mandola choices

[Pasha Alden]

You are right it certainly made me give serious reconsideration to at any rate, what kind of mandolas I will purchase. Here in SA I looked into mandolas, though I guess if there are limited mandolins, what on earth did I expect? Well I am considering the Girouard, however am tempted by some dolas in classified and also the Jbovier. Though for now I think I am going to hang back for the Girouard, though I am going to have an A-style. Ice blue? do you mean it is actually blue? Surely I am misunderstanding?

[Jim Nollman]

I started this thread to help gather mandola info from other players. The Cafe excels at this task. Yesterday I finally pulled the plug on an instrument. It's a Bill Bussman 4 string with a pickup. Actually, it's a mandola with a notable provenance.



I had set out searching for an 8 string, f-hole because, these days, I mostly perform traditional tunes with a fiddle and two rhythm players. It didn't help that the current owner also made the request that I play it awhile before altering to an 8 string. He promised me it was a special instrument, and because it could be played with or without amplification, it could be used effectively in just about any kind of music.

The seller lives just a few hours away from me, and I always prefer to play an instrument before making a major purchase. Actually, my most-sober plan had been to go try it out, get it out of my system, and then come back home and buy the Collings F hole mandola from another guy on the Cafe who has been emailing back and forth with me over the past month.

I couldn't resist it. With a capo, it's quick to play it either as CGAE or DAEB. And after a few hours with it, I have no immediate intention to alter it to an 8 string, although this alteration would be very easy.

[Pasha Alden]

Congratulations Jim! Hope you will enjoy that mandola - I can't wait to have mine.
Though it's a few months away!