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Thread: First trip to Carter's!

  1. #1
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    Default First trip to Carter's!

    Family road trip from St Louis to Asheville, NC for spring break this week. We stopped halfway in Nashville, TN for the night. On Sat, we went to Carter's to play some instruments. The staff was super nice and let us (including my 8 year old) play whatever we wanted. There are so many fantastic instruments there that it was almost overwhelming. I decided to play as many mandolins below $5000 as I could in the 90 minutes we had there. So many great instruments. Wish I was able to stay all day.

    My favorite sub $5000 mandolin was the Pava Player for $2849
    https://cartervintage.com/collection...nt=31338922307
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    Second was a surprise to me. Less than $2000, the simply appointed, but terrific sounding and playing Red Line - with a Cumberland bridge of course
    https://cartervintage.com/collection...nt=31484149443
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    My son's favorite was a Mann solid body electric Octave Mandolin:
    https://cartervintage.com/collection...nt=34784727491
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    Wish I had the money to buy one of them. However, last week I just purchased a Franzke custom mandolin that I thought was better sounding than any of the others that I played in Carter's. So, I'm not complaining!

    Still, a stellar experience for me and my son. We will certainly go back!
    Thanks to Carter's and their staff!
    Al

    PS- for a smidge more then $5000, this Ellis A5 Deluxe was awesome!
    https://cartervintage.com/collection...nt=32476457283
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    Last edited by colorado_al; Mar-18-2017 at 9:33pm.

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  3. #2
    Novice Grimm's Avatar
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    Default Re: First trip to Carter's!

    That sounds like a great experience. I'll have to try to stop there sometime when I'm in the area.

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    Default Re: First trip to Carter's!

    Oh man... You didn't go into the high end room? Nuggets, Gilchrists, Monte's, Red Diamonds, all just hanging on the wall for you to play. And if you ask nicely, 5 Loars in glass cases for your playing pleasure.

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    Default Re: First trip to Carter's!

    Quote Originally Posted by fscotte View Post
    Oh man... You didn't go into the high end room? Nuggets, Gilchrists, Monte's, Red Diamonds, all just hanging on the wall for you to play. And if you ask nicely, 5 Loars in glass cases for your playing pleasure.
    We did go in the high end room, but I didn't dare touch any of them, with the boy in tow. I try to parent by example, and if I didn't want him to touch any, neither could I. But it was tempting! Next time!

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    Registered User fscotte's Avatar
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    Default Re: First trip to Carter's!

    Yeah but if your son had accidently dropped one, they would've been more than happy to let you take it home!

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    Default Re: First trip to Carter's!

    Quote Originally Posted by fscotte View Post
    Yeah but if your son had accidently dropped one, they would've been more than happy to let you take it home!
    That's what I was afraid of! The least expensive is probably more than my annual salary.

  8. #7
    acoustically inert F-2 Dave's Avatar
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    Default Re: First trip to Carter's!

    Carter's is a great store. My family went to Nashville last Thanksgiving. I got to spend about an hour in the store playing lots of mandolins, including some in the 'expensive' room. (No Loars though) Next time you need to try to stop by Gruhn's as well. Lots of nice stuff there too.
    "Mongo only pawn in game of life." --- Mongo

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    Default Re: First trip to Carter's!

    Quote Originally Posted by F-2 Dave View Post
    Carter's is a great store. My family went to Nashville last Thanksgiving. I got to spend about an hour in the store playing lots of mandolins, including some in the 'expensive' room. (No Loars though) Next time you need to try to stop by Gruhn's as well. Lots of nice stuff there too.
    We did stop by Gruhn's. I was not as thrilled with that experience. Nice mandolins, but not friendly like Carter's. It felt like they didn't want us to actually play anything, just look. There was only one chair available for testing and it was already occupied. Not a friendly store.

