New to the world of Octave mandolins!

[Freddyfingers]

Hi everyone. After years of loud electric music, I finally realized that I really like my mandolin, and my tenor, and my baritone acoustic instruments. They actually relax me, and I enjoy them. Thats something I have a hard time saying about all my electric gear.

SO, being new to this, I am interested in getting an octave mandolin. My budget is small, compared to what I see them go for. Any suggestions on one that is above a starter, yet not hand made in the US for thousands of dollars. I have seen the gold tones and the trinity college models, like the 325 and 625. How would you all rate them. Are they flat sounding laminates, or can they be tweaked? In the electric world, I know how to make a cheap guitar sound better, somewhat, but here I am at a bit of a loss.

Suggestions?

I picked an octave, as I like the fingerings on the mandolin, and I like the fuller sound of the tenor, thought I would get the best of both worlds.

Thanks!

[John Flynn]

I went through the same transitions at one time, electric to acoustic and then augmenting regular mandolin with an octave, both very satisfying. The Trinity College OMs are nice. Even the lower line is all solid woods and they often come with a very nice hard case. They can also be found used fairly often. Fit and finish is typically good on them. They are also slightly on the shorter scale side of the OM range, with a thin neck, which makes them pretty easy to play coming from a mandolin.

The Trinitys do tend to lack bass compared to some of the better OMs, but that is only a problem if you really want some booming bass. I think they sound nice and even. Some have reported that this can be handled by using mandola strings on them, which have heavier gauge bass strings. I would definitely monitor the truss rod adjustment if experimenting with that, but it seems like a good solution.

Personally, the Trinity is as low as I would go on octaves. I bought a cheaper one once, a Romanian Hora, and did not have a good experience with it. I have heard that the Fenders and Johnsons don't have as good a reputation. I don't know about the Gold Tones. Moving up the ladder, you might consider a Gypsy or one of the lower level Petersen models. But the Trinity is definitely a decent place to start.

[luthierseye]

Strongly recommend you look at Lafferty as well as Trinity College. Lafferty's are very nice for the $$. Log onto the mandolin store:
http://www.themandolinstore.com/Scripts/default.asp
They got' em

[Freddyfingers]

Thanks, that was very helpful. I am hoping to get my hands on one to play. But none of the dealers near me have them.

[Freddyfingers]

Strongly recommend you look at Lafferty as well as Trinity College. Lafferty's are very nice for the $$. Log onto the mandolin store:
http://www.themandolinstore.com/Scripts/default.asp
They got' em

The Lafferty in the link was about 5000 dollars. I am sure it is nice, but I can get a car for that amount, and my wife would not disown me.

[ptritz]

The Lafferty in the link was about 5000 dollars. I am sure it is nice, but I can get a car for that amount, and my wife would not disown me.

NFI, but I just looked at the Mandolin Store site. They list several Lafferty octaves at prices in the $1300 range.

[Denman John]

I've tried most of the OM's recommended, and although nice, nothing has made me drop my money and buy one. I'm very fortunate to live close to a local luthier who makes outstanding OM/bouzoukis and will be having one built by him shortly. Not cheap, but you definitely get what you pay for. Although I've had a good number of nice guitars and mandos pass through my hands, this is my first instrument being commissioned and I don't see myself buying another OM. I have usually bought instruments used, but finding a good OM locally is pretty much impossible unless you have one built for you. He was kind enough to let me borrow his own personal instrument for a couple of weeks and it has only whetted my appetite.

One OM that hasn't been mentioned and has always intrigued me are the Flatiron OMs. Pancake style, sound great and are relative inexpensive. Kinda hard to come by, but they do pop up in the classifieds from time to time.

[Freddyfingers]

Thanks guys! All great stuff!

If I had the cash, the custom built would be the way to go. But sadly, its 2014, and its not in the cards. Unless I sell off all my other gear. I have never seen one on my local craigslist, or even within a few hours dive. Ebay, in my price range, only has the gold tone, and trinity, and a few really cheap imports that I dare not buy. I played a gold tone tenor once. There entry model. I thought the sound rather flat, and went with the blue ridge model. nThere is always building one myself, the only big concern is shaving the neck of a smaller guitar to fit the strings. That I cant do.

[Freddyfingers]

I've tried most of the OM's recommended, and although nice, nothing has made me drop my money and buy one. I'm very fortunate to live close to a local luthier who makes outstanding OM/bouzoukis and will be having one built by him shortly. Not cheap, but you definitely get what you pay for. Although I've had a good number of nice guitars and mandos pass through my hands, this is my first instrument being commissioned and I don't see myself buying another OM. I have usually bought instruments used, but finding a good OM locally is pretty much impossible unless you have one built for you. He was kind enough to let me borrow his own personal instrument for a couple of weeks and it has only whetted my appetite.

One OM that hasn't been mentioned and has always intrigued me are the Flatiron OMs. Pancake style, sound great and are relative inexpensive. Kinda hard to come by, but they do pop up in the classifieds from time to time.

I have done a search for the flat irons, and to my surprise they are US made as well, but I can not find a link to the company, or any current postings for sale. Any thoughts?

[Freddyfingers]

NFI, but I just looked at the Mandolin Store site. They list several Lafferty octaves at prices in the $1300 range.

Your right, i went back again and found some others. Still above my price range, but not the scary price I saw at first. Thanks for pointing it out! n

[JH Murray]

The TC is a great starter to try out the octave. The forums on this site recommended that you upgrade the strings to D'Addario J80. It does give an immediate improvement to the sound over the factory installed strings. It gives a richer bass sound with those better strings.

[allenhopkins]

I have done a search for the flat irons, and to my surprise they are US made as well, but I can not find a link to the company, or any current postings for sale. Any thoughts?

First thought is, I love my ol' Flatiron 3K koa-bodied octave mandolin. Owned it since 1986 or so. Made in Bozeman MT by the original Flatiron Co., before Gibson bought the company. Gibson didn't continue making the octaves, as far as I know, so all the Flatiron "bouzoukis," as they labeled them, will be from the 1980's.

Relatively long scale, so a stretch for the mandolinist, not so much for the guitarist. You'll find them priced about $1K when they come up on the market. Mine sounds like this:

[luthierseye]

The Lafferty in the link was about 5000 dollars. I am sure it is nice, but I can get a car for that amount, and my wife would not disown me.

Sorry, wrong link. This is the one: http://www.themandolinstore.com/scri...idproduct=9368

[Freddyfingers]

First thought is, I love my ol' Flatiron 3K koa-bodied octave mandolin. Owned it since 1986 or so. Made in Bozeman MT by the original Flatiron Co., before Gibson bought the company. Gibson didn't continue making the octaves, as far as I know, so all the Flatiron "bouzoukis," as they labeled them, will be from the 1980's.

Relatively long scale, so a stretch for the mandolinist, not so much for the guitarist. You'll find them priced about $1K when they come up on the market. Mine sounds like this:

Nice playing!

[Freddyfingers]

Sorry, wrong link. This is the one: http://www.themandolinstore.com/scri...idproduct=9368

Thanks. I eventually found that!

[JeffD]

To avoid sticker shock, roughly speaking, I think you should expect to pay twice what a comparable quality acoustic guitar would cost. So if you look at the price, cut it in half, and judge how good an acoustic guitar you can get for that much - that is a rough rule of thumb gauge for what a mando-buck will buy. In many cases you can do better or worse, but for initial expectations I think its useful.

[Freddyfingers]

Thanks. I never though of that.