worst mandolin you ever played

**keymandoguy** · Aug-13-2005, 8:57pm

Went to a flea market today that has an open jam guy has a music store inside where you can take instruments off the wall & play. I was intending to just listen today but dscided id play for a bit well he had sold all his mandos last week but one old flattop. I got it down and spent at least 1/2 hr trying to get it in tune finally decided it was playable. this had to be the worst mandolin ever had no name anywhere was a roundhole flat top all the strings were dead, one E strings I think died several years ago <lol> the pickguard was loose and rattled when i played now I really appreciate my own mandos. what is worst you have played ?

**John Craton** · Aug-13-2005, 9:46pm

Originally Posted by (keymandoguy @ Aug. 13 2005, 21:57)

what #is worst you have played ?

It would have to be a no-name Russian mandolin I bought on eBay just to see what it was like. Paid almost nothing for it, and that's just what I got. The pick guard was painted on, and the action was set so high you'd have to use mechanical pincers to play above first position. The sound was terrible. I pawned it off as a wall hanger -- it was good enough to make a nice planter.

**walshb** · Aug-13-2005, 9:50pm

A friend of mine brought one out last weekend, it had no name on it, a bowl type with some fancy flowery type design on the front. I tried to play it. I tried, I really did! It was old, really old. I tried to tell him it was probably worth something! Maybe as some wall art somewhere.....

**Fretbear** · Aug-13-2005, 10:02pm

One of the dozens hanging in a New Delhi, India music store. After a 1/2 hour fruitless attempt at tuning, I smiling handed it back to the guy, who assured me it was "best quality"....

**gnelson651** · Aug-13-2005, 10:31pm

My first mandolin was an eBay plywood el cheapo, paid as much for the S&H as the mandolin,($30 mando, $30 S&H). I needed vise grips to fret the 1st fret and the intonation was dead after the 7th fret for all strings. The bridge was cut with all the strings evenly spaced so I bought another bridge, sanded it for fit, filed the nut height and set up the intonation. The top started to cave in.

Ended up giving it to our pastor as a going away present. All the church string band members signed it and its now a wall hanger in the pastor's office at his new church.

Glenn Nelson
Las Vegas, NV

**evanreilly** · Aug-13-2005, 11:31pm

The big Hondo!
It hurt to play it!!
I did use it for a refinish learning tool, however.

**Pedal Steel Mike** · Aug-14-2005, 2:40am

I have 2 nominees. The first is the Galveston solid body electric I bought on E-bay. Not only was the action so high that the mere act of fretting it bent the strings out of tune, but the fretboard was incorrectly slotted, and the distance between some of the upper frets was greater than that of some of the lower ones.

I contacted the dealer (an outfit in New Hampshire called Music Pals, run by a guy named Jim Taylor) and told him I wanted to return the mandolin, and he basically told me to do something to myself that's anatomically impossible, and then left negative feedback on me. (I subsequently found out he has a history of doing this.)

I then took the mandolin to 2 different repair facilities and got estimates of $800 to $1,000 for the cost of making the thing playable.

I then contacted E-bay, and the FBI's internet fraud division and sent them both the estimates and a printout of the guy's abusive letter. I also sent him the estimates and told him I was going to go to the new Hampshire Attorney General have him charged with Fraud, and at that point he agreed to take back the mandolin and give me merchandise credit, which I used to buy a Fender pickup.

Amazingly, this man is still selling these mandolins.

The other contender is a 10 dollar E-Bay special. I bought on impulse. I expected this to be an unplayable wall hanger, which of course it is, but I was surprised to see that the fretboard has the same incorrectly slotted pattern as the Galveston.

Apparenty this fretboard pattern is in some computer in China, and some factory is cranking out fingerboards with the frets in the wrong places.

Go Figure.

**PlayerOf8** · Aug-14-2005, 8:09am

Seriously, A Gibson F5 made during their Norlin era.The only thing that would have helpped it was a can of Ronson and a match. Thank goodness they saw the error of their ways and turned things around.

