Opening up and breaking in

[Cheryl Watson]

How's your buddy, Frank Wakefield doin'?

To make my mandolins sound better I just throw em in the oven for some slow cookin. Sometimes the finish gets gooey. I usually bake with cookies so I can snack while my horn cures!

[Cheryl Watson]

I know that a lot of mandolin builders tend to build a bit on the bright side and with more midrange based on the theory that the instrument will get stronger in the lower registers as it breaks in and might get too mushy/bassy sounding many years down the road. An actual luthier could word that more correctly.

Another way I heard it said was that you build an instrument to break in; if you build it to sound too open from the get-go, it will not be as good years later. So good out of the box with the potential to be GREAT, is the best way to build, this one luthier once told me.

[Stephen Cagle]

I too have wondered about instruments opening up. Since about 83' when I started mandolin I've owned maybe 12 to 14 mando's and some were already aged 4 to 5 years up to 30 years. Some new (built custom for me). I've just always thought that the older the instrument more broken in it was. Common since thinking I guess. Now with that said I have played new mandolins that sounded 30 years old right out of the box. I guess my theory is incorrect. Regarding Emory Gordy Jr in a previous post I have been privileged to have played some shows with him and Patty over the years and we have discussed this very issue before. I do set my mandolin in front of speakers and sometimes all day if possible. Working at banjo.com we listen to grass all day long and so my mandolin comes out the case and is put on our packaging table where music is played in to it for hours sometimes. I can certainly tell a difference when the top has vibrated for long periods of time. Also Wayne Benson (IIIrd tyme out) would set his mandolins in front of speakers to achieve that opened up tone as well. My current mandolin is only 5 mths old and someone had mentioned in a previous post that when playing the mandolin and giving it time to warm up to room temp or your body temp it would make a difference. I certainly have experienced that with this mandolin. After about 30 mins of playing it's not the same mandolin. It sounds much, much fuller and not near as tight.

[jasona]

When I got my mandolin there were two points, one about a few weeks in and the other around 6 months in, when the tone really opened and responsiveness jumped noticeably. It was as if someone removed a sock from the sound box. Now, 10 years later, it just takes a few minutes for it and I to warm up to sound at its best, although I still notice the responsiveness increasing after a night at a jam. A couple of hours chopping really does wonders for any instrument!

No I have no recorded proof, but I will be getting my recording system set up soon so hopefully we will be able to compare our Ratcliff As Dave

[Eric Michael Pfeiffer]

yeah as I mentioned in the past....the most change I noticed was an increase in the volume and also the mids and lows of most of my mandolins. It usually, from my personal experience, takes at least 6 months to a year before you really begin to notice it. Actually my old Flatiron started sounding worse for a while...it got to a point to where it was so thin and dry sounding, no volume I almost didn't even wanna play it...but some old veteran mandolin players told me to just keep playing it that it would eventually begin to come in and they were right....but it took a good year or so of some pretty hard playing.
My new Blevins mandolin is still a bit tight sounding as I've only had it playing it about a month now or so but I'm already beginning to hear some changes with it...especially in the mids, and I can also hear a hint of some slight deepening of the lows as well.... it's in there I can tell it's slowly developing...just have to keep playing it, enjoying it and being patient. It will be interesting in the end to see how much it develops and opens up....some mandolins seem to open more than others and quicker while others longer...I dunno why. My mandolin is an Adirondack Red Spruce top so I hear they sometimes take the longest of most of the Spruces but who's to say it's only the top? Maybe ( probably ) it's a combination of the whole instrument vibrating and coming together.....I dunno...

[Eric Michael Pfeiffer]

I know that a lot of mandolin builders tend to build a bit on the bright side and with more midrange based on the theory that the instrument will get stronger in the lower registers as it breaks in and might get too mushy/bassy sounding many years down the road. An actual luthier could word that more correctly.

Another way I heard it said was that you build an instrument to break in; if you build it to sound too open from the get-go, it will not be as good years later. So good out of the box with the potential to be GREAT, is the best way to build, this one luthier once told me.

That's interesting what Cheryl said: Alot of mandolins it's true if they are super heavy on the chop or bassy they often sound muddy and have weak highs and mids and don't cut as well. It's better to have a most balanced mandolin as possible but with a nice "whomp" to the chop when you play it. However if the chop is completely dead, thin and lifeless sounding...it's a bummer.

[mandroid]

Opening Up . knock, use the door ..

breaking in? you lost your key or its not your place?

[Eric Michael Pfeiffer]

My Blevins mandolin is really coming along as well. I have heard some very subtle changes in the highs and mids, but not so much the lows yet, but a little. It seems that it has developed a bit more sustain the more I play it and not so much decay as when I first got it.
I've only been playing it really hard now for about a month and a half.

[Astro]

Eric, I like that you shared a nice video recording of your new mando when you first got it.

It will be fun for us all to have another listen in a few months to compare.

[Eric Michael Pfeiffer]

Eric, I like that you shared a nice video recording of your new mando when you first got it.

It will be fun for us all to have another listen in a few months to compare.

Absolutely! I'm not sure how much you'll be able to notice...as I'm using just the Ipad to record with right now, but I plan on keeping almost like a You-Tube video diary of my learning as I tackle a new tune and I'll be posting them here as well. I am already, as I mentioned, hearing very subtle changes...mainly almost like a "deepening" in the mids and highs ( for lack of a better word ) and definately an increase in sustain. The chop is coming along a little better, but I suspect that will be the last part that begins to open up or round out. It seems with most of my mandolins that was the case, not that it doesn't already have decent chop, but I still think it's going to improve a bit. I think if I was playing in a group or going to jams every week ( like I used to ) it would probably open up a little quicker, but patience is a virtue. I think this mandolin is going to have some woody mids...I really feel I'm hearing the mids develop more than anything. Some mandolins I think have to much bass, or a heavy chop, but lack in the mids and highs. It seems no matter the mandolin, if it has strong points, it also has weak points, it seems to me at least. So I try to know my mandolin and work with it as best I can and find the sweet spots and try to get the best out of it I can.

I don't know how much ultimately it will open up. My Summitt F-100 that was "X" braced...it seemed to open up the least of all the mandolins I've owned so far and it took quite a while. I think it had a Sitka top. Anyways my Blevins mandolin has an "Adirondack Red Spruce top" and one of the things I like about it is that it is really responsive to your picking. If you bear down and pick a brisk tremolo on it, it really responds but if you wanna pick mellow, it can sweeten out too....I like that about this mandolin.