was for sale either. They wouldn't even let us touch it. |
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08 Aug 97 - 12:53 AM (#10208) Subject: RE: Mando-bass?!? From: Larry Mandolin orchastras still exist, there are some in this country, on the fly the best I could find was this link with a picture of the whole orchastra http://gagliano.phys.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp:8000/members/arai/wmg/index.html Intresting dicussion of insturments, mando - bas & chello are used in orchastras, traditionaly. banjolin's, were used more in folk groups prior to electronics, for lead parts( there louder) I have a friend that has a true dobro mandolin, I have one with a meatal resonator, but not the true dobro version. There is a store in Tulsa, Okla that collects and sell a variety of vintage instruments, called Strings West. Its fun to brows, he's a hard one to buy from though. |
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08 Aug 97 - 11:26 AM (#10224) Subject: RE: Mando-bass?!? From: Bruce J. I you have never visited Lark in the Morning's site, you might like it at larkinam.com. They sell a variety of unusual instruments of the long neck big body mandolin type. I recently purchased a Cittern, which is a 10 strings in 5 pairs thing for under $300 and am very pleased with the quality of it. They also offer mandolin kits, which were a temptation I barely resisted. Hope this doesn't sound like an ad. It's a testimonial from a customer, that's all. |
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08 Aug 97 - 03:33 PM (#10230) Subject: RE: Mando-bass?!? From: LaMarca An interesting counterpart of mandolin orchestras are Russian balalaika orchestras. Like members of the mandolin family, balalaikas are double strung, and for an orchestra, come in soprano (violin), alto (viola), tenor (cello) and bass ranges. A bass balalaika is a truly awesome sight to behold; at least it has a flat side to set on the floor (they're triangularly shaped, with the neck at the apex). It's played standing up, like a string bass. There are a slew of double-strung instruments that are in the same tone range, some 8-string and some 10-string. Bouzouki, octave-mandolin, mando-cello and cittern all seem to be in the tenor range; I think the only differences are the shape of the body and the way the strings are tuned. Jeff Davis, an American instrumentalist and traditional singer, has a beautiful Gibson mandocello which sounds wonderful as an accompaniment. |