I recently bought a Martin Backpacker Mandolin for my trips abroad. Despite its weaker tone, the small size and portability of the instrument suits my travels well (I can always play my regular mando at home).
I'm still pretty new to stringed instruments so here's my question:
Compared with my other mandolin, my backpacker mando has a noticeably metallic sound to it. While I recognize the tradeoffs of such an instrument, I'm wondering if I could work with it rather than against it. What effect do you think switching the strings to banjo or uke would have?
As you recognise sounding a bit shrill is probably the trade-off of the small body.
Changing to nylon strings (ie uke) could make it plunkier, but it would become very quiet and the string grooves and spacings just aren't designed for them.
Experimenting with different strings gauges might help. Not sure I'd want to risk putting heavy gauge strings on.
Have you asked the question over at mandolincafe.com? Lots of folks who live and breath mando's over there!
It's just metallic in tone I assume, not strings that are almost ,but not quite, buzzing?
You might try flatwound strings such as Thomastik (Expensive, but long lasting) or La Bella to mellow out the tone a bit. You might try silk and bronze or silk and steel as well.
Be careful with heavier strings - I was in a mate's music shop the other day and he was repairing a backpacker guitar which had had the head smashed off by someone else's backpack on a luggage rack. They don't look like the sturdiest of necks.
In my experience, the 'backpacker' design works better for the mandolin than it does for the guitar, as the overall body size is not quite as much smaller-than-standard as for the guitar. But I've never liked the design much - in addition to being acoustically poor, it's uncomfortable to hold, ill-balanced and ugly (although I realise that is entirely subjective). Anyway, the mandolin is so small already, why bother making it smaller?
As for travel guitars, I've always thought a better idea would be a large bodied guitar with a door in the back, so you could stuff your socks and underwear inside, put the whole lot in a soft case and wear it like a rucksack. Just mind your headstock going through doorways.
A hinged or detachable neck would also be a possibility, if you didn't mind slackening off the strings every time you packed it away. You could even have a mandolin that fits inside your guitar. Hows about that, then?
I usually manage to pack some socks and undies in the bag as well, so not too far off granama's suggestion there either.
I worked up a design for a travel banjo with some engineers at work, but we never built it. Lacked motivation to.
The idea was a hinged neck which folded back under the resonator. There was no machine head as the tuners would be at the bridge end. A cam device could be flipped over to quickly tighten or slacken the strings, then they could be fine-adjusted with bridge-end tuners. The string tension would then hold the neck in place
"Anyway, the mandolin is so small already, why bother making it smaller? "
I've just realised my hypocrisy - I made a mandolin out of a coconut shell, to accompany me on foot to Portugal. Not surprisingly, it was a bit lacking in bass, but it sounded great on the high notes. So, mistercliff, perhaps your answer is just to learn to play tunes in higher keys to get the best out of your mandolin.
Unfortunately, due to a fundamental design flaw, the soundboard split into several pieces on exposure to sunlight on a hot day in Normandy. I carried it the rest of the way to Portugal, nevertheless. it is in the process of being revived.
"The idea was a hinged neck which folded back under the resonator....The string tension would then hold the neck in place"
Funny - for some reason I'd never thought of doing it that way round, Bren. I was thinking of having it fold over the top, and having something to secure the bottom of the heel to the body, to stop it folding up when the tension was on. Your design has the advantage of allowing you to have an adjustable neck angle, by means of a bolt.
We've got some smart engineers granama. Too smart to waste much more time looking at banjo design!
Packing socks and undies round the neck of a fretted instrument is always a good idea I think. I've seen at least one guitar in a hardshell flight case that ended up with a snapped neck. In my opinion, a well padded soft case, with the instrument well supported and cushioned all along the neck length inside, would be better in many respects.
I have seen an electric guitar where the owner solved the problem of having an instrument too big to carry on, in those long-ago days, by replacing the two screws nearest the bridge on the bolt-on neck by a hinge. When packing he merely undid the remaining two screws and folded the neck back over the body, thus halving the length of the instrument, and making it acceptable, in a bag or case, as carry-on luggage for european gigs. He insisted that it even stayed in tune, he only had to fold the neck back into playing position and refitting the two screws and it came up into tune.
Perhaps a similar arrangement could be made for mandos, though I would suggest they are small enough already.
Backpacker Mandolin
Backpacker Mandolin
I recently bought a Martin Backpacker Mandolin for my trips abroad. Despite its weaker tone, the small size and portability of the instrument suits my travels well (I can always play my regular mando at home).
I'm still pretty new to stringed instruments so here's my question:
Compared with my other mandolin, my backpacker mando has a noticeably metallic sound to it. While I recognize the tradeoffs of such an instrument, I'm wondering if I could work with it rather than against it. What effect do you think switching the strings to banjo or uke would have?
