NMD: Eastman MD605
Greetings, fellow mandoliners!
It has taken me many (about 15) years to track down a mandolin. This sounds crazy. Short version: Fifteen years ago, it was harder to find affordable, high quality mandolins at the price they can be found now. We all know that. The instruments were all so discouragingly bad that I gave up once, twice, three times (each time a new, horrible instrument made by some sadist who hates the mandolin, it seemed), until some years ago I discovered this forum and began to do what amounted to literal years of research and playing every mandolin (badly) within a two hour drive. I concluded that Eastmans were for me, and then began the long process of waiting for the right price at the right time. That day finally came yesterday.
I cannot thank the fellow enough for the deal he gave me on it- well below half price new- and it has been lovingly played for years. It is an '08, and he played both bluegrass and Irish traditional music on this for nearly a decade. It is remarkably loud, beautiful to behold, and has a sweet tonality unlike any of the three garbage cans I had owned in the past.
Proudly, I admit that I know nothing about playing the mandolin. While I play the guitar, I have read enough to know that it won't really help outside the basic mechanics of playing a fretted instrument and knowing my music theory. I am absolutely thrilled to begin down the path of learning to play a new instrument, and a new style of music. I am planning to focus on bluegrass and American traditional music, for which there is a fantastic community of players and teachers in my area.
Here it is!
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