Kentucky brand mandolins

[allenhopkins]

Wasn't Morgan Monroe Bill's older brother that died shortly before the Monroe Bros. left home to play music?
Funny they would name a bluegrass instrument after Bill's older brother nobody knew. He only played the "jaw" harp and spoons at the old barn in Rosine, KY.

According to Richard Smith's Bill Monroe biography, Can't You Hear Me Calling, Bill's siblings were:
Harry (born 1893)
Speed (1894)
John (1896)
Maude (1898)
Birch (1901)
Charles (1903)
Bertha (1908)

Bill was born 1911. #Not a Morgan in the bunch, as far as Smith knows.

Of course, the above posting might have been tongue-in-cheek...

Similarly, I've had other musicians ask me in all seriousness about the noted Irish luthier, "Michael Kelly." #I tell them his quaint workshop is located in that old Irish town, Dingle-on-the-Yangtze.

[catmandu2]

The bias against "pacrim" stuff is a bit odd.

The preeminent instrument of the contemporary "bluesman" will probably be a Yamaha.

[skyblue]

was morgan monroe named after two counties in indiana?

Morgan County
Monroe County

[Givensman]

Morgan David .....perhaps!

[Caleb]

When the Kentucky brand originated the instruments weren't built in China. #So I doubt the name was intended to hide a Chinese origin.

I don't know the origin of Kentucky instruments. Maybe they were once a Made in USA brand. I guess I (wrongly?) assumed that they have always been an imported brand. The name has always been off-putting to me though.

And the Eastman name, at least to me, has always meant that they are made in the east. Just seems like they're not trying to hide behind it. I could be wrong.

[Stephen Perry]

As far as I can tell, Saga has never hidden the origin of their instruments! They selected some brand names and have run with them. I like that better than having the same name on motorcycles & guitars! I'd find a Ford mandolin a bit odd.

One of the problems is in determining where something is from. I can get a violin in the white made with European wood in China with an Indian made fingerboard. Put lots of work into it here, varnish it with materials from Europe, north Africa, and the US, set it up with a French bridge, Austrian strings, and Bulgarian fittings.

What country is it from?

[red7flag]

I heard one CD with Birch Monroe playing fiddle on one tune. Birch played fiddle much as Bill would have on mandolin. I am not sure of the name of the CD, but it was a live setting. There were some interview type questions Bill was asked from the audience. One asked him to demonstrate the shuffle on the mandolin. Bill explained that what he did was an interpretation of what is played on the fiddle, then played it. Was a neet rythm. Was really fun to listen too. I hope I have not put two memories together that don't belong together.
Tony

[Cuba Ridge]

was morgan monroe named after two counties in indiana?

Morgan County
Monroe County

I assumed the name Morgan Monroe was mixing Celtic with Bluegrass because there is the Turlough O'Carolan tune "Morgan Magan" <- I believe it's in Butch's "30 fiddle tunes for mandolin" book.

[catmandu2]

I've got to get back into this again, for I am the king of budget instruments and I recently got hold of one of these KM100 in mint condition. The thing is as basic a mando as you could imagine--very thin, very light--yet has a beautiful neck and a robust, balanced tone. Another of the very-good-mando-for-the-money Kentuckys..

[MikeEdgerton]

It's an Indiana company, I'd guess it was a combo of the counties and the tie to another guy named Monroe. We could ask Jasper.

[GTison]

It's named after a state forest in Indiana.
What's all this got to do w/ KY mandolins?
That KM-100 is what I started out on in 1984.

[Kbone]

The Kentucky 675 that was made in China 3 or 4 years ago with the Flowerpot was a major-league lemon. The 675 made in Korea was great and something that I would still recommend to someone if they can find one in the < $800 range.

I owned a Korean 675 and played the newer China ones & the tone IMO was better with the Chinese models, more woody.

[Alex Orr]

The bias against "pacrim" stuff is a bit odd.

The preeminent instrument of the contemporary "bluesman" will probably be a Yamaha.

At the blues jams I used to go to a year or two ago, Taylor's ruled the roost. I've never thought Taylor's were all that great, especially for the money, but the acoustic blues world seems to love those things.

[catmandu2]

The traditional socio-cultural milieu of the "Blues" seems at odds with guitars costing thousands. That's why I propose that todays Yammies, in terms of cost and proliferation, are the harmonys, stellas and silvertones of yesteryear.

[Michael Gowell]

...back to Kentuckys...I too started on a KM 100 around 1984 and appreciated its playability and decent sound. #In the early years of Kentucky the model # = the price. #A KM 100 cost a hundred bucks (often discounted to 90 or 95 at the music store). #It was a great price point to lure casual guitarists into mandolinland. #Amazingly, Kentucky aimed to cover the small but growing mandolin market from bottom to absolute top - for their Dawg model I've read that Sumi trained with John Monteleone in his NY workshop.

In the mid-80's their top mando (excluding the Dawgs) was the KM 1500 at $1500 - around 5 weeks take-home pay for someone making around 20K a year, a decent wage back then. #I'd expect that ratio of 4-6 weeks income to buy a great mando still holds true for many players.

