Trinity College TC 250 Mandolin

For my recent gig with Root Mean Square at Lambertville ECD I changed the strings on my main (and currently only) mandolin, my Trinity College TC 250 (Martin M400 set, 80/20 Bronze wound: .034w, .024w, .014, .010). The TC mando is a unique design, I've yet to see anything else quite like it. It's a flat-top with x-braced spruce top, maple back and sides, a quite shallow body and a very thin neck. However unusual the design may be, it's bright, loud, clear sound makes it very easy to play and especially hear, even in larger groups. It's also fitted with frets that are larger than average for a mando, almost guitar sized frets which I find allow me to play very quickly and clearly with minimal effort, something I really appreciate. I've become accustomed to playing flat-top mandolins over the past few years, ever since I first played a Tacoma mando. I played my Tacomas for a few years, but gave them up eventually for a few reasons- first, both of my Tacomas (I had 2, of course) developed unsightly problems with the finish literally pulling away from the wood in places- something I was later to find out was common to most Tacoma instruments made in the same period as my mandos. Second, over time the E strings would wear into the rosewood bridge, resulting in false notes and a somewhat sitar-like sound. Unfortunately an aftermarket replacement bridge was not available, so rather than try to rework the original bridge back into shape I decided to sell off both Tacomas and try something else. That something else turned out to be the TC 250 I'm still playing. I now also own a TC mandola (my profile pic shows the TC mandola in use) and an octave mandolin, but I'll write more about them another time.

Sunday February 14 - a Valentine's Day dance; also, How Many Instruments Do You Own? The Guitars - the Larrivee

I had a dance gig today so I restrung the 2 guitars I decided to use: first is my Larrivee L-03, a mahogany (I think) guitar with an ebony fingerboard and satin finish. It's a terrific guitar; even though it's the bottom of the Larrivee line it's beautifully built with great attention to detail, and their L model body (an exclusive Larrivee design) with symmetrical bracing works equally well for both fingerstyle and flatpicking. It has a fine, strong, well-balanced acoustic sound that also mics well. I usually use this guitar for GCD Demo team performances and some ECD dances, like today (we played acoustically in a relatively small room - no PA). Currently strung with a Martin M140 set (.012 .016 .025w .032w .042w .054w)

I also used my Epiphone EF-500R VS, mentioned in a previous post. It's acoustic volume + strong bass came in handy for many of the tunes on the program. I replaced the custom-light set with what's becoming my go-to set, the Martin M240 Bluegrass set (.012 .016 .025w .035w .045w .056w), because I needed more string tension (especially on the bass side) for the all-acoustic gig. It did OK on the day, but I'll have to check it in a day or two to see what the added string tension might have done to the setup.

The dance today was a special Princeton Country Dancers Valentine's Day dance; with Adam Oleksa, violin; Jane Roberts, cello; and John Burkhalter, recorder. Our caller was Judi Rivkin, who organizes this special dance every February; all the dances were in triple time, either 3/4 or 3/2. I understand that she was particularly interested in having us (a band with guitar for rhythm) because it would save her the trouble of having to bring the PCD digital piano + some associated amplification equipment to the venue. Chalk up one for the guitar player! It was actually quite well attended, considering that many of our local dancers were away at one of the more popular dance festivals held over President's Day weekend in upstate New York.