Camping mando ideas?

[Salmon Man]

I could probably justify up to $300 for a camping/fishing mando. What would be the best bang for the buck?

[Michael H Geimer]

My camping mandolin is a Mid-mo M-0 ... bought used for $275.

Excellent Bang! ... for not a lotta Bucks.

[Greenmando]

My camp mando is a Martin backpacker. It does not have much volume, a plus in campgrounds. We have had the rangers called in a few times for playing too loudly.

[cooper4205]

there's an M-0 in the classifieds for $300 right now

[Dan Adams]

I ended up with two Johnson MA-120's (solid woods throughout) for camping, traveling, etc... I refinished them both, sold them both, and I'm back with the Flatiron 2MB pancake. A little tooo expensive to set on the rocks at overnight, so I'll probably look for another MA-120 for the task. After all, if it doesn't sound the way you expect, it can alway be firewood! Dan

[James P]

I went with a $130 Rover and $100 worth of setup. #
Grisman could probably make it sound just like a Loar. #http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[John Flynn]

Here's an alternative: Get a cheap uke. String as follows:

G: Classical guitar wound 4th string
D: Classical guitar plain 3rd string
A: Classical guitar plain 2nd string
E: 4mm monofilament nylon fishing line, 20 pound test

Tune as a mando, use a light pick.

[Santiago]

[QUOTE]"there's an M-0 in the classifieds for $300 right now"

If I had $300, it wouldn't be. :-)

[Richard Russell]

Epiphone MM-30. Nice sounding, solid top mandolin that is affordable and worry free for camping/fishing.

[big h]

Here's an alternative: Get a cheap uke. String as follows:

G: Classical guitar wound 4th string
D: Classical guitar plain 3rd string
A: Classical guitar plain 2nd string
E: 4mm monofilament nylon fishing line, 20 pound test

Tune as a mando, use a light pick.
Dose that realy work?

[mandroid]

Went and got a Djangolin, so My Martin BP needs a new home , Want to rouse the camp ?
I had a piezo pickup installed so you could use it thru a Pig-nose amp too..

FS note has migrated to classifieds back pages ..

My Washburn M1S is fine as a camping/festival and even session mando.
I needed to re cut a new top nut and put some J74's on it but that was all to create a nice LOUD mando.
Under 100 pounds new.

[JGWoods]

Get an Eastman- they have cheap ones.

I think you would struggle to get an Eastman that cheap even second hand, though I could be wrong of course.
I have the bog standard Eastman 505. It was about 350 quid new so whats that in dollars? i dont know.

[allenhopkins]

Used Strad-O-Lin. Sturdy and noisy.

[Salmon Man]

Thanks for all the ideas. One question about the Johnson's:

How can a new, all-solid-wood mandolin go for under $200 new? What's the catch?

[Michael H Geimer]

There's no "catch" really. It's just that many corners get cut to meet the price point.

You'd better grab that Mid-mo for $300 before it's gone!!!!!! Seriously

- Benig

[maynard g. krebs]

i have a $119.00, with setup included, bean blossum from this place:


the accoustic muscian sandy ut (http://www.theacousticmusician.com/)

doesn't seem to matter if you leave it on the dirt either

[mythicfish]

"How can a new, all-solid-wood mandolin go for under $200 new? What's the catch? "

Because "solid" aint necessarilly carved.

Curt

[GBG]

Get the Mid-Missouri on a 48 hour approval ASAP.

[Salmon Man]

I just bought some home-studio equipment, so I'm not going to buy a camping mando till spring or summer (whenever the wife lets me).

If someone wants the Mid-MO, go for it!

[harleymando]

get you a kentucky! I bought a 380S for that very purpose, I like the way it sounds and plays over my eastman 515.

[Dan Adams]

The solid Johnson MA-120s are machine carved and assembled in China. They sound fine considering the environment in which they are played. After I had refinished them and set them up, both sounded just fine. Enough that people offered to buy them from me, even though I had not thought about selling either one. I noticed one for around $80.00 on the auction site recently with a case. I actually bought on for $70.00 because it came with a case I needed. Kind of like buying picture for the frame. Dan

[Gotterdamerung]

Here's an alternative: Get a cheap uke. String as follows:

G: Classical guitar wound 4th string
D: Classical guitar plain 3rd string
A: Classical guitar plain 2nd string
E: 4mm monofilament nylon fishing line, 20 pound test

Tune as a mando, use a light pick.
Dose that realy work?
I also have a mando-tuned uke primarily for this purpose--though I've bought custom Aquila strings from a uke dealer. If your idea of camping involves hiking, it is a much more enjoyable option, avoiding a good deal of extra weight.

[John Flynn]

It works for me. I have a Risa Mando-Stick, which normally comes tuned as a mandola, with the 5-2 strings from a classical guitar set. It has 14.2" scale, with is right in between a 13.75" soprano uke and 14.75" concert uke. I emailed Risa and asked if it could be tuned like a mandolin. The head of Risa emailed me back and said people have had good luck with the 4mm fishing line thing. For the other strings, you can also use the 1-2-3 from a uke set in the 2-3-4 positions and then add the 4mm in the 1 position. Even though mine is a solid body, it actually sounds very good acoustically, although of course there is very little volume without a sound chamber. The 4mm fishing line is actually the best sounding string of the bunch! You can get over 300 yards of the stuff for about $7.50 and you can also use it to fish! I have not actually tried it on an actual uke, but I intend to. I expect it will work very well.