How many Mandolins to own

[GRW3]

Once I reached a stage of my life where I could afford good instruments I made a terrible discovery - I'm a serial player. I only play one instrument of a type at a time. I don't mean that in the obvious sense of you can physically only play one at a time I mean it in the ongoing sense of instrument playing. If I have two or more guitars or mandos, I will only play one guitar or mando. That's why my next instrument is a mandola, it's far enough from a mandolin to command its own playing space. After that I have my eye on a resonator guitar...

I might upgrade my mandolin in the future but I have a tough criteria: I will not replace a current instrument with a new one unless it sounds better to me from the start. "It'll Open Up" vouchers are not accepted.

[northfolk]

Can you own too many mandolins? Ideally you should have a nice variety?

[mandosonthemarsh]

Hay, as many as you have room for. They are slowly taking over my house. The only problem I see is that I can't possibly play them all in the spare time I have. All my mandolins are very beautiful and sweet. I may start selling some off, so their tallents are not wasted sitting in my closet!

[Eddie Sheehy]

So little time, so many mandolins... and Bouzoukis... and OM's... and Citterns... and Mandolas... and my latest love, a Mandocello...

[catmandu2]

So little time, so many mandolins... and Bouzoukis... and OM's... and Citterns... and Mandolas... and my latest love, a Mandocello...

And that's just the mandolin family!

[twhitemando]

Same question in a little different vein - how many mandos should a newbie (6 weeks) own?? My theory is don't ask, don't tell. If my husband doesn't ask, I won't tell!! Right now the ones I have all look alike with sunburst so he doesn't know there is more than one, or two.

[twhitemando]

Same question in a little different vein - how many mandos should a newbie (6 weeks) own?? My theory is don't ask, don't tell. If my husband doesn't ask, I won't tell!! Right now the ones I have all look alike with sunburst so he doesn't know there is more than one, or two.

But I am planning on selling at least 1 maybe 2 now that I found one I do like.

[allenhopkins]

Calling AllenHopkins...

I've got somewhere around 15. Let's see:

Gibson 3-point F-2 (1910)
Gibson F-5 (1954)
Gibson "A/N Custom" pancake, Carlson signed (1987)
Gibson K-1 mandocello (1920's)
Eastman DGM-1
Eastman DGM-2
Eastman MDA-615 mandola
Eastman 805 mandocello
Martin Style A (1919)
Dobro mandolin (marked "National Dobro Co.", 1930's)
National Triolian mandolin (c. 1937)
Howe-Orme mandolinetto
Strad-O-Lin
B&J Victoria bowl-back
Merrill aluminum bowl-back
Washburn bowl-back mandola
Sobell mandola (may be a short-scale OM, but now mandola-strung)
Flatiron 3-K OM
Regal Octofone (OM strung, lower courses octaved)
Vega Little Wonder mandolin-banjo
Holdrio "pocket" mandolin
Jordan solid body EM

Hmmm, that's 22...a few more than 15. I'm not including hybrids: I have two "mandoline banjos," mandola bodies with five-string banjo necks; one is an 1890's Pollman, the other a modern Gold Tone banjola. I have a few other fifths-tuned instruments, including a Bacon Orchestra Model tenor banjo, a Gibson tenor guitar, a Dobro tenor resonator guitar, and a Gold Tone cello banjo. I don't count those in the "mandolin" category, although they're played similarly, or sound similar, or whatever.

I assume some will find this excessive. In my defense, I plead (a) it's a 40-year-plus accumulation; (b) I have always plowed a certain percentage of music earnings into instrumental "investments," since I don't need to live on them; (c) I take decent care of all my instruments (I have also guitars, banjos, concertinas etc.), and will be glad to pass them on to other musicians some day.

[fatt-dad]

my previous record was somewhere north of 30. Now I'm just down to a dozen if you count the wall hangers. Playable? Maybe like five. I got Dave Cohen working on one though so the count is going up with the economy.

f-d

[Jill McAuley]

I've got an oval A right now, and by the end of the year hope to have an A5, both of which should cover my needs, but I'd say I'll add an F to the family at some stage as well, as I do love me some scroll! And then there's the tenor banjo, plus I'm hoping to add a tenor guitar soon too! Oh wait, I forgot to mention that I want to get a Mann emando as well!

Cheers,
Jill

[Ed Goist]

[Homer Simpson voice]"...AaggaGGhGhghGhGhghhhh...Mann e-mando.....AaggaGGhGhghGhGhghhhh

[Jim Ferguson]

Definitely 3 mandolins........an F-5 with a big bark to it and a milder A model like an old 19-teens-1920s vintage Gibson plus a beater.
Peace,
Jim

[barney 59]

How many? How many are there? You can't have too many!

[Ivan Kelsall]

As long as they get played on a regular basis,as many as you personally want. I have 2 lovely "F" styles,but would love another good quality "A" style. However,i question whether they'd all get played as often as they should be. If i was playing in a band (i wish !),then i'd play them on a 'rotation' basis. It's hard not to have a 'favourite' & to play that one more than the others,& if you have a large collection of instruments,then some of them are going to be neglected,
Ivan

[mrmando]

One more than I had yesterday...

