Second best to succumbing to your own MAS?
Vicarious participation in someone else's MAS. :mandosmiley:
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Second best to succumbing to your own MAS?
Vicarious participation in someone else's MAS. :mandosmiley:
To answer the OP's initial question, I would not recommend Washburn or The Loar to anybody but a beginner, and then, only reluctantly so. They are strictly entry-level instruments. No, all Chinese instruments are not equal, not by any stretch of the imagination.
Chances are good that your Alvarez is an equal or better grade instrument, and you would not be upgrading at all.
Eastman mandolins with model numbers of 500 or higher are generally pretty good sounding instruments, and are much better built than Washburn or Loar. I had an older Eastman 505 pass through my hands that I wish I had kept. It was good enough to gig with after I got it set up.
I haven't played enough of the recent issue Kentuckys to comment on them.
I don't know where you are located, and Texas is a big state, but Fiddler's Green in Lockhart might have a few Eastmans in stock. And perhaps, if you check around the Austin area, you can find a store that has a few mandolins you could try out.
I completely agree - I will never be as good as my Collings, Weber, and Pava deserve, but they will never hold me back either. I am still practicing and trying to discover the subtleties that these instruments are capable of. But that is what makes it all worth the journey. :mandosmiley:
I'm 66, so you could be my younger sister! LOL!! And my Collings is an MT, I listened to an MT2 and liked the sound of the MT better (and it was cheaper) and I have not been disappointed. I listened to sound clips (I live in a mandolin desert) and bought it sight-unseen. It is a complement to my other two, sounds totally different, and I really enjoy it, Congratulations on a wonderful choice.!
My actual younger sister turns 61 this year, and she does not play mandolin (played ukulele as child.)
I started playing about five years ago, and I'd say I'm pretty comfortably between Intermediate and Advanced. I have an Eastman 515, and it's all the mandolin I think I'll never need. I've played more expensive mandolins, and yes, they're fun to play, but are they going to unlock something that would otherwise be inaccessible to me? No.
If I have some spare funds, perhaps I'll buy some other mandolins in the future. But I certainly don't need to, and even if I get a lot better (that's always the dream), I have no doubt the Eastman will still meet my needs.
How do you know? Perhaps it is true that they didn't "do it" in that moment. I wonder how you might feel if you played "more expensive mandolins" for a year, two, or five..?
While it's generally true that an elementary student wouldn't benefit totally from sudden immersion in college studies, it's not a perfect analogy. The entry-level instrument will not let you hear what it is that you're missing - so you cannot develop the skills (not only playing but also hearing, feeling, etc) that you could deploy on the superior instrument.
Our instruments are heuristic devices, tools for "education" of the senses. It's a little like fishing - you catch the 5-pounder and are quite satisfied; but there is a 10-pounder that you might have caught.. ;) This is not to say that you shouldn't be satisfied with what you have. Only that music is infinite.
$350 seems a lot for a re-fret. Do all the frets need replacing ?