Re: My First Mandolin- A Keeper or keep looking?
Play it, enjoy it, learn from it. "Cosmetics" are unimportant, especially on a $200-300 instrument. That is, nobody will be any more impressed if it looks pristine than if, as it does now, it looks used, appreciated, experienced, and ... loved.
But most importantly, DO keep looking: It's a VERY educational experience, and you'll learn much along the way. When the time to upgrade comes, you'll automatically know it, and you'll be glad to have your current one as a "beater".
Semi-off-topic but not really: Most newbies think of a 40%-60% increase in price as a "significant" upgrade. It is not, just a differing set of compromises. A REAL upgrade (at almost any level) usually requires a price increase of 300-400%, because now you're making fewer compromises at all!
Personal note, talking about education: Just last month, I got my first-ever shot at playing an actual Gibson Lloyd Loar-signed F5, at a house concert in Montclair, NJ, thanks to the incredible generosity of Mike Marshall. Thus, the never-ending education goes on...
- Ed
"Then one day we weren't as young as before
Our mistakes weren't quite so easy to undo
But by all those roads, my friend, we've travelled down
I'm a better man for just the knowin' of you."
- Ian Tyson
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