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Thread: Are you ready for a new Carbon/Kevlar Sorensen mandolin?

  1. #26
    vintagemandolin.com Charles Johnson's Avatar
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    Default Re: Are you ready for a new Carbon/Kevlar Sorensen mandolin?

    Quote Originally Posted by Alan Lackey View Post
    Interesting…do these instruments basically retain their sound from day 1 with no development over time and play? I understand traditional wood instruments will change over time, or so I have read, so just curious. Can these be built to be relatively consistent in tone across production runs given what is likely to be variations in the blending of all those components? As a scientist by training this kind of stuff is intruiging.
    Hi Alan,
    I had one of the carbon fiber mandolins that Peter Mix built. Very cool but I did not think it sounded much
    like a traditional mandolin - also, it would not cut a banjo. Here's hoping the Sorenson mandolins have solved that! I'd love to have a mandolin I do not have to worry about when I take it to festivals and camping.

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  3. #27
    Lurkist dhergert's Avatar
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    Default Re: Are you ready for a new Carbon/Kevlar Sorensen mandolin?

    Steve, it was great seeing you at North County 48. The carbon/kevlar mandolin is a thing of beauty. Sounds great already too. Anxious to hear more about it as the project moves forward!

    It was also great hearing Matt play it!

    Thank you for being there!
    -- Don

    "Music: A minor auditory irritation occasionally characterized as pleasant."
    "It is a lot more fun to make music than it is to argue about it."


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  4. #28
    Registered User j. condino's Avatar
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    Default Re: Are you ready for a new Carbon/Kevlar Sorensen mandolin?

    A brilliant execution of an entirely masochistic task!
    www.condino.com

    Crafted by hand in a workshop powered by the sun.

  5. #29
    Registered User Charles E.'s Avatar
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    Default Re: Are you ready for a new Carbon/Kevlar Sorensen mandolin?

    Quote Originally Posted by dhergert View Post
    Steve, it was great seeing you at North County 48. The carbon/kevlar mandolin is a thing of beauty. Sounds great already too. Anxious to hear more about it as the project moves forward!

    It was also great hearing Matt play it!

    Thank you for being there!
    Any video or sound sample of it being played?
    Charley

    A bunch of stuff with four strings

  6. #30
    Lurkist dhergert's Avatar
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    Default Re: Are you ready for a new Carbon/Kevlar Sorensen mandolin?

    Quote Originally Posted by Charles E. View Post
    Any video or sound sample of it being played?
    I'm not aware of one. Perhaps Steve or Matt would know?
    -- Don

    "Music: A minor auditory irritation occasionally characterized as pleasant."
    "It is a lot more fun to make music than it is to argue about it."


    2002 Gibson F-9
    2016 MK LFSTB
    1975 Suzuki taterbug (plus many other noisemakers)
    [About how I tune my mandolins]
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  7. #31
    Registered User Steve Sorensen's Avatar
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    Default Re: Are you ready for a new Carbon/Kevlar Sorensen mandolin?

    Here are a couple of videos of the first Carbon/Kevlar Sprite Two-Point in action this past weekend at the Carlsbad "South State 48 Jam" --

    NOTE - IF THE VIDEO IS SLOW TO LOAD HERE, CLICK ON THE YOUTUBE LOGO AND IT LOADS/PLAYS RIGHT AWAY.


    Patrick Sauber out in the middle of the hotel Jamming courtyard area -



    Matt Bruno on the new Sprite jamming with Randy Torno on a new Sorensen SX -



    Both these videos are raw, and give a good feel for the tone, responsiveness, and power of this first Carbon/Kevlar Sprite prototype.

    My feeling after passing the mandolin around to a bunch of players, is that it sure sounded like we're headed in the right direction. There were lots of references to the "super car" look and feel of the mandolin ... that's the goal. I left the jams with a really clear punch list of changes I want to make in the next prototype to deliver even more balance, complexity of tone, and power.

    Thank you to everyone who took the time to give this new Super Sprite some picking in the real world.

    Steve
    Steve Sorensen
    Sorensen Mandolin & Guitar Co.
    www.sorensenstrings.com

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  9. #32
    Registered User bbcee's Avatar
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    Default Re: Are you ready for a new Carbon/Kevlar Sorensen mandolin?

    Right direction indeed, Steve! I'm convinced - add me to the virtual waiting list.

  10. #33
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    Default Re: Are you ready for a new Carbon/Kevlar Sorensen mandolin?

