Cigar Box Mandos

I've been collecting a few things to build myself some Cigar Box mandolins. I have some neck blanks and some boxes.

While searching the web for more info about building one, I came across this website and this vid.... Pretty fun stuff.

Saturday Mornin Blues

This morning, I was getting things ready to do a recording of my wife an her sister. To check out the software and mics, I knocked this short little song out. I guess I oughtta make it a full song instead of a couple verses.

I guess its been too long for this blog to be up without putting up some actual acoustic blues.

Without further adieu......

This is based on the Gerry Hundt vids I linked to in my previous post.

Chicago Blues Mandolin

Found some great stuff in Youtube by Gerry Hundt. Good stuff. Give it a try, you'll enjoy it.

 

Ipad Blues Mandolin Jamming!

This Christmas, the wife and I bought ourselves an Ipad. Its our first, so there has been a learning curve with it. Those who have one and moved from a PC to the Apple product understand what I mean!

When I bought the Ipad, I decided to buy a few Ipad/Iphone magazines and see what I could learn. One particular publication had a short 1 page article on guitar apps and accessories for the guitarist. I quickly grabbed that one and read the article through and it tipped me to the idea of using my Ipad to expand the possibilities with my emando. The app

If you plan to do the same, the first thing you have to get is an Ipad/Iphone guitar/emando plug interface. There are a bunch on the market and all seem to get good and bad reviews. None seem to be terrible though. All appear to come with their own App to interface with, but all seem to also interface with GarageBand, the Ipad/Iphone app included with your Ipad when you buy it.

For my guitar plug interface, I went with the 'Jam Up' plug from Positive Grid. This unit is simple and inexpensive but seems to work well. I do wish that the unit was a little more sturdy as the molded plastic case is not the strongest item I've ever attached a guitar/emando cord to.

Plugging up the Jam Up Plug was easy, as it fits into the headphone port in the Ipad. From there, you simply plug in your guitar/emando cord and your headphones.

When I first hooked up everything, I went to GarageBand. I selected one of the amps and began playing. It really was a lot of fun. The variety of digitally mimic'ed amplifiers is pretty impressive, and while I'm not by any means an amp expert, the 'copies' seem right on. GarageBand also comes with an impressive array of effects pedals to play with. To add one, you simply click on the empty spot in the pedal board and the available pedals appear. Click on one and your ready. For the bluesy rock type stuff I play on my emando, I used the 'blues crunch' amp with a delay pedal and a vintage crunch pedal. It had great sound and fit well with my playing.

GarageBand is also capable of creating percussion, bass and other portions of music as tracks and looping them. It can also record your playing. Needless to say, it has a lot more capabilities than I'll figure out, or could write up here.

After playing with GarageBand, I added the 'Jam Up' app to my Ipad. Installation was quick and it is free (there is a pay version). This app is much like GarageBand, but decidedly guitar oriented, and much more limited in its selection of amps and effects.

However, what 'Jam Up' seems to do well that I could not get GarageBand to do well is pull in any MP3 track and allow you to Jam over the top of that music. I play over 'backing tracks' all the time with Youtube playing over my computer speakers in my music/computer room, but that does not remotely compare to the sound you can create by setting the Jam Up app correctly. Getting the balance correct is quick and easy, and allows the electric mandolin to come through easily and seamlessly on the track. It sounds good!

Hopefully, over the winter, I'll learn a lot more about using both apps in my Ipad, and maybe even record some music with both. I'll post it here if I'm daring enough....

If you've thought about trying this, I highly suggest it. Jamming with your Ipad gives you an opportunity to play without disturbing your family or housemates. It gives you the opportunity to have a better 'backing track' experience. I think it also allows you to test drive amps you've never played before to see what you like and don't like.

Another Stella Amp!

Well, my wife liked my little Stella Cigar Box Amp so much that she suggested I make one up for my brother-in-law for his birthday. He plays electric guitar and electric uke pretty regularly. He also has a habit of playing in his truck between jobs.

For this one, I found a slightly larger box. That gave me an opportunity to make a slightly nicer arrangement inside the box for the components. Everything fit much more nicely inside his than my first one. I also improved the positioning of the knobs and jack. Finally, I used crushed velvet for the background behind the speaker grill.

After getting everything shaped as I wanted it, I sprayed the enclosure with several coats of nitrocellulose lacquer for longevity and shine.

The little amp sounds great. Slightly different tone than mine, likely due to the very different style box.

Most importantly, my bro-in-law likes it :)

 

 

 

Spearman Brewers

Interesting new 'release' from Spearman Brewers. This is a fellow poster from Mandolin Cafe. Great blues mandolin chops and a great listen.

http://spearmanbrewers.bandcamp.com/

First Recording..........

