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Thread: Hora OM Upgrade Project

  1. #1
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    Default Hora OM Upgrade Project

    I recently bought a Hora to add to my arsenal of expensive kindling . I find the Hora to have a bright, pretty, loud voice that I enjoy hearing. When I got it, I was impressed with the sound and so decided to make a project of it to see how it would turn out with component upgrades; and I am pleased. I upgraded the machines to Gotoh's and added an Allen bronze tailpiece, a strap button on the heel and J81 strings and still have only $303.00 in it. My reasoning is that it with the all solid woods, now having an adjustable truss rod and with the craftsmanship on Hora's stuff having improved over the last couple of years I was invited to experiment. So I thought it just might compare with TC's at less cost. IMHO, it does, although it's not as pretty as TC'c, it does give the TC's a run on sound quality. I've considered that maybe I just got a really good one, which is possible, but I also reasoned that the price of any axe is determined by the cost of components as well as wood and lutherie time/cost. Romanian labor cost has to be fairly low which yields a low cost instrument so the Hora might just be a dark horse in the market. So, bottom line is for me a very pleasing project that improved sustain, overall sound and stays in tune longer and for only $303! Comments invited!

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  3. #2

    Default Re: Hora OM Upgrade Project

    I had a Hora and it was pretty crap. It never stayed in tune. It did have a nice rich tone tho. Cud we hav a video maybe

  4. #3
    Registered User Colin Lindsay's Avatar
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    Default Re: Hora OM Upgrade Project

    There’s many a new tune played on an old fiddle… so… I’d say yes you can probably tweak any of these a bit and gain a considerable improvement on the factory seeing. Even better quality strings can work wonders, but you’ll hit the upper limit eventually. It’s great to experiment, though, and even if you make a terminal hoo-ha you’ll not be out too much money...
    "Danger! Do Not Touch!" must be one of the scariest things to read in Braille....

  5. #4

    Default Re: Hora OM Upgrade Project

    Quote Originally Posted by Colin Lindsay View Post
    There’s many a new tune played on an old fiddle… so… I’d say yes you can probably tweak any of these a bit and gain a considerable improvement on the factory seeing. Even better quality strings can work wonders, but you’ll hit the upper limit eventually. It’s great to experiment, though, and even if you make a terminal hoo-ha you’ll not be out too much money...
    i just found it had very little sustain but to be fair i didnt rectify any of the major issues, i learned after a week i had to upgrad pretty quick. defo worth a few hundred dollars though.

  6. #5
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    Default Re: Hora OM Upgrade Project

    It’s great to experiment, though, and even if you make a terminal hoo-ha you’ll not be out too much money...[/QUOTE]

    I love that term, ".. terminal hoo-ha". At this point I don't think it will be.
    Actually, the J81 strings made a noticeable difference along with the other changes-I made the changes one by one to see what individual effect they each made. I have had fun doing this little project. I also have ordered a $9.00 rosewood bridge(ebay) which is a bit longer than the "5-string banjo" type bridge that is on it now. I'm interested in how that works out. So far the volume is greater, it stays in tune and the sustain is better and it still has a lively sound I enjoy hearing. I did have to lower the action a bit by sanding the feet of the bridge and that helped as well. Me being a luthier helps in that I do all the mods myself.

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    Default Re: Hora OM Upgrade Project

    Update on the Hora project. I put the solid 5" long x 1/4" thick rosewood bridge on and had to go back to the original maple/ebony insert "5-string banjo" type as it sounded much better. The other(rosewood) bridge muffled the sound too much-it didn't have the lively sound I enjoy. All in all, the Hora sounds much better than as-received and stays in tune and I have a lot less in it than a TC although I realize the resale value would not likely be as high as the TC; but I bought it to keep & enjoy-for only $300!

  8. #7
    Registered User Musselburgh_mandolin's Avatar
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    Default Re: Hora OM Upgrade Project

    I have two Hora instruments, a mandola and an OM.

