What mandolins should one not buy?

[fraggin]

I recently purchased a mandolin from ebay (new) and it cost me less than $100. The brand name was Snowking. I immediatley had to change strings before it was even tuned. From the beginning, it played well, now after three months it seems that it starts to sound worse and worse. It also has to be tuned ever time I take it down to play it. If I bend the strings then I have to re-tune it. I have really enjoyed playing it and now have my eyes on a new mando. The thing is, I don't feel that I should spend much more than about $300. I have played a fender mandolin at the local guitar shop that I absolutely fell in love with. It's easy to play and sounds great. It's light years above my ebay special. What do you guys think? And what would be the reason for mine sounding worse and it being hard to stay in tune?
Thanks

[John Flynn]

You get what you pay for, or sometimes less than you pay for. If you see what goes into making a mandolin, any mandolin, it is hard to imagine how it could be done at all for under $100. I am sure the tuners are cheap, the wood is laminated and the quality control is nearly non-existent. The $300 Fenders are not great instruments, but the ones I have played seem competently built for what they are. For the $300, however, I would prefer a used Mid-Missouri, which would not be hard to find. There are all solid wood and made in the USA by people who really care about music and instruments. Also, they have a great reputation for servicing thier products, even if you did not buy it new from them.

[Lee]

I forget who said it around here, but it goes something like this:
"When you buy on price you cry twice. When you buy quality you only cry once."

[fraggin]

thanks for the input. Where would be a good place to look for a used mandolin?

[FrankenMouse]

Right here in the Cafe classifieds! Used Mid-Mo's (and others) come up all the time. Try placing a "Wanted" ad there too. You'll get plenty of attractive responses.

[AC4RD]

Right here in the Cafe classifieds! Used Mid-Mo's (and others) come up all the time. Try placing a "Wanted" ad there too. You'll get plenty of attractive responses.
I had the very same problem last week; two weeks of a bargain-basement mandolin had me wanting a better one, but as a totally clueless newbie, I didn't know where to start. I got a lot of good input here at the Cafe, and when I checked the classifieds, I found something right away--a mandolin I just LOVE at a very fair price. And the seller (thanks again, Carl "fatt-dad"!) went out of his way to help me understand what I was looking at and how it fit my own needs. Try those classifieds and the nice Mandolin Cafe people FIRST! Good luck! -Ken

[fatt-dad]

Check HERE (http://home.comcast.net/~fatt-dad/mando4sale.html) for mandolins that I have available for sale (same as those listed in the my classified ad).

f-d

[John Flynn]

It's probably worth mentioning that if you don't find what you want in the classifieds, there are some good online shops that carry used instuments, such as Elderly.

I also heard an interesting story recently about the search for a used instrument. A friend of mine was looking for a used Phoenix. He looked everywhere online, no luck. Finally he called the builder, who knew of someone who had a used one for sale, which he wound up buying. It stands to reason that builders would keep half an eye on the used market for thier instruments and the smart ones, IMHO, would entertain questions like that.

[Jasper]

Fraggin,

I have to agree with the first 3 or 4 comments...you get what you pay for, usually. When I first started out, I went to a pawn shop with a guitar-playing friend and bought brand new Bean Blossom for $125. Neither of us knew squat about mandolins. It was great to start with for basic chords and to build callouses, but I soon learned that the action was too high and then entire mando was made from a material called NATO...not sure what that is, but it ain't wood! So I graduated to a Korean-made Olympia F-style mando (OM6SW)...it's Tacoma's overseas brand. I have also owned a Mid-Mo M-1 and a Martin Backpacker. After all of this, the Olympia is still with me. I have accidentally dropped it from about 3 ft onto the kitchen floor (the strap slipped loose from the button) and cracked the finish...it still plays very nicely and continues to impress me with its tone, for a $450 mandolin. It retails for anywhere from $650 to $800, but those prices are always high. I have also replaced the original tuners with Grovers and put a cast tail piece on it to stop that maddening buzzing. So in all, I have about $600 in the mando, and that includes the finish repair from my mishap. I am not telling you to buy an Olympia...I may have just gotten an exceptional mandolin...don't know. But for $300, you aren't going to find many solid wood F-style mandos out there. You might be able to pick up a solid wood A-style for that. Even though they are Korean-made, best bang for the buck is probably a Michael Kelly mando. They are a bit past your price range, but you get all the nice stuff that I had to add on...tuners, etc. Cost on a Legacy Solid on the internet is $419. Be patient and keep on looking until you find what you want...it's out there somewhere.

