New Octave Mandolin Day

JMFingerstyle · #1 11-15-2020, 09:42 PM

For some reason, I recently got the urge to add an octave mandolin to my herd of stringed instruments. I'm normally a finger style guitarist, so transitioning to flat picking on the OM is interesting, but I'm enjoying it. This is an Eastman MDO-305 that just arrived on Thursday. Very nicely built, but a bit top-heavy, so a strap is almost a must-have. Here's just a quick cell-phone video of Harvest Home.

CarolD · #2 11-16-2020, 06:36 AM

Awesome! I’m jealous

. Enjoy that fine mandolin!

Kerbie · #3 11-16-2020, 06:40 AM

Congrats! That looks like fun.

FingahPickah · #4 11-16-2020, 06:59 AM

Nice ! I have the baby sister - MD305 mandolin - and a '90's Trinity College TM-325 octave mandolin... perfect for Celtic tunes

JMFingerstyle · #5 11-16-2020, 08:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FingahPickah

Nice ! I have the baby sister - MD305 mandolin - and a '90's Trinity College TM-325 octave mandolin... perfect for Celtic tunes

I considered the TM-325, because of the slightly shorter scale, but the price difference on a new one put it slightly out of my budget for a "let's-buy-it-and-see-what-happens" deal. I definitely wanted something of better build quality than the Hora offerings, and the Gold Tones had too long of a scale, so this fit the bill. The tipping point was a video I saw by Baron Collins-Hill (Mandolessons) which compared the mandolin, mandola, and octave mandolin by alternating verses of a tune on each one. The OM he used was the Eastman, and that clinched it for me.