Hi All

[plexi]

Hi all I'm new to this forum My name is Steve, I'm new to the Mandolin. I repair and build guitar and bass amp's. I was at my local music store and played a Loar LM-600 it was dead past the 12 fret big hump on the neck what a disappointment. I don't care to support foreign made products in the first place.
I ended up buying a Morris F5 I have not received it's still in transit looking forward to it.
1. What hard shell case in the $200.00 range would you suggest.
2. What would be a good upper end pickup. I have a FET on the input of my amps that will match the impendence of a transducer piezo pickup.

Best regards, Steve.

[Pete Jenner]

The Hiscox case retails at about $260 here in Australia. It may be cheaper in the US. Excellent value for the price.

I use K and K twin spot pickups.

[Steve Lavelle]

K&K Twin internal (~$70) and the JJB Electronics Prestige 220 (~$40) are basically the same thing.

Hiscox case Sells for $220 on MF.

[MysTiK PiKn]

Several brands I once thought were made in USA - turns out, they were all made in China. I don't know Morris brand name, or where it's made. But from whatI have heard here, TheLoar, Eastman, Kentucky, JBovier, likely some others???? are all made in China. Generally, it seems that quality has increased a lot from the days in the 60's when the import invasion began. People learned. Now, many of them are sporting fine tone woods, solid spruce, solid flame maple - and some other interesting specs might come with - such as hand-carved, graduated, nitrocellulose lacquer - some, but not all. On some models, specs have changed = upgraded to solid from plywood - I've seen a couple like that, and at least one carries the same model number - do your research, is recommended.
It seems USA-made brands carry a significant price tag - and that's the open door for Chinese manu. Fortunately, it's better than it was - but some details matter. It's an interesting overview, with some doing repairs, mods, upgrades, there is a whole secondary industry evolving around this phenomenon - and perhaps a stimulus to the US economy coming with this. So it seems; your mileage may vary. I find it to be an interesting view. How dealers deal with setups and accessories is definitely part of it. The better dealers have a good handle on this; the lesser dealers, well, who knows; it's hard to say. But buyers need to consider these points; if they are aware of them. If not, they will be.

Welcome to the forum, Steve.

[plexi]

Thank you for all the information You folks are great as far as the Morris Mandolin goes https://www.facebook.com/MorrisMando...?tab=page_info
Check out the photo section I will post photo's when I receive it.
The one I bought is real close to the Morris F5 #200
Don't get me wrong I was set on the Loar it was a mess unplayable.

Thanks' Steve.

[Stacey Morris]

Welcome Steve. It sounds like you already know way more about music and musical instruments than I ever will.

[MysTiK PiKn]

Thank you for all the information You folks are great as far as the Morris Mandolin goes https://www.facebook.com/MorrisMando...?tab=page_info
Check out the photo section I will post photo's when I receive it.
The one I bought is real close to the Morris F5 #200
Don't get me wrong I was set on the Loar it was a mess unplayable.

Thanks' Steve.

mandolins hand-crafted by Howard "Sonny" Morris in Irrigon, Oregon.
thanks for the link to the fan club

[zedmando]

Welcome, enjoy the forum--much to learn here.

[plexi]

One more question, What are your favorite Mandolin strings. I buy in bulk. That's the way I have to do it in Alaska.
On my Larrive'e 6 string guitar I like Ernie Ball phosphor studio bronze 12-54.

Thank you all, Steve.

[KEB]

One more question, What are your favorite Mandolin strings. I buy in bulk. That's the way I have to do it in Alaska.
On my Larrive'e 6 string guitar I like Ernie Ball phosphor studio bronze 12-54.

Thank you all, Steve.

The default strings are D'Addario J-74s. They're good strings that almost everyone compares other strings against. The J-73s are a little lighter-- big fan of those too-- I'm working through my last bulk order of J-74s before I think I move on to the J73s.

If you like coated strings, the Elixir nanowebs are good too.

[plexi]

Thanks' for all the help. Happy day Got my first Mandolin today, sounds and plays wonderful. Not to hard to look as either.




Steve.

[Franc Homier Lieu]

Very nice. Reminds me of this Morris:

[plexi]

I'm enjoying the Morris F-5 I ordered a L R Baggs Radius Mandolin Pickup for it now for the fun part designing a tube Amp for it.





On the Installation Manual it calls for a 2MEG2 pull down resistor it has a 1 MEG on the pickup and a 1 MEG on the input not in the photo a FET preamp will go with a 2K resistor for a total sum of 2Meg2

Fun stuff, Steve.