Originally Posted by
TX2AK
I’m similar in my musical journey. I have played guitar and banjo (various styless) off and on for 20+ years and bass for 10 years. We always had a cheap Fender A mandolin my wife bought when we were in college 20 years ago to play with my banjo. She didn’t prohibit it, but made it clear that she would prefer I didn’t get into mandolin, if she was going to play it, because I tend to obsess. I noodled with it off and on, but wasn’t into any theory at that time. After I took up bass, I got into light theory, because it was so easy to understand. Anyway, some 10 years ago, give or take, she really took to fiddle, and that has been her instrument since, only very occasionally playing mandolin. A couple of months ago, I was playing bass on a gig, and an old back injury from college rugby was really exacerbated by playing on my feet (in cowboy boots, which was a stupid call) for 3-4 hours without much rest, and I could barely walk the next day. I thought to myself, “there is no way you could play banjo for 3-4 hours on your feet,” and I remembered Bill Evans saying at a banjo workshop, something along the lines of - the worst thing you can do, if you want to be a great banjo player, is to pick up the mandolin or something like it and realize how logical and intuitive it is. Well, Bill was right; when I picked up the mandolin and actually looked at it and spent some time with it, I discovered it is so logical and requires no 13 lb bass pulling against my low back to boot - I’ve been hooked. I pretty quickly bought a Kentucky KM-1000, one of their “Master Model” mandolins. The F style with the scroll is a lot cooler looking to my eye, and I agree with the post above about it being a lot more comfortable to play. My wife still prefers the A shape, so different strokes for different folks, I suppose. In that time, I bought a Collings MF, compared, then sold the KM-1000 and bought a Sam Bush model Gibson, and I love the radiuses fretboard and slightly wider nut on both. I want to want a fine Gibson MM, but really, I don’t know that I would like the flat board and 1 1/16” nut. I’m sure that is from 20+ years of guitar, banjo, and a decade on bass with significantly wider spacing. For me, the flat KM-1000, which is a very nice mandolin for the money, was so much less comfortable to play than the MF or the SB (though so much more comfortable than the Fender A we’ll never sell). I don’t live anywhere near a good shop to go and try a lot of mandolins, and I don’t have enough time to travel just for that purpose, so I pretty well have to buy, try, sell, trade, etc. I’m completely convinced that I have 2 mandolins that are a lot better than my skill, but I can appreciate pretty significant tone differences between them. I don’t know how you can find that without just trying - I did get to demo 2 brand new wide nut, radiuses Gibson F9s, and one was markedly better sounding to me; so that’s confirmation that tone is all in the trying in person. If that’s not an option, I can say that FOR ME, a radiused board and at least a 1 1/8” nut is a lot more “playable” and comfortable to play for my body and style; and the F style is both more aesthetically pleasing and more comfortable to play. I don’t know if that’s helpful, but that has been my experience. I really look forward to the day when I can get to a great shop with a great selection and sit down and play and play and find my “the one,” if such a thing exists.
Charlie above has some great info, though our opinions differ. I can feel and hear tonal differences pretty quickly, and I can say that for me, a cheap instrument just wasn’t cutting it. I played several levels of Loars and Eastmans - and while I’m not good enough for them to be beneath me, by any means, I knew they weren’t what I was looking for. That said, at their price points, Eastman, Kentucky, and Loar all have some very fine offerings, and I know a lot of players far better than me playing them. Your budget will determine what price level you need. I think that most people who have been playing music for a good number of years can appreciate quality pretty quickly; but honestly, nothing necessitates an expensive instrument. Some of us have a hard time loving our instruments if we know there is something better at a point we can reach; and I know others, some pro musicians with Top 100 Hits at times, who can play and love anything they touch - I suspect they are the the ones better off monetarily by a large margin. Fortunately, the Asian makers are turning out pretty great product at their price points. That said, I don’t imagine you’ll find a lot of people who will say a $400 or even $1,500 PacRim rivals the nicer American made instruments; but they are definitely adequate (and more). Then you have the hybrids, like Northfield, which I understand are Asian made, but US company spec’ed and set up; and they get a lot of love, and the ones I have heard in person are pretty great instruments. BanjoBenClark and his sister, Penny, play them, and they are killer on them! I’ll admit that I have a lot of loyalty to US makers; and I happen to be from a state with some incredible mandolin builders in Collings, Ellis, and Pava (and I’m sure there are others). I wanted a Collings since I was in college at UT Austin, so I bought a Collings when I first got serious about mandolin. I have since learned that there is a lot of love for Pavas, and though I am happy with my Collings, I now have that itch to scratch. Ellis are out of my price range at this point.
I did buy a ToneGuard and definitely am in that camp. The tone and volume difference is pretty noticeable for me on that issue. As far as octave mandolins, I have no experience, but have to imagine that’s more in the weird, less used, group of instruments for gigs. I think of them like the bouzouki; fun for a handful of things, but not a dedicated instrument - I do want one, and probably will buy one at some point with a bonus or whatever, but for me, I want to get the mandolin dialed first. As to picks, I’m with Charlie: I started jacking around with Heavy Fenders I used on bass on the rare occasion I played with a pick, and they are adequate, but the BlueChip CT-55 and ToneSlab 1.3 one round corner sound 1000X better. I wound up rounding one corner of the BC CT-55, and play more with it and the round corner on the ToneSlab. I’m not loaded, but $40 for a pick is a cheap test well worth trying to me. That rounded vs. pointed pick is a whole other can of worms.
Bookmarks