Buying advice

[ktv]

Hi everyone,
I am looking for some buying advice. My husband has played guitar for 20 yrs - electric and acoustic. I want to get him a mandolin as a present for his 40th bday. He's talked about wanting one for years and I'm sure he'll pick it up pretty easily. I want to get him a quality instrument, even though he's a beginner. I'm a little nervous about buying used b/c I'm not a great judge so I'm thinking a small quality luthier. Any suggestions or advice on brands or models, and also on the sweet spot price range to look for? BTW, I think he prefers the A-frame to the F type or others.
thanks so much for any help you can give me.

[RichM]

Well, first of all, how wonderful to want to buy your husband a mandolin. He's a lucky man!

Second of all, buying a musical instrument for a musician is always a tricky proposition. Most musicians have preferences, and you may not be able to determine his. So while it's not the same as presenting him with an instrument on his birthday, consider allowing him to select the instrument he likes.

Budget is everything when it comes to mandolins, so knowing how much you'd be willing to spend will help with advice. The good news is that you will spend much less generally on an A-style mandolin than a comparable quality F.

One of the safest bets in an A-style mandolin is a Collings MT. They sell for a bit over $2K new, about $1600 used (when you can find one). Excellent quality, and very consistent (and easy to resell if your husband decides he wants something else!).

If your budget's smaller than that, you can get into good quality A-style mandolins from Eastman and Kentucky (both made in China) for around $500.

If your budget is larger than $2K, the world opens up, with more possibilities than I can list here!

[Chuck Naill]

BTW, I think he prefers the A-frame to the F type or others.
thanks so much for any help you can give me.

I sent you a personal messege. KTV.

chuck

[ktv]

Thanks RichM! Buying an instrument for someone is not easy, you're right. I just wanted to do some legwork and maybe have a suggestion or two for him to choose between. I don't think he'll be able to play it ahead of time either, which makes me a little nervous. I know he likes things cleaner, nothing too fancy (hence the A-style rather than the F-style). Also, he mostly just plays for fun and rarely with a band, so I've heard the oval hole is more mellow and suited. (Agree?). Finally, I think my budget is in the $1000 range.

So, a clean A-style, probably oval hole for $1000. Does that help narrow anything?


(And thanks for your PM Chuck. I'll take a look).

[Steve L]

You'll probably get a lot of recommendations for Eastman oval holes that are right in your price point and most folks are happy with.

I'd also recommend the Breedlove Quartz 00. All solid woods, carved top and back, wide radiused fretboard with high frets which a guitar player might find more comfortable as a newcomer to the mandolin.

Kentucky also makes an oval hole for about $300 that is supposed to be a pretty good bargain. I threw that into the mix because if I were to buy either the Eastman or the Kentucky 170 series, I would buy from Steve Perry at Gianna Violins and have him do an extensive set-up on it. He has a unique process called "Mando VooDoo" that maximizes the sound and performance. It would add about another $150 or so to the cost, but would probably be money very well spent. You can search the archives here for various threads about the Mando Voodoo stuff.

I don't know Mr. Perry, but he has a solid reputataion here, clearly knows his stuff, and offers this somewhat unique service. He obviously deals both the Eastman and Kentucky lines.

Good luck.

[JEStanek]

The Eastman neck is narrower than many other mandolins (by a little bit) I like it but I didn't come to mandolin via guitar. What kind of music does he want to play? If he's more into bluegrass or jazzy stuff an F holed mandolin may be better. If he's just playing for fun or folky, celtic-y, stuff an oval hole (even a flat topped instrument) might be the ticket. If you want to look into the flat top oval hole Big Muddy mandolins, Gypsy, and Redline Traveler come to mind as excellent sounding instruments with a vatiety of tonal qualities due to various backwood options. These come in a bit less than $1k because they are less complex to build but still sound great.

If you're looking to get an archtop f holed instrument (even oval holed but arched top and back) the above suggestions are good ones. There are safe places to buy a good quality well represented used instrument, like our sponsors.

I have found the neck shape to be very important with my satisfaction between two equally well set up instruments. As a final note on that, don't just buy the least expensive instrument to meet your requirements without making sure the instrument is well set up (adjusted) by the shop who sends it to you. EVERY mandolin benefits from making sure the nut height (string height up near the tuners) and bridge height (height impacted by the bridge) allows for easy fretting without buzzing on non fretted frets.

You rock for wanting to hook up your husband with a new mandolin. Good luck and keep asking questions as you refine your search criteria.

Jamie

[Timbofood]

Buying somoene an instrument is indeed a daunting task but, the old "jewelry store technique" helps. Get him in a store, see what he gravitates to, give the staff a heads up so they understand what's going on and then give them a "wink, nudge" when the reciever is not looking.
What a fine gift for you to search out for him!
Good luck!

[ApK]

I sent you a personal messege. KTV.

chuck

Nice try, but she apparently already HAS the husband she's buying this for. ;)

[Chuck Naill]

Nice try, but she apparently already HAS the husband she's buying this for.

My sins have overtaken me!:)):)):))

chuck naill

[Spencer]

Some time ago, I was at a music store trying mandolins (Elderly Instrument in Lansing MI), when a couple came up and asked me to help them, as they could hear I could play some. She was also getting a mandolin for her husband. We tried several, and what we came up with was a Weber teardrop style. I think they are called the Aspen model today. It had a very nice versatile tone, was made of good solid wood and, cost a bit over 1000 dollars, and was a lot better in tone than the imports at that time. For your amount of money, go for tone, not looks, so your choice of an A style is appropriate. I suggest you do as these folks did, go to a store and have someone play the instruments for you, so you can hear them. There are also some web sites that have videos of mandolins being played. These are helpful, but if you don't have much experience with mandolins, you probably won't get so much out of them.