Well, I had to do it eventually. Frankly, I've been playing a lot this year (not that you can tell from my playing). I've even had a chance to spend some time down on Beale St. this year listening to some good blues.

I need to work on my recording setup, because you can hear me playing, but can't hear the backing track. I don't know why I can hear the backing track on my home computer, but cannot hear it on the version uploaded to Youtube.

So, here it is. This is a standard slow blues in G. Definitely not my best playing. As soon as I turn on the camera, my nerves get me and I stumble around the fretboard. I'll get better about that over time.

Different Wiring Schemes.

A few months back, I posted up on the Mandolin Cafe forum Electric section that I was having difficulty with the volume and tone control on my BluesBird. Frankly, the problem was that I had no control! Volume was an on/off switch instead of linear, and the tone control was non-existant.

This was probably due to an incorrect wiring job by myself. Here is a pic of the original.

Several people posted up opinions on what was wrong. Andrew Jerman of

http://www.crossroadswood.com offered up that he might have a better wiring scheme for the instrument. Shortly later, he offered to make me up a new harness for my instrument if I would make before and after sound files and post them on the Cafe. What a great offer!

So, the wiring harness arrived this week and I installed it in the BluesBird. Did not take very long and fit right in.

Here is the new harness.

From the first, I was very impressed with it. First off, I have full volume and tone control. Both are very effective. Probably due to having the right wiring, right cap and right pots.

Here is a video of the difference between the harnesses.

I'm currently waiting to hear a few other 'Cafe visitors comments, but I'm pretty impressed so far. Now I have 3 distinctly different channels. Two of the channels are full and strong, but distinct from each other. The 3rd channel has a 'faraway' tone (to borrow Andrew's wording).

Frankly, at this point, I think I like the 3rd position best with its full tone and slight edge to it. Its pretty fun and is the tone that I like when playing the blues!

Thanks again to Andrew Jerman at www.crossroadswood.com. Great guy, very knowledgeable and makes a beautiful mandolin!

Great Del Grosso Interview on Mandolin Cafe

Sorry for the delay in posting..... Life definitely gets in the way some time.

The guys over at Mandolin Cafe did a great interview recently with blues mandolinist extraordinaire, Rich Del Grosso!

Check it out!

Rich Del Grosso's interview at the Mandolin Cafe!

ProBlues Jam Tracks

Great find from the Modern Blues Harmonica forums.

User TookaTooka put up a link for ProBlues Jam Tracks. Very nicely done backing tracks. Provided in MP3 format and available to either play directly from the site, or download to your computer. The key of the track is also noted in the listing for the track.

http://www.probluesjamtracks.com/blues-backing-tracks.php

Download some in your favorite keys and jam along!

Jim Richter

I'd be remiss in my purpose of talking about Mandolin Blues if I did not mention Jim Richter.

Jim is up in Indiana and plays mandolin music I can really sink my teeth into. He has incredible chops and instead of the expected bluegrass playing that most top notch mandolin players play, he plays blues and rock mandolin.

Jim's covers are well thought out, make the most of the instrument and sound great!

Jim also provides Tab's and instruction on how to play many of the tunes he's adapted to Mandolin. Can't beat that.

This vid will take you to his Youtube channel and you can also visit his site at http://www.jimrichter.com/

Continued Progression - A Strategy For More Effective Learning!

Well, being at home with the new baby has brought some good opportunities- beyond the poopie diapers at least!

Its nice to be able to find 20 mins between feedings or diapers to pull out the mandolin and work on something.

Again, I'm practicing working through blues scales in different positions and I've been very deliberate about how I'm practicing as well.

The biggest thing has been the way I play my blues scale on the mandolin. Long ago, when learning on the guitar, I made the mistake of learning my standard scales only in the open position. This really hampered me later when trying to move up the neck.

Interestingly enough, I made the same mistake when learning the standard scales on the mandolin. Again, playing standard scales was/is difficult for me on the mandolin when moving up the neck. With Mandolin being effectively easier to play because of the spacing of fifths, I should be doing that better.

When I figured out the blues scales on the mandolin, I decided to start from day one playing them up the neck instead of only in the open position.

My next step was to play them in the open position just like I play them up the neck. By doing this, my index finger on my fretting hand is not as involved when playing in the open position. The result of this is that I play effectively the exact same fretting pattern in open position as when I play up the neck - eliminate the variation and you eliminate a source of a problem.

This strategy is already paying off as far as I can see, as I play up the neck much more cleanly while playing blues than playing any bluegrass breaks.

Give it a try, I think you'll find it works.

