Allan Midgley
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A good woman, fine wine and my mandolin, what else do I want............money would be nice.
Thanks all - lots of interesting comments. I'm mostly a fiddle player, but over many years I've played and owned multiple examples of maybe a dozen different types of instruments. Upgrading to a single luthier instrument is something that most aspire to, and I've done it in the past. In the case of violins, you get an instrument that looks wonderful, has more character and history, costs maybe 10 times as much, and if you're lucky sounds 10-15% better, than a carefully chosen workshop instrument with a top class setup. In the classical violin world, history can easily cost you 10 times as much again (going from say $10K to $100K), for an instrument that plays no better and is a lot more fragile. If that's what you want, that's great. For me, though, going the workshop route enables me to afford to play a wider variety of instruments. I can play my boring grey but great sounding Luis & Clarke carbon fiddle outside in the rain if I want - and if I could find a good sounding and affordable carbon mandolin I'd buy one of those too.
I've listened to every YouTube video I can find on every model of Eastman mandolins, on headphones and on hifi speakers. Some of the the shops are pretty good at recording their demos very consistently on high quality equipment (thanks for that). Within those limitations, I prefer the sound of the Eastman 315 mandolin to the higher price models - for my purposes. To me it sounds more woody and more folky than the 505 upwards - which is what I'm looking for now. I wonder if the matt finish of the 315 have anything to do with that? Max
Max. I tried out an Eastman 505 Comfort with satin finish. It may have been the mandolin. I sent it back. Instead I got a 505 classic with gloss finish. It has a good woody rounded tone with nice bell-like trebles. It has the wide frets too like the 505 comfort CC. So while the videos point you in one direction, my experience pointed me in the other direction. Good luck with your choice.
Nic Gellie
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