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Mandolin Evaluation
Part 4
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Part 4: Sound
Mandolin players are even worse than
violinists about consistently talking about
sound the same. Woody. Bright. Thin.
Dark. What do these terms mean? The
same mandolins played by different
players evokes much different descriptive
terms.
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Response and reserve: An instrument should easily obey the player,
reflecting the slightest nuances, and be highly flexible to the player’s input. An
instrument should be resonant, responding to a soft touch. An instrument
should be easy to intonate, giving the player instant indication of exact pitch.
Finally, an instrument should have substantial reserve, the ability to take strong
playing without noise or distortion.
Notice the ease and immediacy of tone production, the speed of response.
What shooters will call “lock time.” Look for consistency of response across and
up and down the fingerboard Distortion resistance: A really good mandolin will
often feel a bit stiffer to fret and the strings can run lower. These mandolins
have a nice “pop” when the pick snaps across the strings.
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Balance: An instrument should exhibit balance and evenness from bass to
treble across and up and down the fingerboard. Without balance, an instrument
cannot provide a consistent voice within its range.
The bass, midrange, and treble are all useful. A mandolin that supports
performance throughout its range is a more useful tool.
Balanced response Balanced tone Balanced volume Balanced character of
tone; an instrument that sounds like itself, and not two different instruments in
the same box.
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Projection: An instrument needs sufficient projection to move sound into the
required space without loss of clarity and the instrument’s character. An
instrument should be audible against a complex tapestry of other instrumental
sounds. Energy tied up in the instrument fails to project. A noisy or muddy tone
gets swallowed up in a room and proves difficult to hear.
Projection isn’t the same thing as volume. Projection requires plenty of energy in
the "singer’s formant" around 3000 Hz. This shows up as a sort of sizzle or
sparkly edge to the sound.
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Deep tonal reserve: A player expects that putting more power in will give
better projection. This requires that the tone not break up under power. Deep
tonal reserve is difficult to get in a mandolin that will also play quietly.
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Tone: Tone is the most mysterious thing to talk about. Effective tone is clear,
alive, deep, with a crisp ring. Allows subtle playing. Exhibits brilliance rather than
brightness, while remaining sweet rather than harsh. Light rather than heavy.
Full rather than thin. Some possible factors to mull over :
Fullness and depth of tone or resonance Freedom of tone, giving a vocal quality
Luminous brilliancy, not to be confused with thin brightness Purity, making pitch
variations very clear to the player Transparency Solidness Flexibility, the ability
of the sound to be altered by the player Tonal balance, the completeness of
tone, with consistent and appropriate proportional relationship of fundamental
and harmonics
Thinking along these lines should allow better realization of exactly what one
likes and allow determining which of two mandolins close in performance is
better.
I welcome comments and additions to this short commentary.
Go to: | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 |
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The mandovoodoo™ process was invented by and is only performed by Stephen Perry of Gianna Violins, the world's premier seller of fine
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