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Thread: Your thoughts on noob's new friend

  1. #1
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    Default Your thoughts on noob's new friend

    Hi, everyone!

    Looking to move up from my Recording King Dirty 30s to either:

    1. A Loar LM-220-VM. Set up by a luthier I know and trust though currently missing higher e string. Nice shape, per owner.

    2. A Kentucky KM-180S. Japanese-built in 1988. Also said to be in nice shape.

    I've heard good things about both of these in our pages here. The Loar, I read, has a relatively wide neck. Reckoning this might help ol' fat fingers here? But would love to hear any comments from your experience.
    Click image for larger version. 

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    Last edited by drpreposterous; Aug-22-2023 at 6:36am.

  2. #2
    Registered User Charlie Bernstein's Avatar
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    Default Re: Your thoughts on noob's new friend

    Can you just try both and see which you like better?

    This is the kind of question the smart folks at www.MandolinCafe.com love to field. You might go there to see what they think. They're friendly folks, and no online forum has more mando pros per square foot.
    Gibson A-Junior snakehead (Keep on pluckin'!)

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  4. #3
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    Default Re: Your thoughts on noob's new friend

    While they're both at least decent instruments, they're not, IMHO, radically different from the Recording King. The hard truth is that while many think of a 50% or 60% increase in price as a "significant" upgrade, that mostly just buys you a different set of compromises. A truly significant upgrade would have you looking 300-400% above the current model. Unless, of course, there are specific factors (tone, looks, historical) -things other than the "urge to upgrade"- that attract you to a specific model. (Yep, guilty as charged!)
    - Ed

    "Then one day we weren't as young as before
    Our mistakes weren't quite so easy to undo
    But by all those roads, my friend, we've travelled down
    I'm a better man for just the knowin' of you."
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  5. #4
    Registered User Charles E.'s Avatar
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    Default Re: Your thoughts on noob's new friend

    Quote Originally Posted by Charlie Bernstein View Post
    Can you just try both and see which you like better?

    This is the kind of question the smart folks at www.MandolinCafe.com love to field. You might go there to see what they think. They're friendly folks, and no online forum has more mando pros per square foot.
    Um, that is the site he is already on and posted the question. And you replied to him on this forum.
    Charley

    A bunch of stuff with four strings

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  7. #5
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    Default Re: Your thoughts on noob's new friend

    Thoughtful reply, Ed. Thanks! Wish I were in the 400 percent upgrade club, but, alas...

  8. #6
    Registered User Charles E.'s Avatar
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    Default Re: Your thoughts on noob's new friend

    What is your price point?
    Charley

    A bunch of stuff with four strings

  9. #7
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    Default Re: Your thoughts on noob's new friend

    I know it’s not what you want to hear, but I have to say that I’m with Ed. I stared with an old Fender A that my wife and I bought for her in college - cheapest thing we could find at the time. I found that nearing the $1,000 price point was where noticeable upgrades came. A Kentucky KM-1000 was the only one I thought was worth upgrading to, and those can go around $1,500 used. I believe an Eastman 315 was the closest I came to pulling the trigger in between the Fender and the KM-1000, but I decided it wasn’t worth it. That was close though; it may well be worth it to you, depending on your budget - an Eastman 305 is $600 new, so maybe you could find a good used one in your price range. I didn’t care for the lower end Loar I tried; but I only tried one, so that’s certainly not definitive, and setup can make a big difference. Obviously, only your hands, ears, and eyes can decide what is worth what to you. The good news is that if you keep on with the MAS, as I have, when you buy used (especially here at the MC), you shouldn’t lose much or anything on selling or trading in the future, and can frequently make a little. I keep reminding my wife that these banjos and mandolins are great investments!

  10. #8
    Registered User Charlie Bernstein's Avatar
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    Default Re: Your thoughts on noob's new friend

    Quote Originally Posted by Charles E. View Post
    Um, that is the site he is already on and posted the question. And you replied to him on this forum.
    Yup. I'm an idiot. I tried to delete but couldn't. I'd just come off a guitar forum and thought I was still there.

    Just shoot me now.
    Gibson A-Junior snakehead (Keep on pluckin'!)

  11. #9
    Registered User Charles E.'s Avatar
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    Default Re: Your thoughts on noob's new friend

    Your good, I can't tell you how many brain ##### I have posted on this site.
    Charley

    A bunch of stuff with four strings

  12. #10
    Registered User Bob Buckingham's Avatar
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    Default Re: Your thoughts on noob's new friend

    I'd wear that RK mando out. They have a great old time mando vibe and if you want that bluegrass sound, start a savings account and wait until you get some serious jingle in it and buy a much better mandolin. I have two kids in our program that have those RK mandolins and I like them for what they are.