    This sounds great! Put me on that virtual waiting list too. I like the looks and the sound.

  11. #34

    Default Re: Are you ready for a new Carbon/Kevlar Sorensen mandolin?

    Incredible and oh god I want one!!

    - - - Updated - - -

    The Sorensen SX is gorgeous too!!

  12. #35
    Registered User bbcee's Avatar
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    Default Re: Are you ready for a new Carbon/Kevlar Sorensen mandolin?

    …and after watching the (extremely addicting) Easy Composites video series, kudos as well, Steve. I can only sort of imagine the hours spent researching, reformulating and lying awake at night to go from glorified ceramic bowl to a valid instrument with a complex tone. This is really exciting and good.

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  14. #36
    Doesn't practice enough
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    Default Re: Are you ready for a new Carbon/Kevlar Sorensen mandolin?

    I am stoked to see this! I own an Emerald carbon guitar, and would eventually like to replace all my wooden instruments with carbon...just need you to make an octave too!

  15. #37

    Default Re: Are you ready for a new Carbon/Kevlar Sorensen mandolin?

    Wow. Just wow. Someday I must own one of those and someday I must learn to play like y’all.

  16. #38
    Registered User Sue Rieter's Avatar
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    Default Re: Are you ready for a new Carbon/Kevlar Sorensen mandolin?

    Quote Originally Posted by NDO View Post
    Wow. Just wow. Someday I must own one of those and someday I must learn to play like y’all.
    I hear ya, Don.

    I've been pretty interested in the idea of a carbon fiber instrument ever since I read The Mandolin Case.

    This looks super cool, and it was great to hear it being played.
    "To be obsessed with the destination is to remove the focus from where you are." Philip Toshio Sudo, Zen Guitar

  17. #39
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    Default Re: Are you ready for a new Carbon/Kevlar Sorensen mandolin?

    We used carbon fiber for repairs where structural integrity needs to be restored, or attaching broken necks/ headstocks. It was excellent for what we needed it for, but it can be a bit of a pain to work with. We used it to stabilize some tops that were experiencing too much top sinkage. In areas where it would be seen, it could be finished and it would look just like the wood around it. The cool thing is that it was sonically invisible and sufficiently stiff to stop sinkage issues. I also worked with 2 other guys to bring a carbon fiber case to market. It was a great idea, but life happens, and the guy who was in charge of getting the items needed to make them got sick and disappeared for quite a while. That was over 15 years ago. I have parts of one, and it would have been a nice case, but it just didn’t happen. Peter Mix made some interesting mandolins with carbon fiber, but the market was not strong enough to justify the cost and time to make them. I congratulate Steve on his mandolin and it is beautiful, as all of his instruments I have seen. It does a great job, but has one thing I’ve noticed with other instruments made from carbon fiber. They do not have the warmth and sustain that comparable wood instruments have. This is not to be taken as a criticism, just an observation, and that is not bad for some applications. Many of us have been around mandolins for a long time, and we hear certain things that please us, but that is not everyone. It could well fit the bill for more contemporary music. I think it could do well in jazz circles, where the musicians are always wanting something different from many of us old goats. Anyway, I don’t know that there is a large market for it, but it is great for Steve because he builds incredible wood mandolins and is doing something different with great tonal nods to the standard upscale mandolin tone. This may give him a larger market and make life a bit more profitable. At least that’s what I hope will happen.
    Have a Great Day!
    Joe Vest

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  19. #40
    Registered User Steve-o's Avatar
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    Default Re: Are you ready for a new Carbon/Kevlar Sorensen mandolin?

    Quote Originally Posted by Big Joe View Post
    … They do not have the warmth and sustain that comparable wood instruments have.
    I have big respect and admiration for you Joe, and much of what you said is probably true, but I have to disagree on one sonic aspect of CF mandolins - sustain. My Mix A has sustain that goes on and on, better than any wooden mandolin I’ve ever played (including an Ellis and Heiden I’ve owned). I love playing slow tunes on it for this reason. I also find the tone quite pleasing, although different from wooden versions.

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  21. #41
    Registered User Steve Sorensen's Avatar
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    Default Re: Are you ready for a new Carbon/Kevlar Sorensen mandolin?

    Remember folks, this is a First Draft / initial test of concept. I'm just getting started!

    Stay tuned ...

    Steve
    Steve Sorensen
    Sorensen Mandolin & Guitar Co.
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  23. #42
    Registered User Mandolin Deep Cuts's Avatar
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    Default Re: Are you ready for a new Carbon/Kevlar Sorensen mandolin?

    I really enjoyed the tone and love that you’re pushing the boundaries of our instrument
    Mandolins: Labraid Grand Concert Jazz, Collings MF, Mowry Octave Mandolin
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  24. #43
    Registered User Steve Sorensen's Avatar
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    Default Re: Are you ready for a new Carbon/Kevlar Sorensen mandolin?

    I've been noodling on v1 while working on the molds for v2 ... and one thing for sure, it has sustain in spades. I think where Big Joe is right is that it does not have the shimmering, complex overtones that the best Loar-Era F5s have. On the plus side, that means that the sound is very clean and dry -- a joy to mic for recording.

    However, I've always felt that the real value is in power that can maintain lush complexity across the neck. That's the target for this next iteration.

    Steve
    Steve Sorensen
    Sorensen Mandolin & Guitar Co.
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  26. #44
    Registered User DRugerH's Avatar
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    Default Re: Are you ready for a new Carbon/Kevlar Sorensen mandolin?

    Man, I would love an all carbon fiber mandolin. I am really loving the carbon fiber sound. I started with a rainsong guitar that I had to purchase. I played one at a music store, and needed to have my own after they sold it. I play it at church all the time and bring it to jams when the weather is too bad to bring the Martin (and sometimes bring it even in good weather). I loved it so much that I purchased a carbon fiber Glasser fiddle. My professional musician of a sister, while she still thinks wood is better, loves my violin and plays it all the time when she comes over (and is starting to consider one to use with her students). So, the Mandolin would be the next one for me.

    Looking forward to seeing these for sale. Time to start saving money now for when you release them!

    Dan

  27. #45
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    Default Re: Are you ready for a new Carbon/Kevlar Sorensen mandolin?

    I play summers on a music cruise on the Mississippi River. It is usually hot and humid, sometimes threatening rain, and a carbon fiber mandolin would be a great advantage. My mandolin's varnish finish has suffer greatly over the many years I have been doing this.
    THE WORLD IS A BETTER PLACE JUST FOR YOUR SMILE!

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  29. #46
    Registered User Steve Sorensen's Avatar
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    Default Re: Are you ready for a new Carbon/Kevlar Sorensen mandolin?

    POPS,

    I think this would do the trick for you on the Mississippi ... I'm using automotive poly clear coat for the exterior finish so the Kevlar Carbon Sprites should cut through weather like a new Tesla on the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway.

    Steve
    Steve Sorensen
    Sorensen Mandolin & Guitar Co.
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  31. #47

    Default Re: Are you ready for a new Carbon/Kevlar Sorensen mandolin?

    ...Batteries not included...
    "I play BG so that's what I can talk intelligently about." A line I loved and pirated from Mandoplumb

  32. #48
    coprolite mandroid's Avatar
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    Default Re: Are you ready for a new Carbon/Kevlar Sorensen mandolin?

    Had my 3rd hand Mix A5 for many years . it was improved by re fretting,

    While stripped of it's frets, the ebony fingerboard was leveled, then It got a set of EVO frets..
    writing about music
    is like dancing,
    about architecture

  33. #49
    Registered User Steve Sorensen's Avatar
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    Default Re: Are you ready for a new Carbon/Kevlar Sorensen mandolin?

    I'm using only Jescar EVO or Stainless Steel frets these days for new builds.

    But the real revelation with this first Kevlar/Carbon Sprite build was the Richlite fingerboard -- Richlite has the feel, ping, stiffness, and look of the world's most perfect Ebony. Amazing stuff ... and no endangered trees chopped down.

    Steve
    Steve Sorensen
    Sorensen Mandolin & Guitar Co.
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  35. #50
    Lurkist dhergert's Avatar
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    Default Re: Are you ready for a new Carbon/Kevlar Sorensen mandolin?

    My wife's backup D16 RGT has a Micarta fingerboard and bridge. The builders felt obligated to bind the fingerboard but judging from the finish quality of the bridge, I think they could have left it unbound.

    Having a Micarta bridge seems to be a stroke of genius, that guitar was killer compared to a number of moderately old D28s back in 2005 when it was new, and it only seems to get better.
    -- Don

    "Music: A minor auditory irritation occasionally characterized as pleasant."
    "It is a lot more fun to make music than it is to argue about it."


    2002 Gibson F-9
    2016 MK LFSTB
    1975 Suzuki taterbug (plus many other noisemakers)
    [About how I tune my mandolins]
    [Our recent arrival]

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