Audio Quiz: John Reischman Playing Heiden or Loar? Audio Clip #1 (865k wav) Audio Clip #2 (830k wav) Please have a quick listen to the two sound clips above. Can you tell which is which? Please Submit Your Guess Here. I promise to reply promptly with the correct answer. Each short clip is John Reischman playing a bit of the fiddle tune "Indian Killed a Woodcock," one using his Loar and one using the new Heiden. The Heiden had been strung up only about five days earlier and not yet played for more than a few hours. John was nice enough do to this "tasting" during a lesson (highly recommended for players at any level) on January 13, 2003 in Vancouver a couple of days after I picked up the completed mandolin. The recording was made informally with a Sharp MT90 MD recorder and two Shure MX100 omni-directional mics placed on a table a couple of feet from John. Nothing was altered between the two recordings except the mandolin played, and no post-processing was done to either clip. Disclaimer: So what's the point of this audio quiz? It's just for fun (so please ignore if you think it's silly). See what you think about the recordings. To my ears, John can sure get the sweet notes out of this brand new Heiden, which compared favorably to John's wonderful, very mature Loar. Quiz Results: Here are statistics after a week of the site being active. In case you haven't looked at the Submit Your Guess form, the two questions asked are 1) Which clip is the Heiden and which clip is the Loar, and 2) Which clip sounds better to you in this particular recording. A total of 59 people have taken the quiz so far. Regarding the accuracy of the guesses, 66% correctly guessed which clip was the Loar and which clip was the Heiden, and 34% incorrectly guessed; that is, one in three mistook the Heiden for the Loar. Regarding sound preferences, 44% chose the Loar clip as sounding better, 36% chose the Heiden as sounding better, and 20% weren't sure or didn't care. Of just those who guessed correctly, 56% preferred the Loar sound, 21% the Heiden sound, and 23% weren't sure or didn't care. Of just those who guessed incorrectly, 65% preferred the Heiden, 20% the Loar, and 15% weren't sure or didn't care.

Misc. Photos View fast slideshow (4 second delay) or slow slideshow (10 second delay) of these images, or... Click each image below individually to display full-size photo (50-80k each).

Michael Heiden, builder [Photo by Larry Berger]		Large-format view camera image [Photo by Mark Coggins]		Benny Carter checks out the workmanship [Photo by Ed Berger]		Radim Zenkl at Inverness co-mando gathering [Photo by Steven May]		Larry Berger in Michael's shop in Chilliwack, B.C. [Photo by Michael Heiden]

Photos of Completed Mandolin View fast slideshow (4 second delay) or slow slideshow (10 second delay) of these images, or... Click each image below individually to display full-size photo (90-140k each). [Photos by Jon Sievert]			Photos During Construction View fast slideshow (4 second delay) or slow slideshow (10 second delay) of these images, or... Click each image below individually to display full-size photo (35-99k each). [Photos by Michael Heiden]
Front (Red Spruce top) Front closeup Front scroll One-piece Eastern maple back Back closeup Back scroll Peghead inlay based on a design from an inlay book. Artwork and co-design by Pam Kelly; inlay cutting by Harvey Leach, inlay installation by Michael Heiden Fretboard inlay elements are all found in peghead inlay design. (See peghead inlay photo for credits.) Back of peghead/neck (note fine point of peghead veneer despite custom rounded neck) Side			Wood for neck Sides and block Tonebar clamps Inside of top and sides with tonebars Binding the back Back after binding but before final sanding Scraping back binding Top scroll ridge Top scroll after scraping Body and neck joined Fingerboard extension Back after sanding Peghead, neck, and body Fingerboard clamped to neck Back scroll in the white Top scroll in the white Back in the white Peghead. This is the first Heiden to sport a peghead that is both top- and side-bound; you can just see a bit of it in this photo if you look inside the scroll here. Back after varnish

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