    I've always been struck by how well made the bodies are, and how great they sound (given their cost...), but how hit and miss the components can be. I guess there's a price to hit and something has to give. Also, Hora have a quirky sense of design, by which I mean ebonizing the rosewood fretboards, staining the maple backs and necks a rather dark brown and the acres of marquetry inlay on the soundboard. My mandola has their 'traditional' approach (acres of marquetry). The OM is much plainer and looks much 'cleaner' for it. Although, that said, it has an interesting 'Celtic' design cut around the soundhole. Does it add to the sound? Not sure, but overall I like it's looks better than the mandola. It's not obviously a Hora instrument.

    I definitely found the original strings on the OM to be poor but the overall tone improved with better strings (I bought Pyramid OM strings, from Thomann.de and have D'Addarios to replace it, a custom set my local music shop made up for me). I haven't swapped out the tuners, but judicious application of quality lubricant (actually some bike oil) helped tuning and staying in tune.

    I tried out a couple of different bridges, but was surprised the original sounded best. A nicer tail-piece is on the cards when I have the funds.

  9. #8

    Default Re: Hora OM Upgrade Project

    Quote Originally Posted by Musselburgh_mandolin View Post
    I have two Hora instruments, a mandola and an OM.

    I've always been struck by how well made the bodies are, and how great they sound (given their cost...), but how hit and miss the components can be. I guess there's a price to hit and something has to give. Also, Hora have a quirky sense of design, by which I mean ebonizing the rosewood fretboards, staining the maple backs and necks a rather dark brown and the acres of marquetry inlay on the soundboard. My mandola has their 'traditional' approach (acres of marquetry). The OM is much plainer and looks much 'cleaner' for it. Although, that said, it has an interesting 'Celtic' design cut around the soundhole. Does it add to the sound? Not sure, but overall I like it's looks better than the mandola. It's not obviously a Hora instrument.

    I definitely found the original strings on the OM to be poor but the overall tone improved with better strings (I bought Pyramid OM strings, from Thomann.de and have D'Addarios to replace it, a custom set my local music shop made up for me). I haven't swapped out the tuners, but judicious application of quality lubricant (actually some bike oil) helped tuning and staying in tune.

    I tried out a couple of different bridges, but was surprised the original sounded best. A nicer tail-piece is on the cards when I have the funds.
    Im considering their mandola. Have you any video or pics? How do you tune it? Iwas thinking gdae. So in octaves

  10. #9
    Registered User Musselburgh_mandolin's Avatar
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    Default Re: Hora OM Upgrade Project

    @garryireland - I'll post some pics this evening when I get home. It's tuned CGDA (tenor) and sounds pretty good. Given its price, it's very well made so maybe it could handle octave tuning.

    I had/have a capo to turn it into a very large-bodied mandolin, but it wasn't too much of a problem to figure out. I used to play with a local mandolin orchestra and it combined very nicely with the two OMs. I only bought an OM as many of the pieces were dropping off the scale and my head was beginning to hurt with all the transposing on the fly. Some pieces fell much more easily under the fingers on the mandola, others worked better with the OM.

    Although I don't play it as much as I used to, your post has prompted me to dig it out and bash out a few tunes once I rewire my brain. My Hora mandola was the last one my local music shop had, the one hanging in their mandolin room. When I got it (a Christmas gift from my father about 12 years ago), the mandola already had a lot of playing time in it from potential buyers (and staff just noodling away when it was quiet).

    If I ever have the time, I'd probably want to remove the ebony staining from the fingerboard - I think the natural rosewood looks much better.

  11. #10

    Default Re: Hora OM Upgrade Project

    Quote Originally Posted by Musselburgh_mandolin View Post
    @garryireland - I'll post some pics this evening when I get home. It's tuned CGDA (tenor) and sounds pretty good. Given its price, it's very well made so maybe it could handle octave tuning.

