Help me find my new Mando

[Maunus]

Dear Mando people

Now that I have partly recovered after the loss of my Gibson I am beginning to think about how to move along. I have gotten some money form gifts and from the IRS so that now I have ca. 1000$ to get a new mando for. But it is so difficult to think straight, so I need you to help me think.

I know I prefer an oval hole with a warm bellike sound (lots of bass, not those trebly sounding ones) with good sustain. I mostly play celtic and some jazz, and latin american. I could settle for an f-hole if I knew it had a good warm tone and sustain. My instinct was to look for an old Gibson oval hole since I now i can't go wrong with that. But then I thought, well I've owned one of those already, maybe I should be a little more adventurous...

I had a look at a nice Breedlove Columbia in the classified's but that was gone by the time I inquired. That was really attractive though.

I am thinking about the 1250 dollar Weber Gallatin as well but have no idea of what to expect from the sound form those f-holes.

Then I am thinking about Eastman's there are a 504 and an 814 on ebay from gianna violins. I like the eastman ovals, and apparently with Steve Perry's mandovoodoo and the cumberland bridge they get a very good sound and a good sustain. But I wonder if it is worth it to pay ca. 1200 for an eastman? (that's the 814) or if the 504 is just as good as the 814.


And then of course there is the possibility of waiting around till a nicely priced gibson shows up...

what should I do?

[Markus]

This summer I looked at the Eastman 505 and an 815. [not the same as yours, but the comparable f-hole models]

Personally, I was more attracted to the plain-jane 505 - it was well set up by a good shop and played/sounded just great. Nothing wrong with the 815, it was far far more attractive ... but I didn't sense a huge difference in terms of sound.

In the end, I went with a Breedlove as the chunky neck profile felt great to my hand, and it was the instrument that just sang in comparison to the others and said `me' on it.

YMMV on both.

[Mike Scott]

I have owned a 504 and currently own a 604 (from Gianna). Both had (have) excellent tone. The 604 has a much better finish and the wood is really nice on it as well. Great playing and sounding mandolins. Probably can't go wrong with either the 504 or 814 that Steve has. Just depends on how much "bling" you want. I thought he was really great to deal with too. (NFI of course). That's my $.02 for what it's worth.