Weber sweet pea

[dulcillini]

What experiences have any of you had with the Weber Sweet Pea Travel Mandolin ?

[earthsave]

I had one I bought several years ago. A well made little thing, that sounds pretty good for its size and is very playable. However, I rarely played it. I gave it to my nephew.

It is smaller than a regular mandolin, but mandolins are pretty small already and I didnt trust the gig bag for protection.

If I had to do it again, I would have considered another budget mandolin for traveling or camping, etc. A beater.

[JEStanek]

I have one. I got it used. I like it. Pros.... small, nice little gig bag, I use it on the grounds at Folk Fest (not for Jamming). I play it at home when the kids are sleepy, I let the kids play it as the body size is good for them, the tailpiece is cool and good for string changes, a very affordable Bruce Weber autograph. Sounds like a mandolin. The neck has a nice shape. Mine is an older spruce over mahogany.

Cons. Not much bass end. Expect even more jokes or "Oh, it so cute..." remarks. I can live with either.

I love having it with me on grounds at The Philly Folk Fest where I volunteer and deal with watching my kids too (5 and 7).

In this thread (http://www.mandolincafe.net/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=12;t=50852;hl=sweet+and+pea ) people commented on the Martin Backpacker, the sweet pea and other full size travel beaters.

I consider my Sweet pea a nice to have rather than an essential mando in my collection... for whatever that's worth to you.

[dulcillini]

Thanks folks. You answered my questions. I think I am going to purchase a regular mandolin. I found a nice Weber Aspen in a close out sale. It is a little more than I want to pay for a first mandolin, but on the other hand, it is a Weber and retains its value. I notice on most of the classified and E-Bay ads that used Webers seem to sell pretty easily for 50-75% of retail. I notice some of the higher end of the line go for much higher. All things considered, I am buying the Aspen. If I don't take to it, I can probably recover most of my cost.

Thanks again for the expert testimony and informational links.

Michael A. Harris
Monticello, Illinois

[JEStanek]

For my first mandolin and I had to pick between the Sweet Pea and an Aspen, I would want the Aspen way more... Plus, Weber has great customer service and people even for your used instrument.

Jamie

[PhilGE]

Aspen any day versus a Sweet Pea. Sweet Peas are fun and convenient. They're not anywhere near the "real" instrument that an Aspen is. Note that Aspens were meant for light strings and will work with mediums. I'd avoid heavy. Congrats on the good find! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

-Phil

[mandroid]

Did So want Peter Mix To make a sweet pea like travel mandolin, so the summer floods don't warp your wooden one.
I didn't Go car camping , and without a bike trailer, full sized mandolins are unwieldy to pack on a bicycle tour..

[JoeK421]

I have an Aspen #2 that I bought used and I like it a lot. It has great overall tone, and really strong bass. Very playable. And mine is really quite loud. Anyway, I'd definitely recommend an Aspen.

Joe

[man dough nollij]

I've had a sweet pea for a few years, and I like it a lot. It got extremely sick with dried-out shrunken top when I brought it here to Antarctica, but I think it has healed with careful strings-off re-humidification. I think they sound extremely nice, and can be found for considerably less than the list price. (I think I ordered mine online from Maple Street Music-- at the time they were very hard to find.) The biggest downside to them is the gig bag. If you are going to take a mandolin camping or travelling, it needs a hard case! I hit every music store in Denver (practially) trying to find a Uke hard case or something that would work. There are tons of A-style cases out there, but that kind of defeats the purpose of the tiny mando. I got a Gator hard case for a 1/2 size violin, and it works perfectly. It's a little bigger than the SP, so there's room for tuners, etc. Another useful fact about the SP, though tiny, it will not fit in a standard carry-on suitcase. It looked like it would, but it's about 1/2" too long to go in mine, which was a bummer.

[man dough nollij]

It's alive! I strung up my recently re-humidificated Sweet Pea, and it seems to be good as new! I used light (GHS A250 light) strings, and it seems to be very happy. It's amazing how much more sophisticated tone comes out of this tiny mando that the plywood loaners I've been forced to use during its convalescence. The top looks solid, and she sounds fine. I'll keep her humidified against the Antarctic harshness, and hopefully she'll survive the season.

[man dough nollij]

I just happen to have my SP and its Gator half-size violin case, and a camera in the same room, so I thought I'd post a photo. I'm sure I'm not the only SP owner who has searched for a hard-case solution. This works pretty well, and keeps most of the humidity inside.