There are lots of folks here who can give you help on finding a music store nearby, I couldn't see where you are from.

Spencer

[ktv]

Lol. You guys are funny. And very helpful! Well, I'm continuing to dig, and I think I have some contenders, but I have a couple more questions. I am leaning towards getting a radiused fretboard and an arched top. This seem to be options that folks really like, esp. for guitar players. I've also read that oval holes are good for flat-tops, but that it might be better to get an f-hole with an arched top. Is that right? Boy, I'm getting too deep for my own good!

The contenders so far are:

Breedlove Quartz (both OO and OF look great)
Weber A-Styles (may be too pricey.)
Big Muddy (Is there a clear standout b/n the M-0, M-1 and M-2?)
Eastman MD504/505/604/605 (Again, is there a standout b/n the 500/600 series, or b/n these various models?)

(One of my husband's friends is also trying to convince me to consider a Collings MT or a Gibson A9, but those are probably a tad out of my price range).

So, what do you think? More suggestions welcome!

[Eric F.]

Guitarists always seem to like Breedloves. They have a slightly wider neck and sort of feel guitarlike. They are quite comfortable to play. I think the Quartz is a fine mandolin. I owned a Quartz OO and KF, and had another KF briefly as part of a trade. Each was a very good instrument, which I sold to finance other instruments, not because I was unhappy. I would not hesitate to buy another and I highly recommend them. I also own a Breedlove guitar, and I think the company just makes consistently good instruments.

The Big Muddy is a different (but not in a bad way) beast. The flat top and back give it a different sound. Many people describe flattops as "boxy" or "boomy" sounding. The Breedlove, with its carved top and back, will have more of what you or your husband may think of as the classic mandolin sound. I prefer the M-4, with its rosewood back, and the all-mahogany M-11. The M-4 just begs to play O'Carolan and other Irish stuff. I've owned an M-1 (from the days when the company was called Mid Missouri) and M-4. I now own a Big Muddy mandola with a rosewood back. My local repair/setup guy didn't want to give it back after I had him do a little work on it. Also, Mike Dulak, who makes them, is a great person to deal with and is very committed to customer service.

With Eastman, there seems to be a lot of variability. A 505, for example, may well sound better than a more expensive model. They can be very good instruments, but based on playing a lot (more than 50) of them in stores, I would either play before buying or buy only from someone I trusted to pick me a good one.

Weber makes quality instruments. I have a Weber oval A that is absolutely symphonic sounding and makes me smile blissfully whenever I play it. The Aspen, a flattop, is probably around your price range. I have played only a few of them, but none lately and Weber seems to have upped its game in the past couple of years. One of the Aspens I played was sorely lacking in volume, and I remember one as being very, very nice.

I hope that helps some.

Edit:

The sound hole makes a big difference. Most flattops have oval holes. An arched top mandolin can have either. F holes give it a more percussive, linear sound. More pop and less sustain, which is what bluegrassers value. Oval soundholes tend to have more sustain and may sound warmer or lusher. They are often perceived by the player as louder, but might not "cut through" a bunch of other instruments as well as an f hole mandolin would. Others can give you a better description, I'm sure. I like both, but if I could have only one kind, it would be an oval.

[Capt. E]

$1000 will get you a very nice instrument. Look at Eastman, Kentucky and perhaps Jade (a new builder). These are all Chinese made. If you want an American made instrument, the Big Muddy mandolins are amoung the best, but they are flat top, not carved (arched) top.

If you can go up to $1700 or so, you could get a Montana made Weber Gallatin or Hyalite.
check out Fiddlers Green Music Shop here in Austin www.fiddlersgreenmusicshop.com They are very easy to deal with.

[Spencer]

I mentioned some websites with sound clips. I got this link from a previous thread here on the cafe, and the clips sound pretty good. This link was the first I found in my browser history, and turns out to be a Breedlove for about 1000 Dollars. Use some good speakers or head phones, the sound is ok.

There are many instruments on this website, and you can get an idea of differences in quality of sound, but I am not sure about the volume of the instruments. I recall a lot of Webers and Gibsons, and I think a Phoenix. Prices are all over the place, but it is free to look.:)


http://www.themandolinstore.com/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=7977

Spencer

[Rod_Neep]

What guitars does he have? (Make and model).

That will give folks here a pointer to the level of mandolin that will satisfy him the most. But bear in mind that the equivalent level of mandolin will probably cost around twice the price of the guitar.

Rod

[Eddie Sheehy]

If you're considering Big Muddys, then have a look at Gypsy's as well. Made by Walt Kuhlman in Arizona - and you'll have change from your $1K.

[8ch(pl)]

Also similar to Big Muddy is Steve Smith's Redline Traveller for about $600. Websit search for Redline Resophonic should get you there.

I have a Mid Missouri M-4 that is 11 years old. I have just had a setup and fret replacement done and it is better than ever. This is the former name for Big Muddy.

[ktv]

Thanks so much to everyone for your continued responses! I am following every link and considering every bit of advice you're posting. I've brought my husband into the discussion, and it looks like the Breedlove may be the front-runner in the $1k price range. He likes the arch-top more than the flat top and loves the look.

I'm also considering whether to extend my budget for this purchase. (Inevitable, right!) I thought hard about your comments on the fact that the quality isn't the same as similarly-priced guitars. He has a couple electrics (fender stratocaster and gibson les paul) and a couple acoustics (washburn 12-string and a really nice taylor). He loves that Taylor, and I'd like to get him a mandolin of comparable quality. So, I may bump it slightly to bring in the Weber Gallatin A or even the Collings MT. Still thinking how I can make that work, but it is his 40th . . .