Ha, ha! keep time: how sour sweet music is,
When time is broke and no proportion kept!
--William Shakespeare
That looks good there..
If you look at it you are more inclined to play it, aren’t you?
Timothy F. Lewis
"If brains was lard, that boy couldn't grease a very big skillet" J.D. Clampett
If you're that concerned for its safety, being so dangerously close to your hands, I'll be glad to take it off your hands - keeping it far from that danger. I know, I'd be taking on a tremendous responsibility, at inestimable personal sacrifice, but sometimes a fellow's just got to step up and do the right thing for the sake of the good for all concerned.
But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller
Furthering Mandolin Consciousness
Finders Keepers, my duo with the astoundingly talented and versatile Patti Rothberg. Our EP is finally done, and available! PM me, while they last!
JB, what a monumental offer! You just crack me up!
Timothy F. Lewis
"If brains was lard, that boy couldn't grease a very big skillet" J.D. Clampett
Works of art should be on the wall.
Cary Fagan
Thank you, Tim. I'm just a helping-out kind of guy. But beyond that, the Mandolin Café is well-known for the generosity, compassion, and social awareness of its membership. I'm sure I'm only one of many who would be willing to step up and help another member in his or her time of need. I just happened to be first this time.
But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller
Furthering Mandolin Consciousness
Finders Keepers, my duo with the astoundingly talented and versatile Patti Rothberg. Our EP is finally done, and available! PM me, while they last!
Many years ago I kept my instruments on the wall for that same reason, ready access, mostly. I remember a few nights with a cold of coughing and the echo of all those strings with each cough—sort of nightmarish.
OTOH one evening I was planning on going to New York City for a jam session. When I arrived there I realized that I left my fiddle hanging on the wall and had carried the empty case.
These days I also fear for lack of humidity problems for case-less instruments, so I pretty much keep all in their cases.
Jim
My Stream on Soundcloud
19th Century Tunes
Playing lately:
1924 Gibson A4 - 2018 Campanella A-5 - 2007 Brentrup A4C - 1915 Frank Merwin Ashley violin - Huss & Dalton DS - 1923 Gibson A2 black snakehead - '83 Flatiron A5-2 - 1939 Gibson L-00 - 1936 Epiphone Deluxe - 1928 Gibson L-5 - ca. 1890s Fairbanks Senator Banjo - ca. 1923 Vega Style M tenor banjo - ca. 1920 Weymann Style 25 Mandolin-Banjo - National RM-1
Oh my! I've done that! Not that far, though at the moment, it might as well have been. One time at a gig, I broke a string mid-set. I went to swap out out with the spare mandolin - and the spare's case was empty! I had to run home during the next set break to get the spare. Problem solved. But pretty embarrassing at first blush - so to speak.
But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller
Furthering Mandolin Consciousness
Finders Keepers, my duo with the astoundingly talented and versatile Patti Rothberg. Our EP is finally done, and available! PM me, while they last!
My motto is "everything in its case," though the "gigging" instruments I use frequently are usually kept in, well, gig bags.
Easier to control the immediate environment (temperature, humidity), safer from accidents, "ready to go" if I need to carry one to a particular event, plus I have so durn many, there's not enough wall space for 'em.
On the other hand, if I had a framed Mandofest poster that matched my F-4, I would be tempted to showcase them side-by-side.
Allen Hopkins
Gibsn: '54 F5 3pt F2 A-N Custm K1 m'cello
Natl Triolian Dobro mando
Victoria b-back Merrill alumnm b-back
H-O mandolinetto
Stradolin Vega banjolin
Sobell'dola Washburn b-back'dola
Eastmn: 615'dola 805 m'cello
Flatiron 3K OM
A compromise storage idea that displays well is a barristers bookcase. I used that method in the past although it would have looked better if I had made something to tilt the mandolin at an angle. The glass doors keep the dust away...
This is the "Jeanette Greene" mandolin. It was purchased in over 100 years ago by Meredith Green in San Diego, CA, and went to her daughter, Jeanette, when she was in her 'teens. Jeanette stopped playing it when she was married, and went to her son, Jim, after her death. He never remembered seeing it or hearing it played. Jim was an engineer at NASA, a very close friend and fellow Gideon. I gave him lessons, but he was too busy with other things to learn to play, so it came to me after a few years. I kept "Jeanette" in her case for over 10 years, and it lived in the case pretty much full time since it was purchased new.
Where I live we have stable humidity and temperature, so after a lot of thought and watching other instruments that are kept out for a few years, I decided it was time to bring Jeanette out. It is not in a place where it can get dinged or banged and it does seem to sound a little better when played that it did when it was in the case. (go figure).
The only time I have ever damaged a mandolin is when I was taking my A-5 out of the case and I scratched the top with the lock.
Jeanette never goes out of the house. I have a gigging mandolin (1918 F-1) that has more of a "outdoor voice", while Jeanette sings more softly and sweetly.
Ha, ha! keep time: how sour sweet music is,
When time is broke and no proportion kept!
--William Shakespeare
Now that is a lovely bit of family history - an heirloom with heritage.
But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller
Furthering Mandolin Consciousness
Finders Keepers, my duo with the astoundingly talented and versatile Patti Rothberg. Our EP is finally done, and available! PM me, while they last!
"Wall hanger", as I came to learn it, is a derogatory term, meaning a mandolin more appreciated for how it looks than for how it plays, either because it has been compromised or because it always was prettier than it sounded. My regular procedure is all instruments in cases, all cases fastened.
My idea for the wall art is to have a professional take a straight on large format picture of the mandolin, and get it professionally framed. Put that on the wall!
As long as you don't hang on an outside side wall, or a wall that gets direct sunlight, etc., it's probably ok. Inside cases too I avoid stacking them next to an outside wall or in direct sunlight.
On the wall the mandolin is in clear view of anyone looking into that room, including baby sitters, house cleaning, plumbers, electricians etc. A host of folks I really don't want to advertise what I own.
A stack of instrument cases in a room, and not in a closet, have the same problem I suppose. Items valued at several/many hundreds of dollars, or more, with convenient carrying cases.
Ultimately the difference is more a personal decision of which set of problems / hassles do you want to deal with.
Jack, thanx for the history of your F-4. Consider yourself very fortunate to know about all those who've owned it since it was new. Most of us get "anonymous" vintage instruments, which may have passed through many hands since they were first sold -- or may have sat for years in closet or attic, unnoticed by the heirs of their first owners, until "Grandpa's house" was being sold, and the old mandolin came to light. I'd give a lot to know who first purchased my Larson Brothers Stahl mando-bass, for example, or my three-point F-2.
You mention having an "F-1" -- a typo, or is that a model I've never seen?
Allen Hopkins
Gibsn: '54 F5 3pt F2 A-N Custm K1 m'cello
Natl Triolian Dobro mando
Victoria b-back Merrill alumnm b-back
H-O mandolinetto
Stradolin Vega banjolin
Sobell'dola Washburn b-back'dola
Eastmn: 615'dola 805 m'cello
Flatiron 3K OM
Oops, yeah. A-1!
i like mine hanging on the wall. They are works of art, and I think they should be honored as such. My A-Jr is 100 years old. It has been in continuous action for a century, and in my judgment should not be hidden away. Hanging on the wall, string up and in tune, it is always ready to be exercised. After 100 years, it is always ready to speak. Making it present in my life is the most worthy tribute to this and the other wonderful works of art.
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