Even the cafe is biased towards f's

[Minorkey]

For classic standing waves, you need distances of multiple wavelengths. In a typical instrument body, there is not enough room for that, or else the parallel top and back of a guitar would create such effects.

The waist of a guitar is for the player's knee, I guess.

I disagree. I believe a guitar is shaped the way it is to shape the sound. Violins, cellos etc have a similar shape.

[Nick Gellie]

Well, working on an F5 kit has made me appreciate the finer points of a scroll and the shape overall. When you have bound an F and get the celluloid to match up near perfectly, I just sit there and look at it. It is an amazing design.

[Tom Coletti]

My heart lies with A-styles, but my chest hair favors the F's.



--Tom

[Ellen T]

My heart lies with A-styles, but my chest hair favors the F's.



--Tom

That's a TMI style!

[Petrus]

Here's my little scroll-less modification of a f-style headstock. (No woodworking skills involved, just Photoshop. Only photons were harmed, not wood!)



We have snakehead mandos; I call this one an "arrowhead."

[Bertram Henze]

My heart lies with A-styles, but my chest hair favors the F's.

Not much of a pompadours...

[Bertram Henze]

I disagree. I believe a guitar is shaped the way it is to shape the sound. Violins, cellos etc have a similar shape.

If you close your eyes on this one, could you tell what the shape is?

[journeybear]

I believe a guitar is shaped the way it is because there weren't any mandolinists around during the crucial stages of its development to offer their opinions, fussy little so-and-sos!

BTW, how come this fascinating thread has earned a rating of only two stars? I'm shocked!

[Bertram Henze]

I believe a guitar is shaped the way it is because there weren't any mandolinists around during the crucial stages of its development to offer their opinions, fussy little so-and-sos!

I dimly remember that even electric guitar players fuss about the tonal merits of their body shapes (the guitar bodies, that is). It seems man always needs an excuse for beauty.

[eastman_315]

It seems man always needs an excuse for beauty.

Beauty is its own excuse!

Frank

[JeffD]

I think this thread is a hoot, considering recent developments in café stickers. Time and tide, time and tide.

[OldSausage]

That reminds me of that song "Ironic", which ironically listed all those things that weren't actually ironic.

[John Adrihan]

I think this thread is a hoot, considering recent developments in café stickers. Time and tide, time and tide.

Yea!! hats off to the café. I started this post. I wonder if I start a thread on the bias of F's in my house an A will show up

[Harmon Gladding]

Most cafe members are bluegrass devotees.

Is there evidence to support this claim? Thank you.

[JeffD]

Is there evidence to support this claim? Thank you.

My impression, based just on being here a long time, is that it is less bluegrass centric than it was many years ago. When I started coming here way back in the way back I felt it was more or less the bluegrass cafe. And maybe just learning my way around better, and being more able to access specifically what I may be after - my impression is that the place is less bluegrassy than it used to be.

Truth is probably that the cafe has a lot of grassers, but that it has always had a huge amount of interest in other genres, but that I have changed. I am more comfortable in my own skin and don't feel being "left out" as much I used to.

[tiltman]

Quote Originally Posted by Ron McMillan View Post
Most cafe members are bluegrass devotees.
Is there evidence to support this claim? Thank you.

I think it depends on how you define bluegrass...



Kirk

[allenhopkins]

I think it depends on how you define bluegrass....

And you sure'n'hell don't want to do that!

[journeybear]

Most cafe members are bluegrass devotees.

I think it depends on how you define bluegrass...

I think it depends on how you define "most."

[maxr]

I think it depends on how you define "most."

And before that, we would need to set the parameters for 'define'. Oh stop, and 'you'...

PS what's that last smiley?

[Willi Bahrenberg]

How fun! I started an new thread under "General mandolin discussions" to find out how the distribution of bluegrass devotees among the community really is!

[journeybear]

PS what's that last smiley?

The cow? I was using it to subtly underscore my point that the point was mooot.

I'm not sure of its original intended meaning. That's a question for others. I do know it was introduced moost recently, a few years ago. Its purpose may have been announced at the time; I don't recall. But as I've mentioned a few times, we're due for another emoji - the eye roll. Much needed. I use or sometimes in its place, but that would be a great addition to our stable of characters. Yes, I said it.

