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I have used a five-channel sub-mixer in two different ways: [1] by running both mixer outputs (it's a stereo mixer, but I keep the "pan" controls centered, and the SA 220 is mono, so stereo's...

You have a point with regard to some "vintage" instruments -- and I can't criticize since my main gigging banjo is an old Regal tenor pot with a homemade long "Pete Seeger" five-string neck.
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Cort CM-A150E has a solid top, presumably heat-pressed since it doesn't say "carved." Back and sides are (laminated?) mahogany, which is sort of "non-standard" (though not all that uncommon), since...

Wow! An open-ended question, if I ever saw one…

There are so many variables, it's hard to answer definitively. There are coffeehouses where amplification is actually discouraged (I help run a...

Don't know anything about the Bedford Banjo Shop in PA, but this page lists a bunch of used tenors at very reasonable prices, including a Slingerland for $200.

Might be worth a call to check 'em...

But a real musician wouldn't be using a capo at all, would he? He'd learn to "mime" playing in every key, rather than leaning on a capo-esque crutch that only an inferior instrumentalist would even...

Sorry, Zach, didja say somethin'? I wasn't payin' attention…

Seriously, if you don't take to the mandolin, you can sell the instrument -- that is, if it's of decent value. And if you buy a $50...

1. Try some lubrication on the tuners before you replace them.

2. Bridge creaks are often from the string windings rubbing in the bridge slots. Rub a #2 pencil in the slots for some graphite...

Try to ascertain if you're using significantly greater finger pressure when you fret your mandolin, than when you fret your guitar. Do you play a lot of barre chords on the guitar? What's the...

Just had a two-point built, and like the "mutant scroll" designs of Giacomel, Breedlove, et. al. It is nice to offer the strap-over-one-shoulder types, a place to hook it on, but a strap button at...

You are right; as I pointed out in Post #8, a $50 mandolin is a crapshoot. You may get "acceptable to learn on," but that's about all you can hope for. A decent plywood Kentucky like the KM-140,...

Yeah, I walked into John's the next day, wanted to try it out, and found it was sold. Not that I was actually going to buy it, since I have two mandocelli already, but I wanted to see what it was...

You do realize that the OP initially asked about $50 mandolins on Amazon? Jumping to a Weber, Breedlove, or a vintage F-4 is like going from a Schwinn to a Mercedes, IMHO.

If my first mandolin...

1. Agree with Randi on the Strad-O-Lin; these are real "sleepers" in terms of quality and sound, despite their somewhat plebian look (at least most of them). Problem is, they haven't been made for...

When I'm "sub-mixing" into my Fishman, I just run the SA-220 "flat" and mix at the sub-mixer. I've used a single SoloAmp for up to five musicians, with a 5-channel Behringer (should I apologize for...

Let us know when it does. If it's an old Dobro, I'd advise getting it checked out by a good instrument tech. The Dobro Co., and later National Dobro Co., didn't lavish a lot of attention on the...

I was apprehensive myself; Bernie made a mock-up with a foam body and a thin wooden neck with the frets diagrammed on it, to see if I could handle the fanned configuration. I couldn't tell from a...

And -- that's why one drives a Yugo instead of a Lexus, buys shirts at WalMart rather than Joseph A Bank, eats at McDonald's rather than at Le Bernardin*. I mean, the Yugo gets you there, the shirts...

Depends on what you want; I'm a fan of the "mic-on-a-stand" approach myself, but since I play a buncha different instruments, and can't afford to install either a pickup or an instrument-mounted mic...

1. As far as I know, National only made perhaps 60 tri-cone mandolins, in 1928. According to the late Bob Brozman's book, The History and Artistry of National Resonator Instruments, the original...

Scale length for the 1st (E) course is 14 inches; scale length for the 5th [C] course is 16.5 inches.

I'm going to be tweaking the string gauges as I go along; the C string's less than .050 and...

You and your bro should peruse the Hayseed Dixie oeuvre and see if there's anything about country/'grass versions of metal tunes that strikes a (G) chord with you.

Seriously, though, have a...

Back when I was working part-time for the late Eldon Stutzman at Stutzman's Guitar Center, -- during the early '70's when good mandolins were pretty scarce -- he used to say that if someone brought a...

If the image posts, here's the 5-course, fanned-fret instrument that Bernie Lehmann built me, with the AllParts tuners (which are working fine so far -- but I only took delivery on Monday):

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Bernunzio sold the Wishnevsky yesterday.