Issue 66 on sale now
Mandolins
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Kim Breedlove started his career crafting high-quality mandolins and they continue to be his primary passion. Simon Mayor takes a look at two new models now available in the UK. Prices: | |||
The asymmetrical theme is continued through the tapered 23 fret fingerboard to the swooping point of the headstock which sports the Breedlove logo and, curiously, the shape of the truss rod cover. It’s a nice little touch, and an indication that this has all been thought through very carefully. 
And so I put plectrum to string, the Quartz first. I was impressed straight away with this mandolin’s response. It was immediate, positive and loud, although with a slight clangy quality in the top end. It actually felt as responsive as a good, old instrument but without the maturity of tone that, in my experience, only age can bring. So that’s an observation not a criticism, and I have little doubt that my reservations about the top end would disappear pretty quickly as this instrument settled down. It was bright and open, and bell-like rather than woody, as you would expect from an F-hole mandolin. The fingerboard, a little wider than I’m used to and cambered rather than flat, still felt perfectly comfortable.  |     | ||
| So, you fancy investing in a mandolin - but not an outright starter model. You’ve got between £300-£400 to spend. Acoustic’s mandolin expert, Simon Mayor, reviews four contenders for your cash... Aria AM600 The first thing that struck me about this Chinese made mandolin was the weight. This is really quite a heavy instrument, and in my experience, rarely a good sign. If there’s an up-side to this, it means that it is probably built so robustly that it won’t fall apart in a hurry. In some ways this instrument harks back to the imports from the far East that began gracing our shops some thirty years ago, bearing as it does a superficial resemblance to a classic design - in this case a Gibson F5 - yet somehow missing the point. From what I can tell from close inspection, solid woods have been used for the top and back (but not the ribs), reasonably classy gold hardware has been fitted, the headstock is bound and no less than 11 of the 24 frets bear intricate inlays. Strangely, the last two inlays are even offset to allow for the narrowing of the last three frets at the end of the fingerboard. My feeling is that construction hours would have been better spent by cutting back on these last two jobs and concentrating on a more delicately applied varnish, which has built up in an unattractive way in the many nooks and crannies of this scroll-and-points design. The yellow sunburst finish, a little too yellow for me, and is certainly well protected! It would have taken no extra time at all to have the string spacings at the nut and bridge allow the strings to match the taper of the fingerboard. Nevertheless, this mandolin certainly looks the part, at least from a distance, and I suspect Aria intend this to be its main selling point. The neck is U-shaped, a little chunky but not uncomfortably so. The light gauge strings and low action make for a very playable instrument, but this setup could be easily changed if you’re a player who plays hard and prefers a little more resistance under your fingers. There’s absolutely no doubt the Aria could take heavier strings, it’s built like a proverbial you-know-what and the roller wheels in the bridge provide a simple means of raising or lowering the action. The sound is exactly what I knew it was going to be even before I put plectrum to strings: pleasingly sweet but constrained. Play hard and there are no reserves of volume. Much as I like wood, there’s just a bit too much of it here for me. Ashbury CFM-70/OV Also hailing from China and also modelled on a classic design - in this case a Gibson F4 - this Ashbury gave an immediately different impression. Like the Aria, it has gold hardware and an adjustable bridge. Unlike the Aria, its outline is crisp, the headstock binding is more delicate, it has no build up of varnish in nooks and crannies, the taper of the string spacing matches that of the fingerboard, the neck is not so chunky and the cosmetics are altogether more tasteful and restrained. The finish is an even, dark, red-brown varnish, and a very attractive colour at that. To use an American phrase, the ‘fit and finish’ is in a different league. In higher end instruments there is a distinct difference in tone quality between f-hole and oval-hole instruments. There’s much debate, and while it’s not really a case of one being better than the other, most professional players opt for f-holes because of the increased projection they provide. Oval-hole mandolins are usually thought of as ‘chamber’ instruments, sweet sounding but not as powerful. Frankly, in this price bracket these subtleties are blurred and the basic character of the sound of this Ashbury is not dissimilar from the Aria. Even so, there is a greater variety of tone colours to be coaxed out of it and its sustain is considerably longer, so it scores higher in this department as well. I suspect there will be a little more lurking here as the mandolin matures and that long-term satisfaction will be greater. Garrison M-20 It’s good to know that it’s not just the factories of the Far East that compete in this price bracket. The Garrison is a Canadian made mandolin which arrived in a good quality case proudly bearing a bright red maple leaf tag. This is of a much more simple design than both the Aria and the Ashbury. The top and back are flat, the shape is a simple teardrop, the hardware is of standard chrome finish. Although the body is bound, the headstock is not. In fact, the cosmetics touches are minimal, and are restricted to a rosette of two rings of what appear to be maple and mahogany. It’s a subtle enhancement, but there’s just enough contrasting colour to make the soundhole the visual focus of the mandolin - exactly as it should be! The finish is matt and very thinly applied. I don’t doubt that there is some wood protection here but the effect (I’m going to risk sounding a little ‘eco’ here) is to make you feel like you’re close to nature, holding an instrument almost in its raw state. Simple it may be, but the Garrison is impressively neatly made; no rough edges on the nut or the slightly chunky frets. When you close your eyes and stroke it, which, call me weird if you like, I always do with musical instruments, you won’t feel any ridges at wood joints. The top is spruce, it looks