[JMFingerstyle]

I've been an acoustic guitar player for close to 50 years. My journey to the mandolin was a little convoluted. I've had a crummy old fiddle forever, but could never play the darn thing without the neighborhood dogs starting to howl in anguish. I got it into my head that maybe I would be better off with a viola to take my high pitched screeches down a notch, so I rented one from a local orchestral supply place.

Well, I didn't sound any better, and it hurt my shoulder to boot, so I somehow started obsessing over an octave mandolin instead. I eventually settled on an Eastman MDO-305, and started having a lot of fun with it. So much so that I bought an Eastman MD-305 a short time later. I installed a K&K Mandolin Twin in the Octave, and a cheaper JJB in the Mando.

I really like the Eastman's, particularly the Octave Mandolin (which benefits from using a thicker string gauge designed for a mandola).

In general there is no difference between an F-style and an A-style mandolin other than the ornamentation. The fancy scroll is a solid wood block, and doesn't affect the sound. There IS a difference between an oval hole and an F-hole mandolin though. Within a given quality level, the F-hole will have a little more cutting power, the oval will have a rounder tone with more sustain and overtones, but may be more prone to feedback in an amplified setting.

I think both pickup systems, which are glued under the sound board, provide nice, natural sound, but they are sensitive to you brushing or tapping the top of the mando, so if you're a player who likes to anchor your pinky on the top, you'll want to break out of that habit. They both benefit from a touch of reverb.

Baron Collins-Hill runs an excellent learning site, mandolessons.com, which is entirely free and runs completely on donations. It's worth checking out, he has tons of fiddle tunes with video lessons and tabs.