George

**Bob A** · Aug-14-2005, 11:03am

I had a Czech bowlback in the 60s. It wasn't so bad for the $29 it cost me, but it wore out in a year.

Ther there's the Vega Little Wonder banjo-mandolin. Playable, more or less, and far better than No Mandolin At All, but somehow it never gets played when there's a real mandolin around.

**357mag** · Aug-14-2005, 11:53am

In a little Ma & Pa shop up in the County. The thing was called a Hickory or Ye Old Frontiersman or Mountainman or some such rustic sounding foolish name. It was supposed to be an F style and at first glance for $250.00 it was worth picking up to try. *Ouch* No way could I depress the strings to note anything the action was so high. What suprised me was that the store owners would actually put something like that out to sell.

**bjc** · Aug-14-2005, 4:11pm

Any Mandolin I play sounds bad....guess I have to find the RIGHT one...tee hee...all kiddong aside I did play a no namer at a Flea Market in Ca that was much more suitable as wall art than it was for playing...if you tuned it to a g chord and then hit an open d it sound like S#$%, uh I mean it sounded like an out of tune banjo.....

**JimRichter** · Aug-15-2005, 8:52am

Worst mando I ever played?

It'd have to be your mama's!

Jim

**davestem** · Aug-15-2005, 9:48am

The Kay I started on (a loaner from my uncle) had horrible, atrocious, ungodly oodles of bad tone, and was very very difficult to fret past the first position. But it got me in the game...

**Steve Cantrell** · Aug-15-2005, 6:43pm

Bought a Johnson A-style off Ebay. I think it must have been a second or something. The neck was warped and the binding was peeling off. It was almost impossible to fret and sounded like it was being played underwater. It makes a lovely wall-hanger.

**Dru Lee Parsec** · Aug-18-2005, 1:03pm

A Johnson A style that a friend bought from Buffalo Brothers. The action was aweful, it buzzed like a rusty chainsaw and the top was caving in so the bridge had to be set higher and higher just to keep the strings off the fretboard.

Buffalo Brothers did, eventually, replace it. But I'd say Johnson Mandos are pretty consistently aweful.

**mlbex** · Aug-18-2005, 1:37pm

I have two candidates:

1) My first mandolin was a vintage Washburn roundbelly that I got at a yard sale. It's beautiful to look at and the mechanicals are all straight, but it's an obsolete design, extremely hard to play. It rewards you with a wrecked set of fingers and a high, piercing tone that cuts through anything.

2) I was walking in a flea market when I saw a fellow with what looked like a vintage Gibson/F-style case. I asked him about it, and he opened it and handed me a wierd F/hybrid mandolin made in Italy. I played a couple of bars of Sugar Magnolia and put handed it back with a non-commital comment (something like "OK, thanks".) He said "I just bought it for the case; I'm going to put my Gibson F (x) in it. (I forget the number, but it was higher than 10). We went our separate ways.

At another booth, the guy was selling Rolling Stone magazines, and there he was on the cover -- Jerry Garcia. He had handed me his mandolin and I played a couple of bars of his song for him.

(I wish I'd done a better job, but the mandolin was pathetic, which is why it is in this post)

**mandoman15** · Aug-18-2005, 7:10pm

the first mandolin i bought was a johnson mA 100 bottom of the line model, and let me tell you, i was so excited, it was the best playing, nicest mandolin i had ever heard, then i upgraded, and i can't believe how bad off i really was.

**jasona** · Aug-18-2005, 11:22pm

New York Pro. Ick.

**gnelson651** · Aug-19-2005, 9:36am

Originally Posted by

the first mandolin i bought was a johnson mA 100 bottom of the line model, and let me tell you, i was so excited, it was the best playing, nicest mandolin i had ever heard, then i upgraded, and i can't believe how bad off i really was.

mandoman15:

I had the same experience. I thought my Morgan Monroe MMA-1 (discontinued lowest-end MM) was really great (It was set up nicely by Elderly, the action was like butter, the neck was straight and it had good intonation all the way up the neck).

