Upcoming NMD: Eastman MD815V. . . Help me. . .
 

I’ve been wanting a decent mandolin to thicken up my songwriting/recording. Placed an order with a local shop today, won’t be in for about a month though. The anticipation is already killing me, so I had to make a thread to help me get through this difficult time. Convince me that it’s going to be ok.

I have my eye on an MD515, so I can imagine how excited you are.

I strongly considered the MD515, and it’s unquestionably a wonderful instrument, but I know how my mind works. If I got the 515 i’d have this nagging voice in my head telling me that maybe the adirondack top would make it just that much better, and I would in a later moment of weakness buy the 815. I’m hoping the lighter varnish finish will maybe have an impact on the tone and volume, but it will probably be imperceptible even if it is so. Have you considered the MD515v?

Crap. Now I want an 815. Lol

Do yourself a favor and don’t look at the 915.

Lol. Too late. I’m doomed.

RIP, friend. I think I showed amazing restraint by choosing the 815v over the 915

Great choice! I used to have an Eastman A-style that was nice, but I ended up getting a Collings later on. Both have a more modern tone, as opposed to a Gibson, Northfield, Kentucky, et al, which tend to be more traditional in tone.

Why isn’t it mid-april yet?

I have the lowly MD304 A mandolin.

It’s fantastic. The quality of a few Eastman guitars I’ve been around has been less than stellar. Not so with the mandolins. These are an amazing value. It sounds great at home. It sounds great with its k&k at gigs.

Perfect gigging mandolin. Perfect.

My wife owns a MD 305. She compared it to Mandos up to about 2k and it slayed all of them.

^^both of these posts leave me feeling optimistic about my incoming mandolin.

An interesting thing about the Eastman mandolin series is that the 300 series often sounds as good or better than the higher end Eastmans.

I hope that is not the case

any updates about the incoming mando? I'm suffering from MAS for an F style and looking for help-more likely to talk me INTO a new purchase! :D