    I had/have a capo to turn it into a very large-bodied mandolin, but it wasn't too much of a problem to figure out. I used to play with a local mandolin orchestra and it combined very nicely with the two OMs. I only bought an OM as many of the pieces were dropping off the scale and my head was beginning to hurt with all the transposing on the fly. Some pieces fell much more easily under the fingers on the mandola, others worked better with the OM.

    Although I don't play it as much as I used to, your post has prompted me to dig it out and bash out a few tunes once I rewire my brain. My Hora mandola was the last one my local music shop had, the one hanging in their mandolin room. When I got it (a Christmas gift from my father about 12 years ago), the mandola already had a lot of playing time in it from potential buyers (and staff just noodling away when it was quiet).

    If I ever have the time, I'd probably want to remove the ebony staining from the fingerboard - I think the natural rosewood looks much better.
    Thanks! Sounds interesting

  12. #11
    Registered User John Flynn's Avatar
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    Default Re: Hora OM Upgrade Project

    I did the same thing once upon a time. I had a Hora with upgraded tuners and a Murphy maple bridge. But the top sank even though it was only about a year old and fixing that would have cost more than the instrument. IMHO, all the mods were just "lipstick on a bulldog." I managed to get $50 for it at a garage sale.

    I recommend just saving up for a worthy instrument. I think the TCs are fine, but there are better out there. I saved up and had Joe Mendel build me an OM. I love it and have never looked back.
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  13. #12
    Registered User Martin Jonas's Avatar
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    Default Re: Hora OM Upgrade Project

    Quote Originally Posted by Musselburgh_mandolin View Post
    I have two Hora instruments, a mandola and an OM.

    I've always been struck by how well made the bodies are, and how great they sound (given their cost...), but how hit and miss the components can be. I guess there's a price to hit and something has to give. Also, Hora have a quirky sense of design, by which I mean ebonizing the rosewood fretboards, staining the maple backs and necks a rather dark brown and the acres of marquetry inlay on the soundboard.
    I fully agree, which is why I'm glad that my Hora zouk is one of the instruments they supplied to Dave Kilpatrick in Scotland a few years ago, sold by him under the name "Troubadour". Dave asked them to leave the maple neck and back unstained and to forget about the soundboard inlay. It's much more attractive with a clean blonde back and top (much like the TC, actually), and I suspect they also used their best wood as the figure is more on show than for their stained instruments. So, the only one of their questionable design decisions left is the stained fretboard (which I don't think is rosewood -- the structure is too open for that).

    On my zouk, I found the tone improved when I replaced the stock bridge with an ebony bridge with a bone saddle. I think it needs that bone saddle, though, as the tone gets too muddy with an all-wood bridge.

    As to whether it's worth it, that's all relative. It's a completely different instrument from a TC, more lightly built. I like mine, but rarely use it. But then again, I only paid about 75 Pounds including strings and replacement bridge, less than a third of the price of a TC zouk in the UK. The price differential is completely different in the US, and I don't think I would pick the Hora over the TC at US prices.

    Martin

  14. #13
    Registered User Musselburgh_mandolin's Avatar
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    Default Re: Hora OM Upgrade Project

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    A quick snap of my Hora tenor mandola. The marquetry on the front is technically well-executed. I'd prefer a plain front though, like my OM. The body is almost the same size, if not exactly the same, as my OM, which makes for a deep voice. The fingerboard is stained black, but it's some kind of mahogany or related wood. It has open pores anyway and resembles the neck on my Freshwater mando (which is definitely mahogany...).

    I tried a different (rosewood) bridge but it compromised the sound somewhat, so I swapped back the original ebony-topped affair. A banjo-style bridge might be better still. The same rosewood bridge sounded dire on my OM. The top of the mandola has a tighter grain than my OM, but not by much.

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    The maple back has some figure in it, which would probably look good in natural blonde but it isn't exactly horrible here. The sides also show some figure too.

    All in all, its very playable. As I now spend more time on OM than mandolin, this combined the 'big sound' of the OM with the smaller stretch of the mandolin (of course, its a different CGDA stretch...).

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