[Dagger Gordon]

Everybody in my house plays instruments. I also take music into primary schools, so I bring in 3 really cheap guitars and a Pac-Rim mandolin for kids to have a go on.

Not counting what other members of the family mostly play, I personally have a Sobell 10-string mandolin which is my main gigging axe, a Collings MT which I use for sessions and teaching (ten strings can be confusing) and which was used for my Scottish Mandolin Tutor book/CD, a Sobell octave mandolin for gigging, a Gold Tone octave as a sort of octave beater, a Windsor tenor banjo (the only banjo I've ever owned), a Fylde guitar and a cheap but surprisingly good Freshman guitar as a beater. I also have an electric mandolin which I haven't played since I put a pick-up in the Sobell about 20 years ago and a banjo/mandolin which I couldn't resist at £55 last year.

I've got to say that (with the exception the last two, and their day may yet come again), all of my instruments have a purpose and do get used regularly.

[Rick Cadger]

As long as I have two mandolins that I like, then I'm good to go. I don't need expensive mandolins to gig (which is helpful, as I can't afford them) and I do fine with decent Asian imports - they've never let me down at gigs or sessions. The only reason I need two is so that one will still be available come refret or repair time.

If I won the lottery then, of course, I'd upgrade both my mandolins to something a little better, but for the moment I'm really quite happy with just two inexpensive, but very satisfactory, mandolins.

[Martin Jonas]

I'm quite happy with my current herd, which does cover most bases. I have my main musical interests covered with relatively plain instruments from great builders, none of which was particularly expensive. The ones I play regularly at the moment are (in descending order of price):

- Two Italian bowlbacks: one Roman (1915 Luigi Embergher) and one Neapolitan (1898 Giuseppe Vinaccia).
- 1921 Gibson Ajr
- Mid-Missouri M-0W.
- 2009 Garry Probert resonator tenor.
- Kala slimline ukulele, in mandolin tuning (my instrument for travel and silent practice).

I wouldn't want to do without any of these, as they are all fundamentally different and all great.

The ones I play occasionally are:

- 1989 Washburn M3: My F5-clone, and a much better instrument than the current reputation for the new Washburns.
- 1926 Zimmermann waldzither, set up as an octave mando plus high A course.
- 1920s 10-string waldzither, set up as a mandolin/mandola (CGDAE).
- Kentucky KM-300E 4-string emando (with Bill Lawrence pickup).
- Amazing (that's the brand) 8-string emando with magnetic and piezo pickups.
- Cheap-and-cheerful Troubadour long-scale bouzouki.
- Cheap-and-cheerful Ozark tenor guitar, tuned GDAE.

These are all decent instruments with good playability and good intonation that each have a unique sound and offer something that none of the others do.

In addition, I have a Gelas-clone that needs some work and various bowlbacks (including two very good ones) on longterm loan to my mother.

Martin

[Shelagh Moore]

Like Rick above I'm happy with two mandolins plus an octave. I've reduced down to the five instruments in my signature now... all of which are used regularly for gigging, in sessions or at home.

[David Rambo]

Once Rockefeller was asked how much money he really needed, and he answered, "Just a little bit more." I think that's true about how many mandolins one should own. I need, "Just a few more." I probably also need a mandobird, a mandocello, a mando bass, a mandola, an F4, an F5, and ........... Ah the list goes on. Isn't MAS great!

[Jim Garber]

David has quite the collection.

Apropos of which (not?), I saw this ad on NYC Craigslist:
---------------------------------------------------------------
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS - 94% OFF - INCESSANTLY LOW FIGURE!

I found that craigslist link and it seems to link to some sort of aggregate site .. in other words that is not just one seller selling all that stuff, In fact there are no links i can find to any of it.

For thos interested: craiglist

direct link from that listing

[JeffD]

As soon as you own more than one, you have more than you can play at once. To someone who is not a musician, the second one is as hard to explain as the fifth.

[Dan Hoover]

how many should a pro have? i dunno? maybe 1..they're pro's..leave the rest for us serious non-pro sitting on the back deck/living room players..
i have 3,but i think i want more..maybe 7? i have my Washburn A w/F-holes,but i need another A w/oval hole..i have a Mayflower bowlback,..but i need another bowl..something higher-end,and one that mrs.hoover think's is pretty....i have my epi mandobird..you gotta plug in now/then..you have to..might upgrade that someday? i'd like a mandocello down the road,cool....i'd love to have something made for me..that might be the ultimate? how many do i get again??

[strings777]

I had a really bad case of GAS for many years....then went through a much milder case of MAS. I only kept three mandolins (plus a beater) out of the eight I purchased, and still have an embarrassing amount of guitars...it's a dreaded disease, but the only thing it kills is your bank account (and sometimes your marriage)!

[Brent Hutto]

I figure I've only got, what, maybe 2-3 hours most days available to play the mandolin. That never seems like enough time to play my "Number One" instrument so I can't imagine wanting a "Number Two" or "Number Three" as they'd never get played. Maybe if I were retired and sat around playing all day I'd want several to switch between.

I do have two guitars at the moment but that's mostly because the one that's not my favorite isn't worth enough to go to the trouble of selling it and shipping it some place. But if anyone local wanted to buy it, I could let it go no problem. I'm so mando-crazy right now even my favorite guitar only makes it out of the case a couple times a month.