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I had a chance to meet up with a friend of a friend who plays the mandolin and shoot a few short videos. Unfortunately, I had decided to play around with the saddle arrangement the other day. It currently has a wood saddle with a bone cap and I haven't gotten the intonation perfect yet. Even worse, both e strings and one of the g strings buzz at the saddle slot. I hadn't had a chance to fix it when I met up with him. . .

I'd say all in all, it sounds pretty good for a first mandolin. I figured it would have less volume than a carved top , but the player seemed to think it was just as loud. It seems to ring forever which I was not expecting. I'm still hoping the low end (can you call it bass on a mando) will come up as it breaks in. To my ear, it is treble heavy, but that could be just how mandolins are for all I know. In my opinion, it really shined when he was playing fiddle tunes. Unfortunately I only recorded one of those and I did it audio only. I intended to do a video of construction pictures with the fiddle tune for the sound track. When I got home I realized the mic barely picked anything up.

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

Looks and sounds awesome, Bryan! I don't know much about mandos but that sure sounds like one. The intonation sounded right to me

I thought it sounded real good - just like a mandolin

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Thanks all! I still haven’t gotten around to making any adjustments since the video was done. The intonation was reading off on my tuner but the battery was getting pretty low and I was having a hard time getting readings especially on the 12th fret measurements (it is just so darned high) so I stopped working (I had no batteries handy). Honestly, it is close enough that I can’t really hear a problem but my ears are not all that well trained. The buzzing es and g string drive me nuts every time I listen to the videos, but it is nice to know that it is an easy fix once I get a chance to sit down and do it.
I love the size, it really makes me wish I could play. It is the perfect size to hold while sitting in the recliner. Only problem is I don’t really get to sit down anymore. I haven’t even managed to sit down and upload my pics to the official the official thread yet.
I’m starting to like the shape well enough to want to do a full sized instrument. I mentioned earlier that a 12 string with the same woods would be fun. Now after seeing Filippo and Todd’s thread, I’m kicking around the idea of an octive mando. This little gal is roughly based on an OM shrunk down to 2/3 size with a 14 inch scale. If I used a full size OM outline and a 21 inch scale the proportions would be identical.

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

Excellent job Bryan. It sounds nice too!

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http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC

Great job man! It sounds like its stupid loud.

Nice work on this mandolin. Love the body!

David