interesting dilema

[billkilpatrick]

an american client of ours here in italy had always said he wanted one of my paintings. as MAS is upon me - big time - i suggested an exchange of one for the other.

i've always wanted an epiphone mm-50 - don't ask me why ... just did - and proposed it for an art-swap, sometime in june, upon his return. not being familiar with the mandolin, i posted him the mm-50 page from the epiphone site as well as the wikipedia entries for orville gibson and lloyd loar ... specifying that i wanted an "F-5" model.

subsequent to that, i wrote to say that if he happened upon a loar LM-600 during this quest, for anywhere near the same price as the epiphone, would he please grab it immediately and that i would make up the difference.

two days have passed and after a whirl-wind tour of music stores in mid-town manhattan and surrounding boroughs ("i've learned something," he reports) he's written to say that the epiphone is no longer in the running and would i please choose between an eastman; a kentucky or (if he can find one in nyc) a loar ...

needless to say, i'm just painting up a storm here ... slap ... dash ... but - if a similar situation were presented to you - which one would you choose?

(delirious in anticipation) - bill

[Bernie Daniel]

I've always thought it would be nice to have a Kentucky mandolin -- I don't have a reason - but that is what I would choose. :)

[pwkellar]

Didn't I hear a joke about the Kentuckian, Eastman and the Loar?? :grin:

[Randi Gormley]

i like my kentucky (it's an A, though), but isn't the general concensus that eastmans are slightly better bluegrass instruments? is there any way he can have someone play them over the phone to you or something?

[JEStanek]

The Eastman has a narrower neck at the nut and a pronounced V shaped neck.The Eastman also uses thinner fret wire. I've not played the newer Kentucky mandolins but they get good reviews and Big Joe Vest (formerly with Gibson now on his own) sells the Loar's and speaks highly of the 600 series. Don't get the older 500 series of The Loar mandolins as they aren't as good as the newer 600 or 700 series.

I like my Eastman but I haven't compared them. I would say the KM1000 compares very well with the Eastmans as does The Loar 600 based on what I've read here. Maybe some folks who own the others can chime in with the specs on theirs (nut width, neck shape, fret wire size). As always, set up is key.

Eastman nut width 1 3/32, from outer G to outer E 31/32"
width at 12th fret 1 1/2" from outer G to outer E 1 1/4"

Jamie

[Tim2723]

Bill, doesn't it all come down to the fair barter value of your painting? After all is said and done, you're really saying that a friend is going to fly an American-purchased mandolin back to Italy with him. Get the best one you can for the value of the painting.

Why not paint something worth a Gibson? (Just kidding buddy!)