    A shout out to Corner Music on 12 South. Not a great a selection of fine mandolins, but some of the friendliest staff in any music shop I've ever been in! They do have a deep collection of Eastman mandolins including a Mandola - MDA815 F style, that was quite fun. They also carry Breedlove and Gretch and Gold Tone. Staff was really great! Put so many instruments into my, and my son's, hands, and even jammed with us. When my son was playing a Fender Squire mini Strat, that he wasn't too pleased with, they put a sweet 2/3 size electric by Jackson in his hands and then turned up the amp so the entire store could hear it. So, they don't have a selection of high end mandolins, but a full compliment of Eastmans all the way from the 300 to 800 series, and all of the new Breedlove line as well. Great shop!
    Last edited by colorado_al; Mar-19-2017 at 10:26am.

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    acoustically inert F-2 Dave's Avatar
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    Default Re: First trip to Carter's!

    The two stores certainly have different vibes. I had a great time at Gruhn's though. Still lusting after the snakehead A-4 that I spent about thirty minutes playing.
    "Mongo only pawn in game of life." --- Mongo

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    Default Re: First trip to Carter's!

    The REDLINE is very good. good price also . Hard to beat for under 3 grand.

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    Default Re: First trip to Carter's!

    Did you play the Tucker or the Unicorn? Am curious about those.
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    Default Re: First trip to Carter's!

    That place is on my list of things to do. Glad you enjoyed it

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    Default Re: First trip to Carter's!

    Colorado Al, so you bought the Franzke they had in the classifieds a week or two ago? I am SO glad it went to someone on the Café (if that's the one you bought.) I no longer have MAS but it was so gorgeous looking - does it play as good as it looked?

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    Default Re: First trip to Carter's!

    Quote Originally Posted by mr ken View Post
    The REDLINE is very good. good price also . Hard to beat for under 3 grand.
    If I hadn't just bought a Franzke, I may have bought the Red Line. The only thing I didn't like about it were the F style tuning machines on the A style headstock. Other than that, it checked all the boxes. Great tone, great fit and finish, comfortable V neck, radiused fretboard, .080 frets, Cumberland bridge. Very nice.

    I think, if I was still in the market, I'd have driven the 20 minutes to the Cumberland Acoustics shop and checked out the A5 they have listed on their site
    http://cumberlandacoustic.com/product/redline-a-5-10/
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    Or maybe this one
    http://harrysguitarshop.com/Red-Line...-Sunburst.html
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    Default Re: First trip to Carter's!

    Quote Originally Posted by pops1 View Post
    Did you play the Tucker or the Unicorn? Am curious about those.
    I did not play either one of those. I prefer radiused fingerboards, so I passed on those two. Sorry.

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    Default Re: First trip to Carter's!

    Thanks for the great summary, sounds like a great time.

    I appreciate you mentioning that Ellis A-5. I've been wondering about that one. Those usually don't last.

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    Default Re: First trip to Carter's!

    Quote Originally Posted by LadysSolo View Post
    Colorado Al, so you bought the Franzke they had in the classifieds a week or two ago? I am SO glad it went to someone on the Café (if that's the one you bought.) I no longer have MAS but it was so gorgeous looking - does it play as good as it looked?
    LadysSolo, I did buy that Franzke from the MC classifieds:
    Click image for larger version. 

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    I had played it in July when I was passing through KC, and it was the best in the shop! Great tone, easy and comfortable to play, and a real beauty! It was $3500 at the time, and I could not afford it. The next time I went through KC, it had been sold. Turns out that Mark had sold it to a person who was waiting on a custom Franzke F5, and when the F5 was finished, Mark took the A5 back in trade, and put it up for sale as a used/demo instrument.
    It is a joy to play! Review coming sometime this week.

  24. #18

    Default Re: First trip to Carter's!

    Got to admit that the tuners on the Redline do look odd, but designating tuners as f-style or a-style is rather a misnomer, albeit the norm. Tuners dont care what the body style is, they need to fit the headstock, and if its a paddle-style headstock that means "f-style". But those tuners look off because the shafts sit too low on the headstock; the lowest button is right on the lower corner, and theres a bunch of wasted space at the top. It looks like you could switch to worm-gear-over type and they would line up better.
    I am curious, on your 2011 505 is the peghead paddle or snakehead style? Mine is a year or two older and has a paddle but I'm not sure when Eastman switched it to a snakehead.

