What is the worst mandolin you have played?

[RBM]

Threads abound with everyone's idea of the best A or F best under $1,000, under $5,000 best over http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif. Let's cut tothe chase - tell us about the worst you have owned.

[onlyagibsonisgoodenuff]

I still have it. My Grampa's old bowlback. Won't even stay in tune, can't hold the durn thing cause it's always trying to look at the sky. Good wallhanger, though.

[TheNaivePicker]

I never owned it... But I went to a new giant music store in town, and to my supprise they had one 'Dean' mando. I Dont know If some other Dean mandos are any good, but this one was down right...How you say...Odd?! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif
IT was badly out of tune, and it wouldnt stay in tune, the Tone sounded awful, (no offence to Dean mando Owners) But this one must have been messed with or something.. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif

[evanreilly]

THE BIG HONDO!!!!

[John Flynn]

My first mandolin: It was a "Lotus," A-style "plywood special" from Korea. You can still buy them from Appollo's Axes, although I got mine from a store. The action was bad, the sound was "pure tin," the pickguard buzzed to certain notes, the tailpiece buzzed to other notes and something in the headstock buzzed to still other notes. But I have to say, that with some amatuer repair work, I got it playing decently with no buzzing and it got me through my first year of playing the mando, including some performances. Plus, I got about 60% of what I had in it on a trade-up. It was a POS, though!

[jmkatcher]

Johnson MA-550, the nadir of octaves. Its musical ability was inversely proportional to its ornamentation. Fretting was godawful too. Must have been an off day in the slave labor camp in China when they made it.

[Rroyd]

A plywood Stella a friend of mine abandoned on a picnic table during a cloudburst, which then changed shape during the drying process. #We now plan to give it to gdae_boy1 in exchange for his new Brunkalla, so that he can play it on the beach and not have to worry about it suffering any further damage.

[AeroJoe]

Ditto on the ol' Hondo...worst sounding higher priced mando was an old Gibson F-12...

[smilnJackB]

I have to go with a Hondo too. It was an ebay purchase that I later sold for a small profit (God, forgive me).
However, the biggest dissapointments I've had in mando sampling were 2 new Gibson A styles at two separate shops. I had high expectations and they had low delivery - not much tone.. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif Jack

[Unseen122]

Johnson MA-550, the nadir of octaves.
Be careful you might offende some people such as me I am not even going to get into an argument. No the worst mand I have played was a no name i bought in Mexico tuning was hell the E strings would break while I was tuning the A trings the action was horrible it even beat a Johnson MA-100.

[8ch(pl)]

El Degas, plywood, bent neck unplayable above 6th fret.

[JGWoods]

I played a (edited) by some guy named Brunkala. He said it was his first try at building a mandolin so I kinda forgave him and told him to try something easier to build, like violins...
http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

2nd prize- my eBay bowlback

gw


Ooooops- I don't know Martin Brunkalla and never played one of his instruments. I should never have put this message up. I guess I could delete it, but for now I am saying sorry Martin,
happy pickin,
gw

Hey i dont know most mandolins i play sound decent. But I was in a music store and i tried a cheap Alpha 1 and it didnt play or sound 2 nice. Hey cool thread!

[gdae85]

I played a piece of junk by some guy named Brunkala. He said it was his first try at building a mandolin so I kinda forgave him and told him to try something easier to build, like violins...

lol! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[merv]

without a doubt the worst one was my first mandolin an old hohner neck was warped , the top was collapsing and the tone was way off past the fourth fret . It is now a hanging vine pot in my living room . looks better now than when i first got it.

[Flatpick]

A Vega bowlback.......

[flairbzzt]

It had to be an old no name banjo mandolin which had spaces between the individual strings as wide or wider than the spaces between pairs. Also, an a-style called a "Cameo".

[fatt-dad]

Second (or is it fourth) vote for the ol' Hondo. I bought one on ebay for $41.00 and it sounds real bad. First vote (so far) for Framus. Mine is a flattop with all laminate construction. Awful sound and hard to play - ha.

f-d

[doanepoole]

Played an MK with 2 failed top braces.

Before the braces failed, I played it, and it was really a pretty good mando. After they failed, sounded like a dying dog begging for a scrap of moldy bread.

[odeman]

I've got you all beat. My first mandolin was a "Lindell" and it cost me $20 brand new. 'Must have been made in Mexico or somewhere ( this was before the Asian countries started making them ) but it had a slotted headpiece and you could tell it was made from plywood 50 feet away. It did get me through Navy Reserves bootcamp, though. In that sense, it was the best $20 I ever spent.

[Eugene]

A Vega bowlback.......
This is a little surprising to me. #Amongst bowlback fans (i.e. fans of real mandolins), Vega has a consistently solid reputation. #I have never come across one that strikes me as bad while even a couple of the Martins I've handled have given an impression of being a bit thin-toned and tinny. #Was this Vega in particularly bad shape?

[JeffS]

Haha, all these bad mandos people have experienced are the bread and butter of the local music stores I visit. Oh had only Skynyrd featured the mandolin things might be different. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[WireBoy]

I agree with JeffS. #Your typical neighborhood or chain music store will feature imported mass produced mandos that sound really terrible. #granted their top (sole) selling point is $cheap$, but whew! its supposed to be musical.