But if I could be serious for a moment - just for a moment - the mandolin is a musical instrument, and musical instruments can be used to play whatever the musician wishes. Like any musical instrument, it's not limited to whatever genre the general public associates with it. Violins can play more than classical music, electric guitars can play more than rock, pedal steels can play more than country, accordions can play more than polkas, banjos can play more than bluegrass - well, I'm not sure about that last one. Personally, I play all sorts of genres on my mandolin, very little of which is bluegrass. I'm playing whatever I want (with varying degrees of success) on it, and I'm doing the choosing, not the mandolin. To say that most cafe members are into bluegrass is misguided, misled, and missing the point - the instrument's versatility is substantial, and most members should be aware of this, surely more so than most members of the general public.

It's a generalization, and most generalizations are false.

[tmsweeney]

its funny how the F style mandolin was produced by Gibson long before the invention of the "Les Paul" guitar, yet the body style of the classic Les Paul is remarkably similar to the F style mandolin, I have about 50/50 F style and A style mandos, I can't say the F style sound any better, but any F's I have are generally overall better quality than the A's I have.

[GreenMTBoy]

The F as well as the A are a thing of beauty ,I love them both and own both ,that being said the F is the pick of the litter !

[journeybear]

Going back to the OP:

The new case sticker, the coffee cup, the hat, the marquee, and even the greeting card!!! f f f f f everywhere! No wonder there is always questions about A vs F it is subcontiously driven it's not just Bill's fault

... and bringing in this opinion, expressed several times but most succinctly thus:

No other shape definitively says 'mandolin'.

... I must respectfully disagree. The most common representation in art is of an A-style or bowlback, going back to the 19th century (admittedly, that's all there was until Orville). Picasso and his ilk, operating mostly in the post-Orville world, still used the symmetrical, oval-shaped body, and whenever it appeared, the rectangular symmetrical headstock. That may not mean everything to everybody, but to me, that implies that is how the instrument was perceived, and incorporated into artistic representations so people would recognize them. Although the asymmetrical F-style seems almost surreal as is, it appears far less often in art. As far as I know. Artists are often a few steps ahead of the general public, leading the way. The overwhelmingly frequently-appearing mandolin image in art is oval, be it bowlback, flatback, or A-style. That definitively says "mandolin."

Moreover, the F-style is a variation of the pre-existing A-style, not the other way around.

[JeffD]

... I must respectfully disagree. The most common representation in art is of an A-style or bowlback, going back to the 19th century (admittedly, that's all there was until Orville). Picasso and his ilk, operating mostly in the post-Orville world, still used the symmetrical, oval-shaped body, and whenever it appeared, the rectangular symmetrical headstock. That may not mean everything to everybody, but to me, that implies that is how the instrument was perceived, and incorporated into artistic representations so people would recognize them. Although the asymmetrical F-style seems almost surreal as is, it appears far less often in art. As far as I know. Artists are often a few steps ahead of the general public, leading the way. The overwhelmingly frequently-appearing mandolin image in art is oval, be it bowlback, flatback, or A-style. That definitively says "mandolin."

Setting art aside, (I don't disagree) but the shape that says mandolin most definitely to the most people, all over the world, is the bowlback. All else are routinely confused for small guitars, ukuleles, or worse. Yes its oval, but its the bowl and staves, really. A bowlback mandolin is not confused with anything, except maybe a small lute. (Those who are unsure what a mandolin is will surely not know what an oud is.)

The most common view of a mandolin is art. In the hands of a cherub. Because nobody, come on, really plays a mandolin.

Most people, even today, have not knowingly seen an F body mandolin.

Most folks that I have talked to that know who Marty Stuart is, know him more in his collaborations with other country artists.

Most folks are not sure who Bill Monroe is. One of those old time country guys right? From way back before Keith Urban.

Most folks that I have talked to identify "bluegrass" with the banjo, and anything with banjo in it is bluegrass.

Most folks I have talked to, if they have ever heard of Chris Thile, it is likely to be as Claire Coffee's husband.