Does a painted black instrument suck the tone or does it not matter?
The black finish will not affect the tone any more than a sunburst finish. Date: Mon, 29 May 2000 I recently compared a Flatiron Festival and a Weber Yellowstone at a local retailer. The Flatiron was lighter, had better action and a nice ring in the high end. The Weber was built like a tank, heavier, higher action, but with a booming bottom end. Are these mandos representative of two different trends in building these days? Which is the better mandolin in your opinion? The Flatiron seems to have a little thinner tone on average than a Weber on average…there are exceptions. I have a Flatiron A-5 Artist that has tremendous volume and tone…but does have that characteristic thinner tone. As a percussive, bluegrass instrument, it works well for cutting through. Now, the Webers can also have this same characteristic…for instance, I’ve found the Weber Bitterroot to have a very responsive, cut-through tone (and, it’s also relatively lightweight). Now, this is the matte finish version. Ma
