You say you have a Lebeda and then go on to say "good stuff" later, I have played several Lebedas and they are really good mandolins. I played a Lebeda A at Cotton Music here in Nashville that made me want to sell my Gibson F9 - it had that singing quality that a lot of Collings mandolins. I have a friend with a Lebeda octave mandolin that is one of the sweetest sounding things I have ever heard.
Just saying you might try new or different strings, as well as play around with some different picks (and they don't have to be the expensive ones either). I play a lot with the Dunlop Ultex 1.14 picks and love the way they sound with my F9, but if I want a brighter tone I might play something thinner. I bought one of the Dawg picks once and it gave a really dark tone that I did not care for. To wrap up my ramble - a friend has let me borrow his Gibson Sam Bush model (good stuff - right?), but sometimes I prefer the tone I get from my F9. I like the playability of my Epiphone MM30 better than all of them, but the tone is not as good. There is always something, just keep playing and having fun doing it. Steve From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Robin Gravina Sent: Friday, January 21, 2011 7:05 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Blaming my tools Portugal is an idea, and I will do the strings;: I just use Addario J74's which I think are phosphor bronze (it says 'Ricky Skaggs uses this pack', so they must be good, right? ;-)) I might just be going through a patch of self-doubt, as other times I like my tone, but I think it's also just hearing people playing really good top-end instruments: mine is a Lebeda. I would like to go to Brighton to play on some of the good stuff in Trevor's shop and see if the impression that I have is real (and get tempted to spend money I don't have), but also I know I need to work on a smooth, minimalist left hand and on getting all of the 'air' out of the notes with my right. Thanks for the comments- I'll keep plugging away. Cheers Robin On Thu, Jan 20, 2011 at 5:39 AM, Linda <[email protected]> wrote: Robin, I am using phosphor bronze strings and they really suit my particular mandolin. They tell me when they start to go, and it is awful. Finding the right strings that suit your mandolin, and keeping them up to date can really help with tone. If that don't work then talking to a skilled and knowledgeable luthier could reveal what other issues might be around. Check that your fret wires are not worn. I had that happen and the tone became very distressing. The set up could be a bit off. I honestly did not notice any tone issues with your videos. I look at your playing and see all the things I can't do well, yet, that you can. I am able to get a very good tone from my mandolin when I play slow enough but at speed it deterioriates. The tune gets really muddy as I still have issues controling the pick when playing double stops, or very fast, to get the playing clear and clean. I am currently playing out anyway, faster, more double stops and really loud, free, not worrying much here at the house how it sounds but more attention to what is going wrong that I can work on, to eventually get a better sound going when playing more complex things and playing faster. Thats about all I can think of to say, but hope you find the answers so you feel happier about things. I hear you about having to travel to purchase a mandolin, to have the choice and such. Its so personal. Over the last two years, I have been working on double stops, slides, chord structure, memorizing tunes, position and habit issues to change, finger patterns, especially reaches like from A to C# on the G then to the E on the D string and to do that quickly. Its coming along, all of it. Lots and lots of work though and still, feeling like things are not exactly in place yet. You know there should be some really good mandolin type lutiers in Portugal. best linda On Jan 20, 12:29 am, Ed Goist <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Robin: > Could it be your strings? > Since string quality degrades slowly, we often don't notice it until it gets > really bad (kinda' like the frog that never jumps out of a pot slowly heated > to a boil [?]). > On more than one occasion I've been shocked by the improvement in my > mandolin's tone brought about simply by installing new, high-quality > strings. > Just a thought. > -Ed > > On Wed, Jan 19, 2011 at 3:52 AM, Robin Gravina <[email protected]>wrote: > > > > > Hi to all, on the old communications channel > > > I'm getting tone paranoia: it strikes me from seeing a lot of everyone's > > great videos how poor my tone is: I hear most people with great ringing > > sound, clear note separation and that kind of floating sound you get from > > the combination of those things. To me, lately, I sound like I just chucked > > a load of spanners down the stairs and into a tin box. > > > It's pretty hard for me to try out other mandolins, as I have to fly to > > England for the nearest shop, but I am really starting to wonder if it's me, > > or my tool. > > > Cheers > > Robin > > > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > > "Taterbugmando" group. > > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > > [email protected] <mailto:taterbugmando%[email protected]> <taterbugmando%[email protected] <mailto:taterbugmando%[email protected]> > > > . > > For more options, visit this group at > >http://groups.google.com/group/taterbugmando?hl=en. > > -- > Ed Goist > Development Officer, > WYSU-FM 330-941-3364 > *********************** > "Most of the luxuries and many of the so-called comforts of life are not > only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of > mankind." - Henry David Thoreau > ************************ > > 329.png > < 1KViewDownload -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Taterbugmando" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] <mailto:taterbugmando%[email protected]> . For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/taterbugmando?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Taterbugmando" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/taterbugmando?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Taterbugmando" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/taterbugmando?hl=en.