Next is the disappointment factor. #A lot of mando brands get mentioned here with glowing reviews by rabid fans. #when i finally catch up to model x and give it try, its often not what i expected. #sure there is the odd clunker but after playing several examples of model x, i'll often wonder what all the fuss was about. #but then i'll catch up to model y and be awed and come away thinking 'now i understand"

[Thomas]

Worst cheapo was a Johnson at my local music store. #Worst not cheapo was a Weber Yellowstone, also at my local music store. #The Johnson can speak for itself; low priced Pac-rim insturment. #The Yellowstone surprised me in just how bad it was. #Never played such a bad sounding mandolin for that price. #Yeah, I know all the reasons it could have sounded bad, so don't blame me, I'm just answering the question. #A man wants to sell a nice mandolin, he needs to make sure it sounds good, too. # http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Scotti Adams]

..my first mando I ever had was a A model harmony...at the time..when I was 12....I thought it sounded pretty good....only later did I realize that it sounded like fence post.....but you know..that little mando holds a special place in my heart...I learned on it...my kids have dragged it thru the sand box and all...but most of all its the mando that my folks got me that started me down this road to Mandoville. Ive still got it somewhere....minus a few frets that I pulled somewhere down the line to use them to replace the frets in a Alvarez F model that I later upgraded to.

[fatt-dad]

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention my first mandolin, which was also awful - a plywood Kay. It was given to me when I was in jr. high school (c. 1968 or '69). The best thing that I got out of it was $50.00 towards the credit of repair on my 1919 A-3. The luthier that worked on my A-3 still has it and I can get it back (so he says) if I pony up the $50.00. Just like Scotti, I may do it for nostalgia's sake.

f-d

[Joel Glassman]

A Kay mandolin bought at a garage sale in 1969.
It was spray painted with a faux tiger maple pattern with "KAY" silkscreened on the headstock. Utter garbage. I later destroyed it and saved the neck for a while before throwing it out.

[elenbrandt]

My first and worst...a 1920ish flat-top (well, actually, "caved top") Columbia, which lived at the repair shop. The most expensive POS I ever bought for $25 from Blackie at the Alameda Sunday Flea Market...At the same time...I would sneak off with my ex-husband's perfect F4 (Ahhhh, with the Handel tuners and double flower pot, sigh....)Talk about the sublime and the ridiculous under one roof (the mandos, that is..)

Memories.... I think I need a good shot of single malt about now..... to go with this #http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/coffee.gif

[Joe F]

jflynnstl,
I started out with one of those Lotuses as well. #As I recall, it was an oddly-shaped A style, more triangular than pear-shaped. #The sunburst went from blinding yellow at the center to nearly black at the rim. #It played and sounded so-so, but it was a good instrument for learning 2-finger chords and basic picking.

Within a few months, I realized that I wanted to become more serious about the mandolin, so I traded it in on a Japanese Kentucky solid wood KM-200S, which I still have 22 years later.

[Rich Evans]

I think the worst mando I have owned and played was a Martin Backpacker mandolin. I bought it because I travel a lot, and although I knew it did not sound great, I thought it would be good to practice on while on a trip. #WRONG!! # After the second trip I could no longer stand the sound of it, and it was also hard to play because the nut was not notched properly, and the strings were all different heights.

We get too soon old, and too late smart.

Rich Evans

[jimini_pickit]

My worst is this Scorpion electric mando I got off eBay; bad intonation and fret scale, non-adjustable bridge...I still have it (Why?http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif?)....I know I would enjoy doing a little 'Hendrix' smash-up with it, but I guess I just keep it around in hopes to harvest the pick-ups, control knobs, etc 'some day'.

[jim_n_virginia]

I still own it. It is my first mandolin. It is the infamous eBay Rover mandolin by Saga. When i first got it I didn't know what mandolins were supposed to sound like or play like.

The action was so high you could have sliced cheese with it. And with the pressed plywood top when you played it it had a dull far away sound. In fact when I played it that what everyone did...they tried to get FAR, FAR away from the sound!

I recently tried to unload it on eBay. I even offered a mandolin VHS instructional tape with it free! And I STILL couldn't sell it! Not one bid, zip, nada... like NO ONE wanted it.

So I guess I am still stuck with it! Oh well...you asked! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

[AlanN]

A Sekova, big, boxy thing given to me by a friend. It was my car mando for a while, picked at stop lights, waiting in parking lots, etc., until the heat and car atmosphere caused the neck to pull up.

[Big Joe]

The worst I ever owned was a Kentucky A model. It was the first mandolin I ever bought and the first one I ever actually held. Not many mandos where I was in those days. It was not that bad an instrument for what it was. The fret ends were so sharp it nearly tore my fingers off, but after a little work it played ok. I have been blessed to have some very fine instruments so my worst was not that bad.

The worst I ever played is another story. The list would be so long and they have become so quickly forgotten in the midst of the great ones I see so often that I don't even remember them. I try to use what few memory cells I have for the good stuff and forget those pieces that bring tears to ones eye for being accused of being a mandolin http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif .

[psann]

A turkish mandolin/banjo. I literally through it in the dumpster.

[fatt-dad]

That is so funny about the turkish mando-banjo. I went camping this year along with my mandolin. There were several of us playing guitars, banjo, (me on) mandolin and this guy (not a player) brought his turkish mando-banjo. Well, he was excited to get my impression and hear it sound-out. I couldn't tune it, it was a mess and I had to give up. It belonged in the dumpster, but alas, I gave it back to him. Must have been deflating to him, but we were in the middle of making music and time didn't allow for me to spend any more time with the piece of junk.

psann, I had forgot until you mentioned it - ha.

fatt-dad

[RBM]

This has been interesting. My first mandolin was a Kentucky 160S which I thought was jsut dandy, I got some books and picked away fat dumb, and happy until I started taking lessons. My instructor would show me a chord shape and I would dutifully strum it, and wonder what the hell happened, my chord did not sound anything like his chord. His sounded - well musical - my was hard on the ears, we retuned and found that a 160S did not play asa pretty as the instructor's Flatiron A5-1 - From that point on I was inhappy with what I had and it became my worst - if I had kept to myself it would have been just fine. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif