Video - mike marshall on mandocello

**PhilGE** · Sep-02-2007, 10:04pm

**SternART** · Sep-02-2007, 11:09pm

THE best freakin' mandocello player.......maybe ever.
And how 'bout that huge Monteleone, oval hole.

Thanks for the heads up PhilGE, very nice!

**entau** · Sep-03-2007, 8:19am

too cool

**DryBones** · Sep-03-2007, 8:22am

can I get one of those in a lefty? that was awesome!

**Brad Weiss** · Sep-03-2007, 8:26am

I got to play that in the ensembles at the Mando Symposium- the very one! Mike sounded better....

Loads of fun.

**pabear** · Sep-03-2007, 8:26am

if you are interested in a lefty mandocello similiar in making here in MA a luthier i know makes probably a fraction of the monteleone made....... u looking for oval or not

**wayfaringstranger** · Sep-03-2007, 9:41am

That is *so* cool. I've been working on that bit from Cello Suite #1 for almost a year now (but transposed down a fifth since I have an octave mandolin, not a mandocello). That is not an easy tune, at least not for me, and he just plays it so beautifully. On the bright side, watching that video just solved several fingering problems that I'd created for myself along the way.

Thanks for posting this.

**entau** · Sep-03-2007, 10:09am

yeah on the cello suite - I still haven't mastered switching from bass clef to alto clef - Mike really plays up in the 7-10 range a lot

just goes to show traditional thinkin can be limiting.

**PhilGE** · Sep-03-2007, 10:21am

I have some serious MCAS going on at the moment...

A friend is considering buying my OM for recording purposes. If that goes through, I'll be on my way towards 'cello ownership!

**steve V. johnson** · Sep-03-2007, 10:52am

Thanks for posting that, Phil, that's wonderful!!!!

stv

**hendrix2** · Sep-03-2007, 2:46pm

This just made my day.
What an awesome instrument!!!!

**Brad Weiss** · Sep-03-2007, 3:31pm

Not that he needs defending, but I think entau is saying HE has been limited by traditional thinking, while Mike has been freed from it because he is one of the #"most modern thinkers...."

Sorry, carry on. Just the school marm in me.

**seanonabutton** · Sep-03-2007, 3:46pm

you're probably right brad. it could go either way now that i think about it.

**DryBones** · Sep-03-2007, 4:13pm

Originally Posted by (pabear @ Sep. 03 2007, 09:26)

if you are interested in a lefty mandocello similiar in making here in MA a luthier i know makes probably a fraction of the monteleone made....... u looking for oval or not

Just dreaming really...no MAS cash available for any additions to the family.

**wayfaringstranger** · Sep-03-2007, 11:36pm

On the cello suites: If you play octave mandolin, there's an arrangement of the cello suites for violin available for free at the Werner Icking music archive. It's transposed up an octave plus a fifth. The fingerings were written for violin, so you can't really trust them, but it's still worth checking out if you're mandocello-less like I am.

As a bonus for those of us who play regular mandolins more than their deeper-toned brethren, it's written in the treble clef.

**entau** · Sep-04-2007, 8:18am

Yes BradW - my traditional thinking kept me down below the 7th fret on the mandocello -

Mike is using the open A and playing high on the D -
instead of fretting the 7th on the D

Mike has an incredible stretch
if you ever saw the cover of Marshall and Anger "the Duo"
there is a picture of Mike covering firt fret on the G and playing 12th on the E ( on a mandolin)
but I guess the Mandocello is a different beast all together.

he also is shown playing his gibson K5 ( also on the back cover of Gator Strut) - not sure what ever became of that beast

I think on the back cover of DGQ 80 he is playing a Montelone Mandocello - but the headstock is different than the one he currently has

I caught Mike and Darol up in Albany last year - he played Gater strut and some other stuff on that box -
wicked

I recently heard a snippet of "Gator's Dream" as segway music on NPR's all things considered
so the Mandocello is floating around in the main stream, with many thanks to Mike Marshall.

**mandolooter** · Sep-04-2007, 10:18am

talk about bottom end, that things got more'n Rosie O'Donnell!

Thanks for the heads up!

**Greg Stec** · Sep-04-2007, 11:18am

Entau...
That picture of Marshall with the K5..

Does the K5 look like an archtop guitar or
an F5 on steroids?

If it looks like an archtop guitar, then perhaps it is a
Gibson K5.
If it looks like an F5 on steroids, then it's his custom Monteleone.

**Wesley** · Sep-04-2007, 12:41pm

Has anyone other than me seen Mike Marshall playing a 5 string banjo? This was many years ago - the year before he went to join the David Grisman Quintet. I doubt it's a part of his performances anymore.

**entau** · Sep-04-2007, 2:39pm

looked all over the web can't find the back covers or dust jacket ( remember those from vinyl days?) pictures

can't hurt to just email him.

**aries753** · Sep-05-2007, 10:18pm

Totally COOL!
Great, now I want a mandocello

I have also looked at the other clips on the D'Addairo's site, great information to be had there.
Is there some way to copy the clips? All of the usual ways that I know of won't work.

**David Westwick** · Sep-06-2007, 5:01pm

Originally Posted by (aries753 @ Sep. 05 2007, 21:18)

Is there some way to copy the clips? All of the usual ways that I know of won't work.

Yes, save to disk, and open the file with a text editor. The tag
HREF="Mike_Marshall_Mandocello.wmv"
is a pointer from the original link to the actual file that is being streamed. (i.e. the .wmv file is in the same directory on the web server that the original link pionted to).

**Shalebot** · Sep-06-2007, 5:35pm

Stranded in Kodiak (Thile / Marshall) is one of my favorite instrumentals. (especially the version on the Woodsongs video)

Mike is amazing at mandocello. 'Love it, love it, love it.

**thallenbeck** · Sep-06-2007, 5:37pm

I especially liked Mr. Marshall's description of the after-dinner music sessions of generations past as a natural aspect of a now-extinct Blackberry-free social fabric. I'm at my job today, but I keep watching this video over and over again instead of working.

**Bernie Daniel** · Sep-06-2007, 6:03pm

Originally Posted by

aries753: Great, now I want a mandocello #

OK here is one way to get one. #This was an 1970's Arianna dreadnought that had been hanging in my basement for years so this summer I converted it to an Arianna K5. #It was my first attempt at "luthery".

It is hard to play but it sounds like rolling thunder -- the bass strings will losen your fillings! see pics