016 are particularly vulnerable to binding where they pass through the nut. Lawrence Smart, a fine mandolin maker, lives here in Idaho, we were playing tunes one night, and this is what he told me to do…the A strings at about. It tends to bind the worst because of the sharper angle between the nut and the tuning peg. I’ll bet the A string closest to the D course is the worst offender for you, too. Hey, I’ve got that A string out of tune problem fixed- I have a plain vanilla flatiron that I’m not particularly fond of, the A strings were always going off. An aquaintance of mine has a Gibson from around 1908 that I would love to have just for playing solo, and I borrowed it to make a recording, but it doesn’t project at a dance, even with the mic turned all the way up. If I had the resources, Flatiron would probably not be my first choice, although I would at least try out the most expensive one they make before deciding. After some years the top sagged, and I sent it back (by then Gibson was making the Flatirons), and got a new one, a model 2mw, one of the cheaper ones. I was looking for a nice old one, but chose the Flatiron because the sound was so bright. They had scores of mandolins, and the guy tuned them all up and played the same tune on every one of them while I stood in front of him and listened. I bought my first one in 1981 at Elderly in Lansing, Michigan. who said good riddance ! #ĭon’t laugh at me, but I use a Flatiron. Its not put me off altogether, but next time if any accordians are about I’ll find somewhere else to play !. And even though I say it myself, my chord playing did help to liven things up, give the music an extra bounce, and rithem ( cant spell either). I bet ther’es a few of you out there who would cringe at this practice, but it was really the only bit of satisfaction I could get from the experience.
I would have had a chance, but I was trying to compete against 2 accordians who took control most of the time. Anyway I was a bit dissapointed, and started to regret some what taking up the mandolin, because I couldn’t be heard properly. I went to a session on sunday in Holmfirth, it was really the first time I’d tried to play, because i’m a bit of a beginner, and I only know a few tunes.
Your right about mandolins being too quiet. Re: What kind of Mandolins do YOU use for Celtic music? You’ll probably have trouble hearing what you’re doing, leaving you to wonder if you’re making mistakes and everyone’s laughing at you behind your back, and you’ll be constantly checking your tuning (cursed double strings! cursed A strings!) because you can’t tell whether you’re out of tune, because you can’t hear yourself, ultimately you’ll probably be pitched into a slough of despond about the whole thing, give it up, join a celtic rock band, have a hit single, get a few promising gigs, but ultimately have the whole thing fizzle out on you leaving you with an expensive drug habit and a nasty condition in your personal bits from the company you kept on the road with the rock band, and an ever-mounting tab at the pub where you started those many years before trying to play tunes on a mandolin but now drown your sorrows on every night but session night, ‘cause you never did settle the whole laughing at you behind your back question. For sessions, mandolins will give you a hard time.
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