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  #31  
Old 09-10-2015, 09:32 PM
ikravchik ikravchik is offline
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Originally Posted by Wade Hampton View Post
Be aware that mandolins are twitchier than guitars, and because of the high tension that they're under, can go out of tune quite a bit faster than guitars unless you learn to modify your right hand attack for them. Playing mandolin is going to require developing a slightly different touch than what you'd use on guitar.

But it's so nice to have that fifth interval tuning combined with that short scale length, and you can find things on them that you probably wouldn't find on guitar. To my mind mandolins are more logically laid out than guitars are.

Some guitarists doubling on mandolin tune the mandolin as though it's like the first four strings of the guitar. But to me that's an unfortunate practice, because you rob yourself of the very real advantages the fifth interval tuning offers. The chord forms in the GDAE tuning are very simple and movable all over the neck. So I'd urge you stick with that tuning, even if tuning it like a guitar seems easier at first.

But if you do that basically you've acquired a crummy little guitar that can't do all the things that a real guitar can do. The fifth interval tuning on a mandolin also sounds different, and sounds better, than trying to make a sawed-off guitar out of your mandolin. But if you use the fifth interval mandolin tuning, you'll give yourself a whole new musical vocabulary and way to express yourself.

Hope that makes sense.


Wade Hampton Miller
Thank you for this very good advice.
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  #32  
Old 09-10-2015, 09:34 PM
ikravchik ikravchik is offline
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Yes, tune it like a mandolin and learn those two, four-finger chop chords! It'll take time and practice. Essential mandolin though! Look for the four-finger A chord and the four-finger D chord, for example.

I love playing mandolin!

f-d
Thanks for the input, I've been listening to some classical music on mandolin - it sounds great
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  #33  
Old 09-10-2015, 09:36 PM
Wade Hampton Wade Hampton is offline
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Thank you for this very good advice.
My pleasure.

whm
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  #34  
Old 09-11-2015, 08:32 AM
fatt-dad fatt-dad is offline
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if you love the mandolin, you need to get an account at www.mandolincafe.com It's the mandolin equivalent of this site or such. . .

You may also be interested in www.mandozine.com This web site has scores and scores of, "Tabedit" files for mandolin. Download the free, "Tabeditviewer" and you can open any of these tabedit files. When the file is open you can see tab, notation or both. You can also get the computer to, "Play" the file, which will inform your ear. Old-time, Bluegrass, Celtic, Classical, etc. are all available via tabedit through mandozine. I think the mandolincafe also has tabedit files.

f-d
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  #35  
Old 09-11-2015, 10:28 AM
ikravchik ikravchik is offline
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Originally Posted by fatt-dad View Post
if you love the mandolin, you need to get an account at www.mandolincafe.com It's the mandolin equivalent of this site or such. . .

You may also be interested in www.mandozine.com This web site has scores and scores of, "Tabedit" files for mandolin. Download the free, "Tabeditviewer" and you can open any of these tabedit files. When the file is open you can see tab, notation or both. You can also get the computer to, "Play" the file, which will inform your ear. Old-time, Bluegrass, Celtic, Classical, etc. are all available via tabedit through mandozine. I think the mandolincafe also has tabedit files.

f-d
Thanks, I'll check these out
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  #36  
Old 09-11-2015, 11:32 AM
Silly Moustache Silly Moustache is offline
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I've just got home after spending the afternoon at a recording session playing mandolin. The gig was originally offered to Mando Bob but he gets nervous about such things so I did it.

So I've read through this, and note that no-one has mentioned playing Gibsons, Webers, Collings or any such higher ticket makes.

Observation : going to a booking with just a mandolin, is MUCH easier that doing same with six string, 12 string, and dobro !
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  #37  
Old 09-11-2015, 12:01 PM
Wade Hampton Wade Hampton is offline
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Originally Posted by Silly Moustache View Post
Observation : going to a booking with just a mandolin, is MUCH easier that doing same with six string, 12 string, and dobro !
I have one mandolin that I use as a travel instrument and also as my take-along when there might be live music jamming at a party or picnic or there might not. It's definitely easier and lighter than lugging a guitar along on those uncertain occasions.


whm
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  #38  
Old 10-20-2015, 11:27 AM
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Kupuna50 Kupuna50 is offline
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For $400, an Eastman is your best choice: Excellent construction and good tone.
A 400 or 500 series is within your price range and is above the entry level mandos thus affording you a better value.
IMHO
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  #39  
Old 10-20-2015, 03:02 PM
posternutbag posternutbag is offline
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I am mostly a mandolin/fiddle player. You tend to get a lot less for your money in mandolins relative to guitars. A $200 Yamaha guitar can be a fine guitar; there isn't much in the sub $200 mandolin market that is good. A Kentucky KM 150 is about $300 and makes a great first mandolin. I had a Eastman and it was a fine mandolin. Mandolin Orange plays an Eastman.

If you don't need the bluegrass tone, a Mid Missouri/Big Muddy can be found for less than $500 and could easily be a lifetime mandolin. I saw a guy play one on stage with Hank Williams III.