like sitka but it could be stained dark, and the back and sides appear to be cherry or walnut. I’m not as expert as some in this department but I know from some very enjoyable visits to Canada over the last few years that there’s a commendable movement among Canadian makers to use sustainable native hardwoods, so you’re unlikely to find Brazilian rosewood - especially at this price. The overall impression is that this is a very ‘honest’ instrument. Solid woods are used throughout, the construction is faultless, and it’s made for a serious player on a budget rather than someone who wants a bit of eye candy hung round their neck. Mandolins of this simple, flat design are usually surprisingly loud, if a little clangy. They tend to be favoured by people into Celtic music rather than bluegrass but are usually considered too lacking in refinement for classical. So how did it sound? Of the four mandolins under review, I found this the most difficult to assess. My first impression was of good volume with a full and rounded bass response. The mandolin sounded rich and fruity on slow tunes with lots of chords in them but on faster, single note playing I found myself having to work hard to get a sense of flow to the music. The sound was short and ‘quacky’ rather than free-flowing and bubbly. I was a little disappointed but kept playing. Fifteen minutes later and my opinion began to change; the mandolin was settling down and the top end was responding more freely. I then stopped for a meal, which is always frustrating when you’re playing a mandolin, and came back to it. My opinion reverted to first impressions, but then... well, you can probably guess what happened after another fifteen minutes. I’m going to stick my neck out here and say that although I have reservations about the sound out of the box, this mandolin is going to mature well if it gets played a lot. Put the hours in (you know you need the practice!) and this mandolin should reward well. Ovation ‘Celebrity’ MCS 148-RRB This Korean made mandolin is the most unusual of the four under review. Firstly, and most obviously, it’s not shaped like a mandolin. Alright, I concede that some Victorian English mandolins were guitar shaped, but the cynic would say that the people at Ovation decided it was easier to scale down their highly successful guitar body design on the computer than to start from scratch on a mandolin. To be fair to the company, their intended market is very different from the other three instruments. This is the only one that has onboard electronics and the slogan ‘Plug It In’ is emblazened across its cardboard box. The purpose of this article is to concentrate on the unplugged sound of the review instruments and so we’re not going to spend too long discussing the onboard electronics, but suffice to say that the typical ‘tizziness’ of the piezo pickup sound can be effectively tamed by the 3-band EQ. A volume control is also provided. Of course, for the privilege of being able to amplify your sound, the Ovation understandably comes in more expensive than all of the other three. This is a mandolin for the non-traditionalist, the rock’n’roller perhaps, and sports the usual Ovation lyrachord moulded back and no less than fourteen mini-soundholes spread across the front in the style of their Adamas guitar. The top appears to be spruce rather than the special carbon fibre used in some Ovation/Adamas instruments and the soundholes are surrounded by an overlayed, as opposed to inlaid, layer of wood marquetry in a leafy design. I can’t imagine this has an exactly beneficial effect on the sound but it adds a pleasing visual touch and blends well with the black to dark red sunburst of the top, which only just exposes the grain of the wood. Unlike the Garrison, I find it hard to imagine that the sound of this mandolin will mature and ‘ripen’ with age. Nevertheless, it’s out-of-the-box sound was fairly sweet and with reasonable sustain, if frustratingly lacking in any sort of punch or volume. The usual way to coax a bit more volume out of an instrument is to raise the action a little, but the bridge has no means of adjustment so far as I could tell, and because the pickup is an integral part of the saddle it seems that you’re pretty much stuck with the factory setup. This is fine if you stay down in first position, but higher up the neck the very low action means that playing hard immediately introduces buzzes and chokes the response. This is a very easy mandolin to play if you play lightly all the time and in that sense will appeal to some; the neck is fast and neatly finished but as an acoustic instrument its sound is, in my opinion, lacking in character and it barely projects from one side of the kitchen to the other. Conclusion It’s difficult to pick a clear winner given that these four mandolins are bound to appeal to different markets. They are roughly in the same price bracket, but bear in mind that only two of the four come with cases: the Garrison has a smart, traditional pressed plywood case, and the Ashbury an equally smart plastic one. If your mandolin will never leave the house then a cardboard box may suffice, but this could be a necessary extra expense if you take it out. All four boasted good playability with nicely finished necks, although the Aria’s was just a little too chunky for me. The Ovation is the most expensive of the four, but it is the only one with electronics and that may be important to you. Its amplified sound is pretty much what you would expect from the Ovation brand: instant, punchy but bearing little resemblance to the unamplified sound. The Aria is perhaps the most disappointing of the four. It is more expensive than The Ashbury and yet has no case. It is admittedly more time consuming to make a scroll and points mandolin than simpler designs but its sound is unremarkable, and possibly Aria are relying too much on selling this to budget conscious people who are set on the classic F5 shape. Acoustically, both the Ashbury and the Garrison are strong contenders for the crown. The Ashbury is a handsome instrument with a sweet tone and a very pleasing sustain. The Garrison is the dark horse of this review, equally handsome in its minimalist way, loud and punchy, well able to hold its own in a pub session I would suspect, and because of its light, solid wood construction, likely to mature well. Because these two mandolins are going to appeal to different styles of player, I’ll let them share the honours today. www.mandolin.co.uk | |||
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