Worst mando you've owned,

May-09-2005, 1:14pm

In the spirit of complaining about mandos... #

My first mando was called somthing like "El Comet" and was made by our friendly neighbors to the south, Mexico. It was a big old flat top with about 6 inches of finish sprayed on. #At about fret 4 or 5, it started going severely out of tune. #I don't know what it sounded like much higher than that, because it became humanly impossible to fret the strings as the action go so high. #Nonetheless, I logged probably 500 hours on that baby, learning basic chords and picking out simple tunes. #I would pick it up right after work and play until late into the night. Ignorance really was bliss.

**TommyK** · May-09-2005, 1:17pm

There's no better frettin' muscle builders than HIGH ACTION! #As I understand it the Mexican guitarron is the toughest of them all. #Those guys have the handshake of a Babco vise! #Be careful going from guitarron back to a mando, you might just snap the neck in two with an A7 chord!

**Dru Lee Parsec** · May-09-2005, 1:20pm

Originally Posted by

Worst mando you've owned

A Johnson A-style. What it lacked in tone and playability it made up for with . . . Um. Well, nothing. Even after I did a complete refret the action got worse and worse as the top caved in. Johnson mandolins are unplayable garbage.

**Tom C** · May-09-2005, 1:46pm

My Plywood Martin Sigma "A". It did the job -To see if I was serious about learning or if it would sit in the closet like a guitar I've had that I only learned 3 chords on. Well I played it everyday and decided I deserved a nicer one. -My flatiron. After 4 more years I decided (but did not deserve) I wanted a BRW.

**fatt-dad** · May-09-2005, 2:01pm

My Romanian-made "Montana". It has a solid top (four piece) and is blessed with quite a set of dissedent overtones. Then again, that may have something to do with my attempts at luthery - ha.

In spite of my complaints, I will not likely part with this piece of junk. It has served me well at the beach and for that alone, it remains in my collection.

f-d

**Steve Farling** · May-09-2005, 2:22pm

A blond, Santa Rosa A style that I traided an old Kay acoustic guitar for at a hock shop. It had a brass bar for a bridge insert that mainly functioned to keep the strings separated. It got me started, is about all I can say for it. Went from that to a Morgan Monroe MCM-TB, which convinced me that I had finaly found an instrument to keep my attention for years to come. I've now got my dream Mando, a Gibson F5-G! Life is GOOD!

**legendarytones** · May-09-2005, 2:30pm

My first one. It was one of the first that Dean Clawson a N.C. builder had built. It noted like a 2x4, and simply put ATE strings, but I was just a kid, and that is the one I learned on. It did give me a viselike grip by the time I was 14 years old. Although it was a mean mandolin, it did look good and I have many fond memories of it and of that time in my life. Who knows, somebody that knew what they were doing might could have worked on it and made it better, but at that time in my life I was completely ignorant of anything that could be done to one to make it better.

**John Flynn** · May-09-2005, 2:35pm

My first mando was a "Lotus" A style, made entirely of select Korean plywood by luthiers with years of experience...making cheap furniture. The thing had rattles and buzzes all over it, wouldn't stay in tune and sounded tinny, but I learned the basics on it and I learned to love playing mandolin on it. I traded it a year later on an Alvarez A800, all solid wood, handmade in Japan, which was a big step up. I got all but about $50 back on the trade, so it was a decent deal.

**jim simpson** · May-09-2005, 7:47pm

Surprisingly my worst was a Flatiron A model. It was one of the ones with the fingerboard extension integrated into the soundboard. Maybe that is why it didn't sound good, don't know. I should have taken it to a spot where I could have heard it better when I bought it as it was noisy at the show. I got rid of it quite a while ago and I must say that I have loved most every Flatiron I have ever played - not this one though.

**knockwood** · May-09-2005, 10:14pm

My first mandolin had the tone and sustain of a rusty cow bell. When it was given to me by my father to hush my theretofore incessant begging, it had no strings on it and no identifiable headstock or tailpiece. Still, I knew better than to question my father's generosity. After several years I began to notice some strange things about this mandolin. Like how every song sounded more or less identical on account of how it only played one "note" obtainable only by whacking it with or against other hard objects. I also noticed that I could never seem to find the thing in the morning, but it would always miraculously appear later in the day with bits of what appeared to be food caked up on it in various spots. The jig was finally up one day when my mother came home early from work to find me practicing and angrily demanded that I return her frying pan to the kitchen at once. Ah, childhood...

**metalmandolin** · May-09-2005, 10:23pm

I had an old Japanese Kingston. Plywood throughout, Mother-of-Toiletseat cameo on the headstock. We had good times, though. I learned my first bona-fide mando break on that thing; Monroe's turnaround on "I Haven't Seen Mary in Years". Wish I still had it!

**Dan Adams** · May-09-2005, 11:07pm

I still have my old Harmony that I bought 30 years ago at the Denver Folklore Center. The great thing about the mandolin is that is was bought from Charles Sawtell! It sounds like a cigar box with fishing line for strings. The history and some fond memories have reserved a spot for this instrument in the 'permanent' collection.

Its now sleeping in the closet! Dan

**mandroid** · May-10-2005, 12:29am

Harmony I had, I loved it with a saw.
it's sleeping with the fishes.

**angrymandolinist** · May-10-2005, 7:10am

My $80 Rogue, with gig bag and books. I'll never part with it, no matter how much stress simply keeping it in tune gave me. Funny how those things seem to be getting cheaper and cheaper.

**arbarnhart** · May-10-2005, 8:59am

I have that Rogue. Maybe they changed the tuners or something, because the one thing I like it about it most is that it stays in tune, but it does take 3 rounds or so of tuning to get it there. I had to sand quite a bit off the bridge to get decent action. It really isn't mine; it was given to my young kids along with some other instruments by well intentioned grandparents. I had played guitar off and on for a long time (mostly off lately) and played keyboards every now and then, but really wasn't into playing that much recently until I picked up the mando and got hooked. Now I am building a short scale OM that will be mine and probably become the worst one I love. I have stopped in a couple of music stores and tried more expensive models and could kick myself for doing so. It's not in the budget right now and I liked the Rogue better before doing comparisons.