That is until I got my Eastman 805. Now the MM sounds tinny and toy like. It hurts my ears just to hear it played. Which is why I jumped at the chance to purchase the MK Legacy DLX from MF for $299. But the MK still does not sound as nice as the Eastman.

Glenn Nelson
Las Vegas, NV

**Moose** · Aug-19-2005, 10:29am

I wasn't gonna' "contribute" to this thread..., but decided my "experience" might be of use to folks on the CAFE(!?) - In 1980's something(hey, I'm gettin' old ya' know!#), I ordered a NEW Flatiron Artist - from my local dealer. Mind 'ya I had played a cheaper($$$) FI at a jam sessin and was impressed with it. So I went "big-time"($$$) - like $3200!!! - Well, it arrived ; I opened the shipping box..., tuned it, and hit a few "licks" - and "chops"(you guys know what I mean) - BLAH!!###?.. DEAD! - the sound never left the inside of da' F5!?# - I was pi####ed, but my picker buddies said "...give it time - It'll open up.." - "..hey, set it next to your stereo/TV, etc - "...play it HARD! - yadada.., - To make a long - and expensive!$ - story short, I kept/played/picked/"choped" that 3K+ FI Artist for three(3) years! - Finally put it under-the-bed - I was usually "blown-away" in a band/jam/gig. I called Montana and talked with FI(i.e. Paula Jean@ FI) - she asked "...what's wrong with it?!.., send it back and we'll fix it" - I replied "... nothin's WRONG..., it just ain't RIGHT(for 3K+!) - End of story: I sold the mando for $1500!## - Moral-of-story: NEVER buy a "pig-in-a-polk"(i.e. catalog.., picture.., even yet, someone else's of "like" model/brand-name) - Ya' never buy a vehicle W/O "road-testing" it, do ya'!?? - This is NOT to bash Flatiron - it was a BEAUTIFUL (looking) piece - Just didn't have my name on it...., I guess##!! - Just my long and expensive! "war-story" - Hope this helps - and warns - other potential mando buyers. Thanks for reading - I feel better now. Moose.

**Joel Glassman** · Aug-19-2005, 11:30am

A Kay garage sale special with spray painted tiger stripes
and a silkscreened logo, bought in 1968. Utter garbage--warped neck
with painted fretboard and no resonance to speak of.
I later removed the neck and made a crude electric mandolin with it.:O

**Professor PT** · Aug-20-2005, 1:12am

Hey, I think I have that same mando! I bought mine from The Goodwill for $30. It too has the faux stripes. It has some major fret problems around the 12th, and it also is very hard to tune. It's basically unplayable and now hangs on the wall above my piano. I think every mandolin player should own at least one wall hanger: when you get a little down about what you're playing, just look up at that piece of shyte on the wall and smile!

**Ken Berner** · Aug-22-2005, 1:54pm

The worst thing on earth to listen to, is a lyre. Ha, Ha; I just couldn't resist that one, folks!

**PCypert** · Sep-11-2005, 11:02pm

I also have had a Flatiron as one of my worst playing mandolin experiences. Was in a shop in Dallas and was playing everything they had. The Flatty's were awefull. They were old Performer series F's. Pretty as anything, but flat and dead. Of course it wasn't fair because I had been playing some high end Collings. To be fair, my first "this is what a beautiful mandolin sounds like experience" was on a Flatiron Performer A (Nash built even). When they got it right it's wonderful, but some of them sound like the top and back must be glued together because there is no sound chamber.

Paul

**jim_n_virginia** · Sep-12-2005, 2:54am

The worst mandolins I have EVER played are hanging on the wall at Guitar Center in Norfolk, VA

They have about three Fender A style mandolins that have been hanging there for a year that I know of and on 2 of the mando's one or two strings lay almost flat on the fretboard so you cannot even play it and the other Fender that is almost playable, well the strings are up high enough to vibrate at least, it sounds like rubber bands strung across a cigar box.

I would not take those three mandolins if you GAVE them to me. Amazingly enough they want $200 a piece for them, WITHOUT cases!