  13. #11
    Registered User JiminRussia's Avatar
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    Default Re: Your thoughts on noob's new friend

    Mandolin is not my primary instrument. I am a guitar player that likes to “play around” with a mandolin once in a while. Many (don’t ask me how many) years ago I was a banjo and mandolin player, but nowadays it’s guitar, so I don’t have G.A.S. for a Lloyd Loar Gibson or anything fancy. A couple of years ago I stumbled onto an Ibanez F style for a very good price. Yes, it is laminated and no it doesn’t look a glitzy, but after a good set-up it plays pretty well, and I am content. I play it one or two times a week. My advice is make up your mind where you are going with your mandolin playing. Do you want to gig with it, or do you just want to be able to play along at jams and such? I just shelled out $2,600 for a Martin dreadnaught, so I won’t be in the market for an upgrade probably in my remaining lifetime, but any significant upgrade would be in the $1,000 range. I paid about $300 for my Ibanez, so you can see where I am going with this. Even a small upgrade in the sound, looks, playability of a mandolin results in a major price increase.
    There are 10 kinds of people in the world, those that understand binary and those that don't.

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  14. #12
    Registered User Sue Rieter's Avatar
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    Default Re: Your thoughts on noob's new friend

    How about a Strad-O-Lin? There's some pretty nice ones out there for short $. I have two that I like very much and that have received compliments from much better players than me.
    "To be obsessed with the destination is to remove the focus from where you are." Philip Toshio Sudo, Zen Guitar

  15. #13

    Default Re: Your thoughts on noob's new friend

    Quote Originally Posted by TX2AK View Post
    A Kentucky KM-1000 was the only one I thought was worth upgrading to, and those can go around $1,500 used.
    Totally behind the idea of a Kentucky KM-1000. I picked up this blacktop version a couple of years ago and couldn't be happier with it.

    Click image for larger version. 

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    And if you're looking to upgrade your A-style to something nicer, don't rule out vintage. There are some good 1920s Gibsons out there for reasonable prices. I got this 1929 A0 for $1,050 a few months ago. It needed a pro setup, but nothing else.

    Click image for larger version. 

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    (And, yes, I do have a thing about black mandolins, it appears.)
    Roger

    1920 Martin Style A
    1924 Gibson A2Z "Snakehead"
    Don MacRostie designed Stuart MacDonald A-style kit I built myself.
    2022 Kentucky KM-1000B
    Plus guitars - lots of guitars
    Two banjos, a fiddle, and a tiple

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  17. #14

    Default Re: Your thoughts on noob's new friend

    Lots of good suggestions here. In general, used is a better deal than buying new. Keep in mind, many used instruments are still in mint condition. Vintage is also a good suggestion, because things like aged 100-year old solid wood construction is a given. Vintage instruments have more "built-in" quality due to better materials available at the time. Picture a 100 year old instrument having wood that was cut 50-years earlier and air-dried all from a tree than was planted 200-years before that! Good stuff. A lot of new "solid wood" construction mandolins barely qualify, IMHO, as an upgrade due to poor quality, quickly grown, kiln-dried wood -- although "technically" solid wood. YMMV.

    Become a good negotiator. The asking price of any item, new or used, is just that -- an asking price. Most people don't realize anyone can buy wholesale. This happens for various reasons in both retail stores and also private sales -- rent is due, family emergency, health costs, etc. Negotiating the price on the front end is how most vintage dealers do business. Even if you don't have the personality for negotiation, there are nice ways to phrase things that will not offend the seller. Obviously, getting a better instrument for less is a no-brainer upgrade.

    Also, take your time. Keep your present mandolin until something amazing comes around in your price range.

    Good luck!

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  19. #15
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    Default Re: Your thoughts on noob's new friend

    https://www.mandolincafe.com/ads/207393#207393

    If you don’t want to wait for a larger step up, like several of us have suggested, my guess is that this would be a logical in between. I don’t know the seller or anything about it, but as I said above, I was impressed enough to almost buy a 315, which is the F version; and the one in the ad comes with a Tone Guard and TKL case. You might be able strike a deal with the seller. I’d ask for a 48 try window, in case you decide it’s not a big enough improvement.

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