# Posted on May 31st 2008 by mistercliff
Re: Backpacker Mandolin
As you recognise sounding a bit shrill is probably the trade-off of the small body.
Changing to nylon strings (ie uke) could make it plunkier, but it would become very quiet and the string grooves and spacings just aren't designed for them.
Experimenting with different strings gauges might help. Not sure I'd want to risk putting heavy gauge strings on.
Have you asked the question over at mandolincafe.com? Lots of folks who live and breath mando's over there!
It's just metallic in tone I assume, not strings that are almost ,but not quite, buzzing?
# Posted on May 31st 2008 by TomB-R
Re: Backpacker Mandolin
You might try flatwound strings such as Thomastik (Expensive, but long lasting) or La Bella to mellow out the tone a bit. You might try silk and bronze or silk and steel as well.
# Posted on May 31st 2008 by Steve L
Re: Backpacker Mandolin
Be careful with heavier strings - I was in a mate's music shop the other day and he was repairing a backpacker guitar which had had the head smashed off by someone else's backpack on a luggage rack. They don't look like the sturdiest of necks.
# Posted on May 31st 2008 by bc_box_player
Re: Backpacker Mandolin
In my experience, the 'backpacker' design works better for the mandolin than it does for the guitar, as the overall body size is not quite as much smaller-than-standard as for the guitar. But I've never liked the design much - in addition to being acoustically poor, it's uncomfortable to hold, ill-balanced and ugly (although I realise that is entirely subjective). Anyway, the mandolin is so small already, why bother making it smaller?
As for travel guitars, I've always thought a better idea would be a large bodied guitar with a door in the back, so you could stuff your socks and underwear inside, put the whole lot in a soft case and wear it like a rucksack. Just mind your headstock going through doorways.
A hinged or detachable neck would also be a possibility, if you didn't mind slackening off the strings every time you packed it away. You could even have a mandolin that fits inside your guitar. Hows about that, then?
# Posted on May 31st 2008 by OrganicPeatCreature
Re: Backpacker Mandolin
You could always try it as a four-stringer. But, as granama says - why not just take a mandolin - perhaps in a padded gig bag like this:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51qWscyBamL._SS400_.jpg
I usually manage to pack some socks and undies in the bag as well, so not too far off granama's suggestion there either.
I worked up a design for a travel banjo with some engineers at work, but we never built it. Lacked motivation to.
The idea was a hinged neck which folded back under the resonator. There was no machine head as the tuners would be at the bridge end. A cam device could be flipped over to quickly tighten or slacken the strings, then they could be fine-adjusted with bridge-end tuners. The string tension would then hold the neck in place
# Posted on June 1st 2008 by Bren
Re: Backpacker Mandolin
"Anyway, the mandolin is so small already, why bother making it smaller? "
I've just realised my hypocrisy - I made a mandolin out of a coconut shell, to accompany me on foot to Portugal. Not surprisingly, it was a bit lacking in bass, but it sounded great on the high notes. So, mistercliff, perhaps your answer is just to learn to play tunes in higher keys to get the best out of your mandolin.
Unfortunately, due to a fundamental design flaw, the soundboard split into several pieces on exposure to sunlight on a hot day in Normandy. I carried it the rest of the way to Portugal, nevertheless. it is in the process of being revived.
"The idea was a hinged neck which folded back under the resonator....The string tension would then hold the neck in place"
Funny - for some reason I'd never thought of doing it that way round, Bren. I was thinking of having it fold over the top, and having something to secure the bottom of the heel to the body, to stop it folding up when the tension was on. Your design has the advantage of allowing you to have an adjustable neck angle, by means of a bolt.
# Posted on June 1st 2008 by OrganicPeatCreature
Re: Backpacker Mandolin
We've got some smart engineers granama. Too smart to waste much more time looking at banjo design!
Packing socks and undies round the neck of a fretted instrument is always a good idea I think. I've seen at least one guitar in a hardshell flight case that ended up with a snapped neck. In my opinion, a well padded soft case, with the instrument well supported and cushioned all along the neck length inside, would be better in many respects.
# Posted on June 1st 2008 by Bren
Re: Backpacker Mandolin
I have seen an electric guitar where the owner solved the problem of having an instrument too big to carry on, in those long-ago days, by replacing the two screws nearest the bridge on the bolt-on neck by a hinge. When packing he merely undid the remaining two screws and folded the neck back over the body, thus halving the length of the instrument, and making it acceptable, in a bag or case, as carry-on luggage for european gigs. He insisted that it even stayed in tune, he only had to fold the neck back into playing position and refitting the two screws and it came up into tune.
Perhaps a similar arrangement could be made for mandos, though I would suggest they are small enough already.
# Posted on June 2nd 2008 by Guernsey Pete