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My daughter is in her second year of law school in Boston, and one of her move days pre-pandemic was also a move in day ar Berklee. Man, that was an awesome sight...all those younglings (who can...

Bluechip and Wegen remain my favorites, but I bought a V-Picks “Tree of Life” pick on a whim in the Classifieds a few weeks ago. Iirc it’s 2.78mm thick, which was a bit daunting given TAD 60 is the...

My Kelley A5 is more traditional sounding than a Collings MT I used to own and other MTs I’ve played through the years. The Collings’ fit/finish was spectacular and it had great playability and...

Put a fresh set of strings on and wail on it. I agree that it’ll sound better with play. Whether that’s because it “opens up” or your fretting and picking hands adjust to the string spacing and neck...

Since it’s gotta be a scroll (hey, I get it), I’d look at Kentucky KM 1000 or 1050 (used) and the Eastman 515 and up. Ratliff has a very good rep, and you can occasionally find some “unknown”...

Eastman and Kentucky (Eastman, especially) still do a ton of hand carving and work in their building process, and their quality tends to be better than some of the other mass produced imports, so the...

Sounds great! Get it set up to your preferences and wail on it a bit. I have a 00-17 1931 reissue that I’m falling in love with as well. Took a little time to get used to the 1 7/8 nut width, but now...

I played celluloid picks for years and will still use them in situations at high risk for pick loss (lake docks, camping when sharing instruments with friends and their kids, etc (well, before...

Another inexpensive option is to use the elastic strap from an acoustic guitar capo wrapped around the bridge. Not perfect, but a significant volume reduction...

FP, agree that a 22.5 inch or longer OM gives you sustain and drive that the shorter scales can’t, but, damn, I just don’t have the finger length to make the longer scales work for me with...

Thanks for the heads up, will watch...

Yaaaaasssssss! Thank you ;)

I respect his talent, but, yeah, agree with Shawn. I didn’t make it past the first verse. Which, of course, is not a fair trial, but I’m on vacation and don’t want to put forth that effort right now,...

Very cool concept!

I agree, Don. If it’s still playing and intonating well and you’re not having issues with buzzing, I wouldn’t rush to have work done on it, but, knowing there’s likely to be some wait, I’d put it on...

The Calhoun is a good choice, and a good recommendation. I’ve played a couple of them, and they compared favorably to a Flatiron 1N I used to own (sold in a downsize). It’ll suit you well.

The...

I actually still have all my teeth. ...”before mando, and I always pick closer to the neck the higher up the neck I get.” Same for bass, as you noted. Variable on guitar depending on the effect...

Lol, nothing wrong with upgrading! Glad it helped. Yes, that tip (from a violin player, actually), surprised me, too. I had a banjo before mando always pick closer to the neck the higher up the neck...

With a 20 inch scale length OM, if you have larger hands, you can probably play mandolin fingering, and I’ll occasionally do that if my pinky is getting exhausted, but generally it’s different. On...

That’s how I justified it early on: purely acoustic, A/E, 4 string electric, and resonator. I downsized a couple years ago and sold my camping/travel/beaters then as part of a movement to go “fewer...

It could be a little of both. One of the big differences between “budget” instruments and upper tier ones is their tone up the neck. Better mandolins tend to have more full, ringing tone as opposed...

Actually, after they sequenced the mRNA in early 2020, it took about a week. The rest has been human trials.

I don’t intend to be contentious, but it’s been a sucky year, and I give much respect...

I downsized a couple of years ago (geez, almost 3 now), and lost my music room. I gave away a Kentucky 675S to a friend’s son I like and who’s into it. I gave a squire strat I won at a hospice...

Mike, for dipping your toes in, I don’t think you need to sweat choosing pot size and scale length. With it’s reduced string tension and single course strings, the banjo is a bit more forgiving on...

And, that’s why I love this site! Straight from the mouth (keyboard?) of the man who invented it. So cool! As much time as I spend on here I’m a little surprised that this is the first one I recall...