Passernig #49 Update

[Don Grieser]

Just got #49 back from Stefan Passernig. He reshaped the neck for me (took some of the V off), refretted the first 5 frets, put on a new nut, a new bound pickguard, gave it a setup, and a fresh French polish. Boy howdy, it looks and sounds great. It's such a fine instrument.

[pops1]

Nice Don, would love to play one of his mandolins. Hope the reshape works well for you,

[Jim Roberts]

That sure is a beautiful instrument and I hope to play one of Stephan's mandolins someday. Did you go with stainless steel, EVO or nickel fretwire? Thanks for sharing, Don.

[goose 2]

I was at Fiddlers Green in Austin very recently and played an A model. That mandolin was exceptionally fine. it sounded exquisite with a traditional voice. It already sounded "old" and vintage to me. It had an old World feel to it and I knew that I was holding something pretty special. I have never seen or played a Passering before. Heck I had barely even heard of these mandolins. I thought I had made a great discovery but turns out Don already did some time ago. Good for you. I'd love to try out an f style

[Atlanta Mando Mike]

That thing looks stunning!! The pickguard is perfect!

[Don Grieser]

Jim, Stefan uses nickel frets. goose2--I learned about Passernig mandos here and from email conversations with pheffernan who has one of his A5s. Stefan's definitely old school--no web presence. He was very gracious to offer to reshape the neck (which would have been fine for 99% of mando players), and then he did some other work on it that he thought he needed. The polish was icing on the cake. It's a great mandolin.

[ccravens]

I've played a number of them at Fiddler's Green, and I've never played a mediocre mando from Stefan.

Every one has been my favorite or second favorite in the shop that day.

[Mark Seale]

I was at Fiddlers Green in Austin very recently and played an A model. That mandolin was exceptionally fine. it sounded exquisite with a traditional voice. It already sounded "old" and vintage to me. It had an old World feel to it and I knew that I was holding something pretty special. I have never seen or played a Passering before. Heck I had barely even heard of these mandolins. I thought I had made a great discovery but turns out Don already did some time ago. Good for you. I'd love to try out an f style

I played the one at Fiddlers Green a few weeks ago as well. It was my favorite mandolin in the shop at that time, and there were some big names on the wall.

[DataNick]

Good on you Don!

Beautiful looking and I'm sure exceptional sounding instrument!

[CES]

Looks great, Don! Yeah, it's probably a good thing for my bank account and marital bliss that I don't live close to Fiddler's Green or Nashville

[pheffernan]

I'm sure exceptional sounding instrument!

But how can we be sure that it's excellent sounding, Don?

[Don Grieser]

I think you know.

I'll try to record it one of these days.

[Don Grieser]

Here's the requested sound samples.

[FLATROCK HILL]

Very nice. To my ears, that thing has a wonderful, traditional sound to it.

I know that video recordings, especially those listened to via internet etc are not a reliable way to judge the true sound of a mandolin.

All that aside, from what I can hear, that Passernig of yours seems to have a lot going for it. Really nice highs, mids and lows and a killer popping chop!

If the video sound is at all representative, I don't think you could ask for more out of a mandolin.

[pheffernan]

Here's the requested sound samples.

I'm confused why my Passernig doesn't sound that good. Do you think it's the scroll or simply the individual differences between any two mandolins?

[JAK]

You'd have to play them both side by side in person to get a realistic comparison/contrast.

[Bill McCall]

I'll bet it's the pick.

[DataNick]

I'm confused why my Passernig doesn't sound that good. Do you think it's the scroll or simply the individual differences between any two mandolins?

If you wanna have soul, you got's to get the scroll....that thing is killa!

I'm sold!

[Glassweb]

wooden bells baby, wooden bells! that's the sound i LIKE! congrats Don...

[J.Sloan]

I had a chance to play a Passernig F5 back in Sept. while on vacation in Pigeon Forge, TN at Smoky Mountain Guitars. The owner, Dan, said it was his personal mandolin and I believe it was built back in 2008. It was one of the best sounding mandolins I have ever played. I couldn't believe how strong it was...the notes just seem to jump off of the fretboard. And it was very "throaty" sounding like the one in the clip here.
I've built 7 mandolins to date....A5's and F5's and they have all sounding pretty good, esp the F5's. But man, I wish I knew what Stephan was doing with his tops and backs.....it's back to the drawing board for my next batch!
That mandolin sounds awesome Don....hang on to it!

[Grommet]

Congrats Don! Killer chop for sure. Lot's of pop in the single note stuff. To my ears it sounds just like the Passernig A-style that was on the sound clips on Fiddlers Green, Austin Tx website. That is to say superb! That A-style at Fiddler's always stuck in my mind. Recording differences make comparisons tough. But Fiddlers Green, TAMCO in England, Greg Boyds and Carter's put out some great sounding clips. What ever Don is recording this sample with sounds very good also.

Scott

[CES]

Wow, awesome sounding mandolin! Wooden bells, indeed! Of course, the hands picking it don't hurt, either

[ccravens]

I'm confused why my Passernig doesn't sound that good. Do you think it's the scroll or simply the individual differences between any two mandolins?

Perhaps, as has been ventured, it is the pick: you are using the white Wegen and Don is using the black...

[Don Grieser]

Thanks for your comments. Glad to know other folks hear what I'm hearing in this mandolin.

The video was recorded using the built in mic on the Kodak Zi8 video camera. No other processing except normalizing the level. I find it's pretty honest for a quick capture--it doesn't enhance the sound but it doesn't destroy it either. The mandolin is strung with Curt Mangan strings (J74 gauge) 2-3 weeks old (they seem to last 4-6 weeks for me--really like these strings), and I used an old Blue Chip TAD50 RH bevel that has less bevel than the new ones (maybe from wear?).

I think the setup Stefan did and the new full-contact bridge base brought out the best in the mandolin. The slight neck reshape really makes it a pleasure to play for me.