Re: The KM-162 or the RM-75
Difficult to say if mandolin is "hard to learn and play." On the one hand, it's small, easy to hold, not terribly complicated to tune or chord. You will have to get through the "sore fingers" period until the fingertips on your fretting hand develop some callouses.
Playing Celtic or bluegrass music means learning to play melodies early in your development. Some of these melodies are complicated, and much of the music is played a fast tempos. So you will have to develop speed and some dexterity before you can really "get into" either kind of music. There are copious instructional books, DVD's etc. that can help.
Either a lower-end Kentucky or the Rover RM-75 can be a good student instrument. Make sure if you're buying it from a catalog or a "general-purpose" music store, that you can get it looked at and properly set up by someone with expertise on mandolins. The most important thing for a beginner isn't the look or the sound of the mandolin, but its ease of playing. If your instrument's easy to play, you'll spend a lot more time with it, and the amount of time spent is the most important variable in learning any instrument.
As for the difference between A and F mandolins, the consensus is that acoustically there's very little, especially in student-level instruments. Most of the attraction of the F-style is appearance rather than musical qualities. And, there's a much greater variation among individual mandolins, than an overall "A vs. F" generalization can explain.
I hope you have a chance to try the instruments you're considering, before buying them. And it's always good to take a mandolin-playing friend along, if you have one, to give his/her opinion on the individual mandolin before you purchase it.
Allen Hopkins
Gibsn: '54 F5 3pt F2 A-N Custm K1 m'cello
Natl Triolian Dobro mando
Victoria b-back Merrill alumnm b-back
H-O mandolinetto
Stradolin Vega banjolin
Sobell'dola Washburn b-back'dola
Eastmn: 615'dola 805 m'cello
Flatiron 3K OM
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