Jasper

[neal]

I would second the MidMo suggestion, or check out Carl, AKA fatt-dad. #Another guy to look at in the classifieds is Tom Flood, go to the classifieds and search "flood". #He's always got an ebay special from the 1920's-up that he's reworked to make them playable. # But Carl's got the best signature, so I'd look at him first http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif.

[Jasper]

Fraggin,

If you are interested in looking at the Olympia, go to the URL below.

http://www.adirondackguitar.com/otherst....6sw.htm (http://www.adirondackguitar.com/otherstringedinstrruments/olympia/om6sw.htm)

Any other opinions on the Olympia or like mandolins?

Jasper

[fatt-dad]

But I just changed my signature. . . .

[neal]

That's the sig- Alicia Silverstone -she had to be saying that tongue-in-cheek, it's just tooo brainless http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif Hillarious either way.

[kudzugypsy]

i was at a large music chain the other day just killing time, and when i went to the mandolin section, i was just shocked at the instruments that people are buying to start playing. my BEST advice is to befriend a decent mandolin player and have them help you, which most will do. i recently bought a NICE fiddle, but i wanted the opinion of someone who knew more than i did. this move saved me from a $1500 mistake! (i.e. it sometimes isnt the price ALONE that will get you a better instrument). if you look at the cheap mandos, they are not going to be set up worth a ####, the nut, bridge and everything else will be useless. you may even spend $100 on your old one to have it set up. that would be better than shucking out another $300 on yet one more useless instrument. most people arent going to put MORE money into a mandolin than they paid for the whole thing, but that will help. there are good mandos out there for $300-500 though, i played a new kentucky A model at a festival that was just wonderful...for $250! in general, the ebay stuff is garbage, buy from a real shop where you can tell the guy to set it up right and you'll take it.

[Fretbear]

Don't forget to include the price of changing out the tuners, bridge and tailpiece on any "bargain". My brother recently bought an MK legacy, and got Grover tuners and a respectable instrument to take home and get serious on; there is a certain amount of cash that you are going to have to pony up if you really want to stop shopping and start playing...

[jim_n_virginia]

My first mandolin was a cheap laminated import from a pawn shop that I later found out I paid about 25% too much and could have gotten way cheaper on eBay or the Cafe classifieds. Like one poster said, you get what you pay for.

The import mandolin was only playable after I changed the strings, nut and learned through weeks of trial and error bridge placement.

Even then the tone was muffled and action pretty bad. The good thing is that I got used to ###### action and when I finally played a mandolin that had great action, it played like butter. Also my fingers got very, very tough on the high action. I couldn't lower the action on my import any more or it would buzz.

I finally got a Mid-Mo and it was a great sounding, easy playing instrument. I upgraded after a while and traded it in because while they are good quality instruments they are rather plain looking. But in retrospect I now wish i had kept it because it was great for Celtic Music.

When I finally started playing bluegrass quality instruments they sounding a thousand times better than that import I had.

I always thell people starting out to try and get the best instrument they can afford. The better the instrument the better your music will sound and the better chance you will stick with it. If you fingers ache after playing for 10 minutes of playing a ###### or poorly setup instrument then where's the joy in that?

IMHO I think $500-$800 range is needed to find a decent good quality and good sounding instrument, but sometimes one can get lucky and score a great used instrument off of eBay pretty cheap. And I have gotten some pretty good deals here on the Cafe Classifieds.

good luck!

[tiltman]

Another good, inexpensive instrument to start on is the Weber Y2K. Not a bluegrass mando but good to get you started.
Kirk