After putting MAS to sleep for a long while I read this review of the Kentucky 272 written by MC member MikeZito back in 2017. If you're not familiar with this model it's an amber colored oval hole A-model that retails for ~$550. That review and other including a YouTube clip with Jimmy Gaudreau lauding this model gave me the confidence that the Kentucky would a pretty good instrument for the price. Gave Elderly a call and a few days later a package arrived on my doorstep.
Unboxing is always scary - things can get broken in transit and, ugh, the mandolin may be not what you were expecting (in a bad way). Cutting to the chase, it's a great great instrument *perfectly* reviewed in the above link. In summary, it looks great, the Elderly setup was perfect, it has a super chunky neck that takes a minute or two to get used to after which it feels comfy, it plays easily up and down the neck, never goes out of tune, and the sound, well, it's really good. While it's not going to beat the really high end instruments, the sound is more than enough to simply enjoy. I'm in love. Really in love with this wonderful inexpensive oval hole.
What's the problem? I like it too much. After a couple of weeks of playing, my wife asked me why I hadn't touched Bucky, my Buckeye (Pete Hart) f-hole 'grass monster. I explained that I'd never owned an oval hole and was just having a blast with my shiny new instrument. The next day I grabbed Bucky...
The Buckeye is an amazing mandolin that's been in a lot of hands and given high praise from high level players including John Reischman and Skip Gorman, the latter of whom really didn't want to give it back. The tone is everything you want in a good old F5. It's always been my lifer instrument that I knew I'd keep forever. Maybe you can see where this is going.
Immediately upon picking up Bucky I noticed the skinny v-shaped neck which didn't feel too great after playing some a bunch of chords that required barring. That neck profile of the Buckeye was never my favorite but had never given me pause. Then I kept hitting Florida with the pick. I missed the radiused fretboard and my hand hit the scroll on the B chop chord. While the tone was better on Bucky, the playing experience just wasn't as pleasurable. And that was not expected, even a little bit! In fact it actually bummed me out.
Hell/heck- what next? Certainly nothing hasty. Am I experiencing a crush that will fade over time? Should I consider getting Florida removed? Getting a radiused fretboard installed, or gulp, a new neck if that's even possible? Ugh and ugh again- that's more money that I spent on the Kentucky! I never never expected a $500 Pac Rim import to have stolen my heart. Advice? Thoughts? Something to make me laugh?
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