Mandolin!
About a year ago, I got my electric guitar made by Madras Musicals. I was so damn impressed by the amazingly smooth neck and fret board he made for me. I have tried a few other 'branded' guitars (some local brands like Tansen and some really funky brands like Schecters) but really, Thulasi rocks for all the customisability and the value for money.
The shop has a floor space of about 8x10 with a 2x8 "drawing room" (with a 2x2 "sofa" where one can hardly even sit!). I had such a difficulty finding the shop. Its in chintadripet (Oh, and Faiz told me about Thulasi).
The 'dirtiness' stops just with the size and filth in the shop. The instruments they make are really pieces of art. They make Guitars, Mandolins, Violins and almost every kind of string instrument you can imagine. Saptaswara Musicals makes some of their instruments from Madras Musicals. When I say "they", what I really mean is "they", The Venkobasha family. The proprietor is called "Thulasi Venkobasha" and their shop is called "Madras Musicals" and people use the two terms interchangeably. They speak some funny tamil (or is it funny Hindi? I can't find out!) that is typical of Sowcarpet people :) (I don't know if they really live in Sowcarpet, though).
The shop was originally started by the Grand father of Thulasi and the Grand Father->son and grand father->son->son have all been keeping up the business. Rather well, I should say. Its almost like how art forms pass along the family tree. I shouldn't even use the word "almost" :) What they do is really 'art' :) The visiting card they gave me even had an all-pink monochrome picture of someone holding some weird looking guitar. I asked "is that a stratocaster? It looks quite different!" and Thulasi said "Fender came only in my father's period. The one in the picture is my grand-father! That was an Italian hand-made electric guitar... one of the first in that period!" *boggle*
Now what does all this have to do with the subject-line of this post? Yes, I just placed an order for an Electric Mandolin to Thulasi! Dual rail neck pickup, 6 string and left handed. More importantly, I hope I will get to unlearn some of the things that I think are screwing my playing skills and learn afresh (maybe the shorter neck span will prevent me from doing everything the 'slide way' on one string and maybe it will force me to evolve better techniques?). and maybe this will mean, I can play many more chords even with a E-G-E-G-E-G tuning because of the closer arrangement of the frets? (and primarily, I can now learn chords and stuff without having to re-tune my guitar. shivku, I'm banking on you for your expert inputs on chords, harmony and what not :) ).
Oh, and i've given this image as the 'reference' for the desert-burst finish that I'm looking for. Oh well, he said he cannot give me such 'classy' finishes with local stuff. Seems the 'top' in the model I've given as reference is an 'imported top'. I asked him to get me a solid black arch top.
... but who cares about the appearance anyway? :) If it wasn't for the Dual Rail pickups, the thing would've costed 3.6K. Now its a 5.1K. To me, that's a lot of value money can buy. Much much better than buying clothes, or even, upgrading my computer.
Now, I can't wait. But I have to wait for another 4 weeks. :)
The shop has a floor space of about 8x10 with a 2x8 "drawing room" (with a 2x2 "sofa" where one can hardly even sit!). I had such a difficulty finding the shop. Its in chintadripet (Oh, and Faiz told me about Thulasi).
The 'dirtiness' stops just with the size and filth in the shop. The instruments they make are really pieces of art. They make Guitars, Mandolins, Violins and almost every kind of string instrument you can imagine. Saptaswara Musicals makes some of their instruments from Madras Musicals. When I say "they", what I really mean is "they", The Venkobasha family. The proprietor is called "Thulasi Venkobasha" and their shop is called "Madras Musicals" and people use the two terms interchangeably. They speak some funny tamil (or is it funny Hindi? I can't find out!) that is typical of Sowcarpet people :) (I don't know if they really live in Sowcarpet, though).
The shop was originally started by the Grand father of Thulasi and the Grand Father->son and grand father->son->son have all been keeping up the business. Rather well, I should say. Its almost like how art forms pass along the family tree. I shouldn't even use the word "almost" :) What they do is really 'art' :) The visiting card they gave me even had an all-pink monochrome picture of someone holding some weird looking guitar. I asked "is that a stratocaster? It looks quite different!" and Thulasi said "Fender came only in my father's period. The one in the picture is my grand-father! That was an Italian hand-made electric guitar... one of the first in that period!" *boggle*
Now what does all this have to do with the subject-line of this post? Yes, I just placed an order for an Electric Mandolin to Thulasi! Dual rail neck pickup, 6 string and left handed. More importantly, I hope I will get to unlearn some of the things that I think are screwing my playing skills and learn afresh (maybe the shorter neck span will prevent me from doing everything the 'slide way' on one string and maybe it will force me to evolve better techniques?). and maybe this will mean, I can play many more chords even with a E-G-E-G-E-G tuning because of the closer arrangement of the frets? (and primarily, I can now learn chords and stuff without having to re-tune my guitar. shivku, I'm banking on you for your expert inputs on chords, harmony and what not :) ).
Oh, and i've given this image as the 'reference' for the desert-burst finish that I'm looking for. Oh well, he said he cannot give me such 'classy' finishes with local stuff. Seems the 'top' in the model I've given as reference is an 'imported top'. I asked him to get me a solid black arch top.
... but who cares about the appearance anyway? :) If it wasn't for the Dual Rail pickups, the thing would've costed 3.6K. Now its a 5.1K. To me, that's a lot of value money can buy. Much much better than buying clothes, or even, upgrading my computer.
Now, I can't wait. But I have to wait for another 4 weeks. :)