In praise of a pig

[bob_mc]

I have a 70s, possibly 80s MIJ Epi MM30; plywood spruce top plywood mahogany b/s.
She was previously played near to death by original owner, and then setup by Steve Perry 10 years ago for me. HUGE sounding mandolin, pretty iced tea burst, but frets are historic in nature and a severe neck hump needs to be addressed.

And she is once again causing me grief when I have purchased her replacement (rather than invest hundreds in repair); she is a butt kicker. I just got a very nice used Kentucky 505 (great deal here in the classifieds), but sonically they are like night and day. Same thing over the years with various Eastmans, and even 2 low end Breedloves, and more that have come and gone. Very nice, very polite sounding instruments but they are like little girls next to the Epi, who is more like a working girl in a bad movie.

The Epi is anti-polite, in fact she's so loud and full sounding she's down right rude.
Am I actually going to invest in this thing? Sheesh.

[Dagger Gordon]

You love her so much I think you should ...

[JeffD]

Perhaps you can score another 80s epi.

[Denny Gies]

Like Bill Monroe said, "You can't hurt ham". Invest in the pig.

[stevedenver]

I have a 70s, possibly 80s MIJ Epi MM30; plywood spruce top plywood mahogany b/s.
She was previously played near to death by original owner, and then setup by Steve Perry 10 years ago for me. HUGE sounding mandolin, pretty iced tea burst, but frets are historic in nature and a severe neck hump needs to be addressed.

And she is once again causing me grief when I have purchased her replacement (rather than invest hundreds in repair); she is a butt kicker. I just got a very nice used Kentucky 505 (great deal here in the classifieds), but sonically they are like night and day. Same thing over the years with various Eastmans, and even 2 low end Breedloves, and more that have come and gone. Very nice, very polite sounding instruments but they are like little girls next to the Epi, who is more like a working girl in a bad movie.

The Epi is anti-polite, in fact she's so loud and full sounding she's down right rude.
Am I actually going to invest in this thing? Sheesh.

you know, i can tell from your post, simply, if you dont bite the bullet, you will have this niggling you
clearly , you love this insturment, and more to the point, its a part of your mando psyche

unless your luthier tells you 'this is polishing a T)(*&D",
or you simply cannot afford the several hundred dollars or more this will cost
i would strongly recommend having it overhauled-
if nothing else, once this is done, you will have immortalized and honored your good 'friend'

and recognizing a great instrument, regardelss of accepted 'pedigree' speaks highly of you....they are out there, cannons from asia, mexico, etc

normally im pragmatic, and very return conscious in some situations *although i never sell anything LOL)
but i can tell you, from decades of playing , sometimes that instrument you let go can haunt you for a long time, even if it wasnt a truly great instrument, or one that musically merited keeping , repairing, etc, because it has a different value, unique to you- i still pine for my very first harmony soveriegn-only because of associations with it-ditto my old fender jag

it sounds like between the hump and frets and whatever else, this is the perfect time for its renewal

the only thing is money, and how much you can reaonsably risk, knowing that you wont recover it
i have done this on a several instruments-boutique builders-cos i love playing them more than worrying about selling them

[bob_mc]

Yep, gonna do it. I have to sell a guitar to pay for it (my guitars are also porkly, save my Martin).

And I am gonna stencil this on the case:

"You Can't Hurt Ham."

[UsuallyPickin]

Post a recording of your friend when she comes back from rehab.......

[shortymack]

Interesting.....a plywood box that much better than all those carved solid tops/backs.

[bob_mc]

shortymack

You got me thinking on that one; I have found zero info on the MIJ MM30, and I based my plywood comment partly on the fact that I paid $100 for the mando. Never really gave it much thought until now. The wood exposed at the f holes doesn't give away it's construction to my eyes.

And coming from guitar world, I have loved and lusted after many a fine sounding plywood (laminate) Gibson 175, 335, etc.. Plywood can sound good!

I willingly admit that the solid wood models I have tries are a bit more focused and articulate. The Epi is like a little cannon.

[bob_mc]

ATTENTION: The following message is from a guitar player, no actual mandolinists were involved.

This just in: Epiphone MM30s made in Japan in the 70s had a SOLID TOP. To prove this, look very closely at the apex of the fholes, and you will notice the grain goes straight thru the top.

They can sometimes be bought at very reasonable prices, so low that guitar players will get confused and make assumptions about construction.

Carry on.

[stevedenver]

you know,
you may simply have a great mandolin

in the seventies, not only were the japanese beginning to really work up on guitar mandufacturing competition-remember all those Yamaha FG whatevers-i can attest that i have heard some of those guitars some forty years later, and some have become great

liekwise, the japanese interest in bluegrass was hitting stride-
for all we know, your mando could have been made by takeshi iwamoto or yoichi uieda, both amazing japanese mando builders

if it plays well and sounds good, the rest isnt terribly important

[Timbofood]

I sold dozens of Yamaha FG-160's! They were, great cheap guitars! The bulk of the line was pretty decent, excellent value, kind of wish I had one to take to the cottage, darn, another case of 20/20 vision and walking around blind.

[Austin Bob]

I had an old Alvarez guitar for 25 years that I LOVED. I went through two fret jobs and multiple tweaks here and there before I finally decided to give it to a student and moved on. There was just something about that neck that was perfect, and that was hard to find in the 70's. There were lots of junk being produced back then, but some real jewels too.

Keep it as long as it's special to you.