Two Great Blues Mandolin Sites

Two more great online resources that I found via Youtube and Google.....

http://www.mandolinblues.de/  This site is by a guy by the name of Rene. His site is very informative, and truly fun to peruse. Also, Rene's Youtube channel is quite good, as he is quite a good player! Very worth time spent.

http://www.mandolinblues.com/ Rich Delgrosso's site. What can I say. Delgrosso is a true scholar of the blues. Most importantly, he is also a scholar of the mandolin blues. Delgrosso spent time with Yank Rachell and others, and I think that adds an element of authenticity to his mandolin blues, but blues comes from the soul and Delgrosso has that in spades. I know Delgrosso comes to Memphis fairly often, so maybe with a little luck, I'll get to meet him someday.

Makin Progress.....

I've spent the past couple of weeks practicing the blues in G. I've found a couple backing tracks on I-Tunes which seem pretty good. I can play along with them and solo over the top, or practice my rythm work.

The backing tracks are in an album called "Blues Jam Tracks". Artist is Matthews and Maz.

The other two things I've been working on are playing both electric and acoustic blues, and finally moving the blues scale around the fretboard. That is one of the beauties of blues played on the mandolin - the scale can be moved up and down the fretboard as well as left and right (higher lower) - I really love that fact!

With that, I guess its nearing time for me to put something up on Youtube of my own doing...... hmmmmm

Ry Cooder, Goin' to Brownsville

If you were like me, growing up in the home of the blues (Memphis and the delta) and loved Ralph Machio movies, then you probably loved Crossroads. Cheesy movie, but fun watching Machio go off against Steve Vai. And if you knew a little something back then, you knew it was actually blues virtuoso Ry Cooder playing the guitar against Vai. I say Cooder won  - and of course that was the plot of the movie.....

What I did not know is that Ry Cooder also played mandolin..... Hence Goin to Brownsville (which is not far from where I live now).

Texas Blues Shuffle from Rene

Here's a little blues lick from Rene. Texas Blues Shuffle. Sounds great on acoustic

12-bar Blues from Youtube.

Great vid. I had figured this progression out many months ago when I first started trying to play blues on the mandolin, but Billy does a great job explaining it and fleshing it out.

Disclaimer - this is Billy's work, I'm only re-sharing so its easier to find....

The Blues Bird - Blues Mandolin

So I looked at all the electric mandolins on the market. There are a ton out there, Mandobirds, Schwabs, Ryders etc. Unfortunately, they were all a little rich for my blood (except the Mandobird, which looked like it needed a new pickup to make it viable). If you want to see a bunch of great electric mandolins, then check out http://www.emando.com/

Then I found Moongazer Music. A great guy named Tom Morici runs it. He's a 40+ yr veteran of the lutherie business. He runs a website http://www.moongazermusic.com/ where he sells electric mandolin kits and their parts. His site is great. He allows you to buy individual tuning machines instead of sets. Bridges just for emando's and a great variety of emando pickups. Tom's kits are top notch and look really good.

I wanted a little more however and wanted to design my own. To that end, I designed the instrument in CAD.

I then contacted Tom and purchased wood blanks and all the parts needed to build the mandolin. He even provided a partially completed neck. Tom was also great in providing advice on the build.

I started building in the fall and ended up with a killer little instrument. It turned out beautifully, and the tone is exactly what I was hoping for. I was gunning for a little bit of Buddy Guy grit and that is what I got. I run the BluesBird through a Crate 2x10 amp and it sounds really good.

The BluesBird has construction just like a Fender Thin-Line Telecaster. She has an alder body capped with a fiddleback maple cap. The neck is maple with a rosewood fretboard and a Moongazer corian nut. The blank for the pickguard came from Japan and holds a Moongazer/Almuse MG4 pickup wired for coiltapping.

I love this little electric mandolin!!!!!

So what do I play....?

So what am I trying to learn mandolin blues on? I've got several instruments which I've been using for some time now and some new ones.....

I started playing guitar when I was in my mid-teens. I learned on this Epiphone Strat copy. Over time, I modified it to run some genuine PAF Gibson Humbuckers that were given to me by a fraternity brother in college. I've since updated the pickguard and wiring. I still play it a fair bit....

I also happen to play blues harmonica. Have since I was 12. I am not very technically proficient, but I can make it wail....



But this is a Mandolin Blues Blog... So what mandolins do I play?

My first was a Kay Model 68. Was pretty rough when I bought it, so I restored it fully. It turned out pretty nice and I enjoy the loud sound. Not a tone monster... just a volume monster....

Next up is my oval hole mandolin. I purchased a Michael Kelly Legacy Oval. Another instrument which needed a pretty good bit of work to be playable... Nut job, Saddle adjustment and fitting, truss rod adjustment and fret filing in a couple areas. But it is a very nice instrument now.

For traveling, I have a travel mandolin. Fits in my carry-on and is fun on trips. I've enjoyed it. I also upgraded the tuners on it to Grovers, as well as adding pau abalone dots.

Finally, this fall, I built my first electric mandolin. I built a 4 string I called the Blues Bird. This one gets its own post.....