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    Default Re: First trip to Carter's!

    Quote Originally Posted by Bill Cameron View Post
    I am curious, on your 2011 505 is the peghead paddle or snakehead style? Mine is a year or two older and has a paddle but I'm not sure when Eastman switched it to a snakehead.
    My 2011 Eastman MD-505 has the smaller, snakehead-like, headstock.

  26. #20

    Default Re: First trip to Carter's!

    So they changed over right after my year, no wonder I dont see 505s that look like mine. Makes sense that they did so since the "f-style" paddlehead tuners are more expensive without any functional improvement over the uniform-shaft-length "A-style".
    Thanks. I wonder what other changes Eastman has made to the 505 since 2010.

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    Default Re: First trip to Carter's!

    Quote Originally Posted by colorado_al View Post
    We did stop by Gruhn's. I was not as thrilled with that experience. Nice mandolins, but not friendly like Carter's. It felt like they didn't want us to actually play anything, just look. There was only one chair available for testing and it was already occupied. Not a friendly store.
    I had just the opposite experience. The guys at Gruhn's were friendly and told me to play whatever I wanted. Then we went to Carter's and couldn't even find anybody to talk to us. Wandered around for a bit and then went back to Gruhn. After everything good I'd heard on the Cafe I was disappointed. I'm sure it varies by the day, who you talk to, etc. There can always be extenuating circumstances. But I will be heading back to Nashville for the Punch Brothers show in June, and I'm sure I'll give Carter's another try.
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    Default Re: First trip to Carter's!

    I will have to put Carters on my list for a road trip visit. We have been doing Saturday day trips to nice places within a couple hours drive.
    Some stores are DONT TOUCH attitudes and we will not return to them. One in particular place "hovers" and you have to ask for each instrument. In the meantime the store employee will take down an instrument for himself and start playing something entirely different kinda like showboating. He kept knocking any good brand they didn't carry. Wrote that place off my list.
    A couple very friendly places I would recommend would be Fretwell in Staunton Va, not much on very high end instruments but nice selection of Eastman. I think they specialize in stand up bass. But super friendly. The other would be Appalachian music in Catonsville Md, they are very friendly and let you go at it, plenty of seats and stools around. They only have a few vintage Gibson mandolins, but nice Eastmans, Breedlove, and some others. Great selection of upper end guitars.
    Maybe there should be a thread of recommended stores to visit? I plan my vacation around areas that have nice music and antique stores to visit.

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    Default Re: First trip to Carter's!

    Quote Originally Posted by Matt Harris View Post
    I had just the opposite experience. The guys at Gruhn's were friendly and told me to play whatever I wanted.
    That didn't happen for me. I met George, and he wasn't mean, just not helpful and uninterested in having me play his instruments. I think it may have been because my 8 year old son was with me, perhaps. I understand that shop owners want to safeguard their expensive merchandise, but under a parent's supervision, I think they could relax a bit.

    Quote Originally Posted by mee View Post
    Maybe there should be a thread of recommended stores to visit?
    I think this is an awesome idea! I love to visit stores and luthiers in the areas that I travel. I was just in Asheville, NC last week as part of this trip, and visited several good shops (including the Moog Factory!) and was also welcomed by James Condino to his workshop. http://condino.com/ He makes fantastic mandolins! I was able to play one with Brazilian Rosewood back and sides, and a matching carved top Octave Mandolin that was in the white (unfinished). He also builds guitars and double bass. Super nice guy, and a great bass player. He played bass in the Gypsy Jazz jam that I joined at the Asheville Guitar Bar (every Tuesday apparently).
    Also purchased a Woodrow for the boy http://thewoodrow.com/ which is like a combo of a StrumStick and a mountain dulcimer.
    Asheville was super cool.

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