NMD - Eastman MD315
 

Mick got a new used mandolin!! I traded in my Loar 310F for a used Eastman MD315 yesterday. It was gigged a lot by the previous owner and shows the signs, but it is loud, clear and has the best action of any mandolin I've played. Here are the pics so you know it happened!

Sweet looking mandolin Mick! Congrats. Those d*mn frets are just too small for me. Enjoy

They are tiny, but this is still the best setup mandolin I've played. It frets very easily and cleanly.

I like the finish. The 315 is the best of the current under $1k mandolins IMHO, unless you luck onto a Kentucky KM 900. And because these are $800 new, at least for the next three weeks, likely were bought from a shop that sets them up.

beautiful, really like that finish!
Congratulations and play it well.

I like the looks of that one.

Someone changed the tailpiece - I'm guessing that might have been one with the broken post problem and they couldn't wait for the Eastman replacement. Probably easier to restring!

Some of the earlier ones had that exact tailpiece, in this ad for the MD315 the main picture shows the same tailpiece, but the individuals show the other tailpiece:)

https://themandolinstore.com/product...67974853515625

I never knew that! I wonder how old that image @ TMS's website is?

It's the original tailpiece. I think they have used a couple of different tailpieces on this model over the years. This one isn't new, it's been gigged pretty heavily.

That’s a nice one, Mick! Eastman mandolins are great. I have a MD615 and love it. It also has a factory installed K&K pickup that sounds awesome.
Congrats!

Thank you very much. I'm really impressed with it so far. My next step is looking for a pickup for this one. Gotta admit I'm a little intimidated about trying to install a K&K through the f holes of an instrument this tiny.

Looks good! And I bet the frets are bigger than 1910s Gibsons.

D.H.

This thing is really easy to play. Now I've gotta work on my stretches to make those 4 finger chop chords. Who'd a thunk that picking up an instrument 1/3 the size of a guitar would require me to increase my stretch ??

That's a great mandolin! Those frets are bigger than typical historical mandolin frets. Bill Monroe was a big guy with Big hands and I guess he did ok....

I've installed plenty of SBT's in f-hole mandolins and even smaller f-hole fiddles. You need to protect the area around the f-hole with blue painters tape before you start. I place the piezo discs inside opposite the bridge feet contact points (or as close as the tone bars allow) using an S-shaped sound post setting tool.

The biggest question is what type of output jack you're going to use and where you mount it. You may have to pull the tailpiece to ream the endpin hole. There are other ways to do it, but I've never been happy with external carpenter jacks.

I have a JJB 220 on hand and will probably install it. I looked at the JJB website this morning and they have a pretty good tutorial.

https://cavalierpickups.com/jjb220/