Which Acoustic Instrument to Learn: Octave Mandolin vs. Mandolin

Subject: Trinity College Octave Mandolin TM-325
Date: Thu, 22 Apr 2004 14:13:33 -0500

Hi,

Greetings Russell,

Gald to assist:

I've been all up in this octave mandolin trivia pursuit for about a month or
so now. I'm a guitar picker, and have had mandolins, but never fully took
to them. I think the lack of sustain thing has bugged me, as I've not
quickly gone into the adept-tremolo-style very quickly.

You might find the octave appealing, not only for its sustain, but for its longer scale neck...bringing it closer to the guitar in fret distance...

But, in following
Tim O'Brien's recordings of late, and in seeing him recently playing his
Nugget octave mandolin, I've led myself to believe that these octaves have
more sustain, in addition to having the lower register of tone, and seem to
be played a lot without the tremolo style being a necessity. Does this
track with your experience (or, am I off in the weeds with this line of
thought)?

Yes, the octave on average has more sustain than a mandolin...and, because of the sustain, there's less required when holding a note...such as is commonly applied for mandolin with the tremolo...

I have made what appears to be an obvious assumption, in that a Trinity
College Octave Mandolin TM-325 (which I've looked at on your site a great
deal, and have watched you play in the samplers about every day for the last
week) would be a lessor instrument to that of a carved top high end, like a
Nugget.

Sure, it's most definitely a lesser instrument, and far less expensive than an archtop...however, if you're looking for sustain as one of the more important features, then you'll find the flat style more to your liking...I have a Weber Big Sky, an archtop Octave, with less sustain than the Trinity College Octave...

But, one of the killer things about O'Brien's playing style with
his octave is that he's doing a lot of progressive, near-guitar, style of
playing. I know that the less expensive oval hole Webers that I've played
and looked at (like the Sage series) have had more of a bark to them
(lending more to the Celtic tones, I'd think), versus the carved top F-hole
instruments (in either an A or F style). What's your take on the tone and
volume of the Trinity College Octave Mandolin TM-325, in terms of lending
itself to progressive bluegrass, country swing, and, really, the O'Brien
styles?

I don't believe that the Trinity College works as well within a progressive bluegrass context as would an archtop...however, for Celtic and for soloing, you'll find it a great instrument due to its sustain and resonance...for bluegrass settings, which it's very rare to see octaves played, you'll find that the archtop is contributory in cutting through...the flat styles seem to get lost against a bluegrass setting...

Also, what's the country of origin on these Trinity College instruments?

I called Saga, our supplier to finalize this once and for all...they did move their Kentucky production over to China...their Trinity College line of Octaves, Mandolas and Bouzoukis are being made in China...they moved about two years ago as of April 23, 2004....

Hope this helps, Mickey

I've heard Korean and Chinese, but haven't seen this written down anywhere
so far.

Thanks much for any info you can pass along,
Russell Hammond
Huntsville, Alabama