Interestingly the number of makers of mandos - mostly mass production-oriented shops but also some individual makers - increased the number and quality of mandolins available in the mid and late 1980's so that the serviceable but lowly KM 100 had a market value of $0 after a while. #

I know it's possible to buy a mando today for $100 or less, but they are not equivilent instrument. #And no other instrument company that I can think of has tried to cover the entire mando market from bottom to top since Gibson in the teens and '20s.

[Douglas McMullin]

I just won an an Ebay auction for a KM-250 that looks to be in excellent condition. I am hoping this will work well as a cabin or boat mandolin (no place for my Collings). It was under $200 with a decent looking soft case, so I cant imagine I will be terribly disappointed.

Is the bridge on this thing likely to be tolerable from a setup standpoint or should I look at getting a slightly better one?

[gnelson651]

<!--QuoteBegin--allenhopkins+Mar. 16 2008, 00:07
As I have posted before [i--><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td> (allenhopkins @ Mar. 16 2008, 00:07
As I have posted before [i)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">ad nauseum,[/i] I do find it a bit off-putting when instruments made in Asia are given "down home" American names -- Kentucky, Blue Ridge, Galveston, Lone Star, Morgan Monroe, etc. #And even more so when they are labeled with the names of former American manufacturers, such as Epiphone, Flatiron, Washburn, Regal, Recording King and so forth. #I have a tad more respect for companies like Yamaha, Takamine and Sumi who are up-front about their origins.

[/QUOTE]
Lone Star is made in Mexico

[allenhopkins]

Lone Star is made in Mexico

The "Lone Star Adjacent State"?

[gnelson651]

Lone Star is made in Mexico

The "Lone Star Adjacent State"?

Don't forget that the adjacent state was once owned by Mexico.

[earthsave]

My buddy has a Lonestar. Sounds like a cigar box with strings. But it works and plays like a mandolin. Came with a really nice corrugated cardboard case that was made in Mexico too.

[gnelson651]

My buddy has a Lonestar. #Sounds like a cigar box with strings. #But it works and plays like a mandolin. #Came with a really nice corrugated cardboard case that was made in Mexico too.

I bought a Lonestar Roma from the classifieds for $70. It was not that bad sounding for what it is. In fact, a lady in the mandolin ensemble I played in like the sound so much she convinced be to trade it for a student violin. The volin went to my daughter to use at school where she could leave it rather than have to cart a violin to school along with her 70 lb. backpack everyday.

[allenhopkins]

So, if Lone Star instruments are made in Mexico, by someone named, let's say, Rodriguez, why not call them "Rodriguez" instead of "Lone Star"? # Is there supposed to be something inferior about an instrument named "Rodriguez" or "Takamine" or "Sumi"?

When Toyota sends a car to America, they don't call it a "Hudson" or a "Studebaker" or some other defunct American nameplate. #Nor do they make up an American-sounding name for it, such as "Detroit Iron" or "Andretti" (I'm trying to think up automotive analogies to "Loar," "Kentucky," "Blue Ridge" etc.). #Sometimes they do put American-sounding model names on them -- I am a bit bemused by the Hyundai "Tucson" and "Santa Fe," which I don't think are cities in Asia. #But who the heck knows what a "Corolla" or an "Elantra" is?

Difference is, Asian-made automobiles, to a large extent, have a reputation for quality. #No one these days is embarrassed to be driving a Lexus or a Honda (I have two -- Hondas, that is). #Since there are large numbers of low-end Asian musical instruments being imported, perhaps the importers feel that some American-sounding name is needed to give them status and legitimacy in our eyes. And this attitude extends to instruments, like the Kentucky mandolins, that can surely stand on their own feet as comparable to many US-made products.

So were the Kentucky mandolins called "Mandarin" or "Hunan" or "Jiangsu," would that make them less attractive? #Or if Lone Star instruments were, instead, "Rodriguez"? #Seems we should be past having to have our imports sound "American," considering how much we import.

[MikeEdgerton]

Ever hear of a Mazda Navaho? Wait, they were made in the US so that name would fly

[ApK]

So, if Lone Star instruments are made in Mexico, by someone named, let's say, Rodriguez, why not call them "Rodriguez" instead of "Lone Star"? Is there supposed to be something inferior about an instrument named "Rodriguez" or "Takamine" or "Sumi"?

Because the goal of branding and marketing a commercial product is to sell it by striking a certain mood with consumers, not to accurately document it's origin. We have labels for that.

I don't see why you feel it's necessary to project shame, or embarrassment or some other kind of cover-up or ulterior motive on a long-standing common marketing practice that that is nearly universal across industries and countries.

I'm sure we could think of some example of American products that are named to suggest a foreign connection.

Haagan-Daas Ice Cream comes to mind.
Or, again, that salsa from New York City.


ApK

[tkdboyd]

I think it would be great if a Chinese company would make a brand with the name Szechuan; maybe a tasteful flame and some calligraphy on the headstock. The marketing would be so easy.