All that being said, this is the deal of the century, NFI, but a varnished KM 900 is a fantastic mandolin:

http://www.mandolincafe.com/ads/91375#91375
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  #40  
Old 10-20-2015, 08:38 PM
midwinter midwinter is offline
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I have little to add to this excellent thread of advice/commentary other than to say, first, that Eastman mandolins seem to be a little hit or miss. I have a 605 that is just too, too harsh and bright. Apparently the 300-series are more consistently nice. I see Eastman mandolins on YouTube all the time that sound massively better than mine.

Second, I'm pretty sure Andrew Marlin plays a Givens mandolin. Quite a different animal than an Eastman.

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I had a Eastman and it was a fine mandolin. Mandolin Orange plays an Eastman.
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  #41  
Old 10-21-2015, 12:13 AM
posternutbag posternutbag is offline
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I have little to add to this excellent thread of advice/commentary other than to say, first, that Eastman mandolins seem to be a little hit or miss. I have a 605 that is just too, too harsh and bright. Apparently the 300-series are more consistently nice. I see Eastman mandolins on YouTube all the time that sound massively better than mine.

Second, I'm pretty sure Andrew Marlin plays a Givens mandolin. Quite a different animal than an Eastman.

I know he has gone through several mandolins (including a Kalamazoo and a Givens), but in their early work I am pretty sure he played an Eastman, at least some of the time.

I fully admit that I have never seen a Givens F5 in person, but the headstock in the below video looks an awful lot like an Eastman. I have never seen a Givens with no headstock binding and no headstock inlay. Then again, it was posted 6 years ago.






But all of that is really beside the point. An Eastman is a fine mandolin, but the quality is a little hit or miss and very unpredictable. I have played 305s that sound as good as 815vs. I have no idea why this is true.

In the sub $500 category, it is hard to go wrong with a Kentucky KM 150 or, if you don't need a bluegrass chop, a used Mid Mo/Big Muddy.
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  #42  
Old 10-21-2015, 01:11 AM
Twilo123 Twilo123 is offline
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Originally Posted by Zissou Intern View Post
Used Eastman MD305 or 315.

I bought the MD315 and it costs $700 new which is a bit more than the $500 OP listed. Maybe he could do used like you said.

I have Kentucky KM150 also and actually like it. Even in comparison to Eastman I have although I am talking about sound alone. Eastman is much higher quality instrument.



Also have this cheapo Michael Kelly which isn't bad starter one

Last edited by Twilo123; 10-21-2015 at 01:20 AM.
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  #43  
Old 10-23-2015, 02:31 PM
sam.spoons sam.spoons is offline
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I play mandolin, well enough to be confident playing a few tunes on my gigs (I'm a guitar player really). I have a Loar all solid (spruce/maple) F style which I think is a pretty good instrument but I'm starting to think I'd like a slightly wider neck with a radiused fingerboard and biggish frets (as I said, I'm a guitar player). I'd like to know where The Loar stacks up against the likes of Eastman and Kentucky F styles as I'm not really knowledgeable enough to make an informed judgment when it comes to mandolins.
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  #44  
Old 10-23-2015, 04:31 PM
Wade Hampton Wade Hampton is offline
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Sam, I haven't seen or played enough of them to give you a valid opinion. The best place to take that question is probably Mandolin Cafe, or if "best" isn't the right word, certainly a forum where you'll get more serious mandolin players looking at and answering your question.


whm
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  #45  
Old 10-23-2015, 05:01 PM
kydave kydave is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sam.spoons View Post
I play mandolin, well enough to be confident playing a few tunes on my gigs (I'm a guitar player really). I have a Loar all solid (spruce/maple) F style which I think is a pretty good instrument but I'm starting to think I'd like a slightly wider neck with a radiused fingerboard and biggish frets (as I said, I'm a guitar player). I'd like to know where The Loar stacks up against the likes of Eastman and Kentucky F styles as I'm not really knowledgeable enough to make an informed judgment when it comes to mandolins.
Sam,

I owned a Kentucky KM-750 (Poor man's Sam Bush model) and prior to buying it years ago, played a lot of the Kentucky KM-675 (hand carved all solid wood F style) and liked them a lot. My better half now has the KM-750.

I started playing the Loars a lot when they were introduced, bought a prototype of the LM-400 (A Style) and gave it to MaryAnn. I was going to get one of the LM-600 models (and still might - I like 'em!), but got my hands on a one-off prototype of the LM-700 with an Adirondack top. Steve, the owner of The Music Link, was kind enough to let me buy it after they decided they'd stick to Sitka for the top wood. I'd drooled all over it when visiting their headquarters when my friend, Greg Rich, invited me over for a look at some new models a while back.

I've only played the Eastmans in the shop and like them soundwise a lot. I'd say in the better all solid wood models, the three companies are fairly close to one another. Eastman has some higher end models which I have not had the pleasure to play. But at $3100 for their most expensive model, I'd be looking around for something domestic, like a used Gibson.
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