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What is she playing?


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It's a lot like an octo, from Central and South America.

 

 

(I'm surprised it's so hard to find info in English on the octo, which is not uncommon in cumbias and other Central and South American musics. I even saw mention of the octo as a 'new' instrument in Wikipedia -- but it's most certainly not. I'm far from deeply enmeshed in that music, but I've been hearing about octos for a couple decades.)

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Given who it is, I suspect that it's a hybrid that doesn't have a name unless she gave it one, concocted from a contemporary mandola or octave mandolin design (which might have started out life as a cittern or bouzouki as used in modern Irish bands), strung with a couple of courses in octaves.

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Fletcher Brock Octave mando......except, it looks nothing like one. .

 

Looks like this one: PA276245.jpg except in sunburst rather than clear finish. Or do you mean it doesn't look like any octave mandolin you've ever seen? I haven't seen an arch top f-hole guitar body style octave mandolin either, though Gibson did make the model K5 mandocello. It was an L5 guitar body with a cello neck.

 

Anyway, on the Artist page of Brock's web site, he lists Sarah Jarosz as playing an octave mandolin. So I guess that's at least his official name for it.

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LOL....Mike I have been a guitarist, musician, session player....yada yada yada.......for weeeell over 30 years :cry:.....and I had never even heard of an octave Mandolin! And if I did, it never registered, That is sad! The name mandocello rings some bells somewhere in the fog of my recollection.

 

I must say though, it is a beaut to look at and sounds really cool.

 

I just meant that it looks nothing like a mandolin. It looks like a jazz archtop and I dig the shape of the headstock big time. What makes it mando is the tuning. This thing sounds great...I'd love one in the studio.....not at $4000 though.

 

What is also cool is how the instrument compliments/fits her, what she is doing. It is nice and different.

 

I learned something today...that part is good.

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never even heard of an octave Mandolin! And if I did, it never registered, That is sad! The name mandocello rings some bells somewhere in the fog of my recollection.

 

Back in the 1920s, mandolin orchestras were popular, mostly organized in a town just for fun. The instruments followed the standard string section of an orchestra:

 

mandolin = violin

mandola = viola

mandocello = cello

mando bass = bass (I've always seen this written as two words)

 

Mostly they played light classical music, overtures, marches, and rags. Many are still going. Contemporary mandolinists David Grisman and Mike Marshall are active in their neighborhood orchestras.

 

Do a Google search for "mandolin orchestra" and you'll find some recording, maybe even one where you live.

 

MandolinOrchestra_jpg.jpg

 

The instrument at the far left is a mandola. Third and fourth in the back row are mandocellos. They cheated - no mando bass in this orchestra, just a standard bass fiddle (back row center)

 

The mandola is tuned like a viola. The octave mandola wa kind of a bastard instrument, tuned an octive below a mandolin, for mandolin players who wanted to play the viola parts but didn't want to learn to read music for a different instrument.

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Hey thanks for all the responses! I'm just stumbling right now on the mando Santa brought me last Christmas. I still don't recognize all the chord shapes. Plus, she's using a capo, which doesn't change the chord shapes, but does change the voicing.

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Damn...look at that picture...that is so cool. I gotta scope some recordings out. Thanks Mike.


I have a David Grisman with Jerry Garcia album doing Miles stuff....really good. Jerry on acoustic.

 

 

This is the yt that got me interested in her. I always liked this song.

 

[video=youtube;DzapgZI5SEc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzapgZI5SEc

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Alfred. E. EinsteindaGiyaVonkuntcheliienschticklemeister.........this thread is about octave mandolins, mandolins, baritone mandolins, many mandolins, just one mandolin etc etc etc........WTF has that video got to do with mandolins? I mean seriously, what was the point of putting that up here? Dude.......if you're suck.......sorry, such a good classical music composer, recordist, producer etc etc etc with 317 million in record sales not at iTunes necessarily.......wouldn't your time be better spent being helpful?

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Nein, mein geheimnisvoll freund! Dit vos nicht eine
Intermezzo
, dit vos der
Interruption
. Donner und blitzen!!!!

 

 

 

well well, you talking about mandolins is about as boring as when you talk about blondes, because here everybody plays mandolin and is blonde, therefor I have to post a brunette.

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I have a mandoline that I got at Macy's in the cookware department. It's great for slicing cucumbers. You could do that with the kind that Sarah is playing, but it would take longer.

 

 

Well, yeah, but you'd have thin and thick slices alternating. Might be something to submit to Hints from Heloise.

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