my new mandolin

[sean cannon]

this is my first mandolin its a tanglewood union series bought on my meager budget but love it all the same

[bluegrasser78]

congrats and enjoy her,,looks lke a good one "welcome to the madness"

[sean cannon]

thank you

[blueron]

I tried some Tanglewoods in UK stores in the past, and they were well-made budget instruments. Get some good strings on her, and you'll be off on the right foot. Enjoy.

ron

[pickloser]

I hope you enjoy the heck out of your new, very good lookin', mandolin--Congratulations! You're gonna have a great time with your Tanglewood.

[Darren Bailey]

hey Sean, hope you have some fun. I'm a school teacher and one of my students brought in his mandolin to show me - it was a Tanglewood and I was surprised at what a nice sound it made, easy to play too. I imagine you're downloading lots of TAB and choosing those tunes that must be learned. Enjoy it.

[GKWilson]

Congrats Sean,
At least half of a good mandolin is the set up.
If you spend the extra bucks you'll never regret it.
Have fun.
Gary

[Rosemary Philips]

Congratulations! Looks great--I'm sure you'll enjoy it!

[Jason Kessler]

Welcome to the insanity...

[sean cannon]

thank you , ive just noticed whilst reading the forum my inotations might be out at the 12 fret they all register flat on my tuner so its a trip to the shop to see if has been set up correctly as i dont think its something i could do myself ...soooo if any one knows of a good place in county durham UK i could take it to i would be more than happy

[Andrew Rice]

Cool budget mando. Did it come with a pickup inside?

[sean cannon]

no mate

[Ivan Kelsall]

Sean - If the note are registering 'flat',slacken the strings off until you can move the bridge towards the neck without undue force.Move the bridge very slightly towards the neck,tune up any of the strings until you get a 'proper' note (it doesn't need to be tuned up to full pitch) & check the note at the 12th again. Do this until the bridge is in the right position - towards the neck to bring the string UP to pitch,& away from the neck to lower the pitch. Make sure that the bridge is standing vertically when you've got it in position - no leaning forward or backward. It's dead easy to do,& if you have no other problems (you don't say you have),then you can sort it out in a very short time,
Ivan

[sean cannon]

I opted to get my mandolin checked by a violin maker and mandolin player as I'm a total beginner on this musical journey and for the modest sum of 15 quid he basically stripped it down and reset everything even putting graphite into the bridge, changing the strings to a lighter gauge and changing the string height a little so my poor fingers aren't pressing as hard , the sound difference after the adjustments was truly amazing. The good thing is that he also explained what he was doing and why he was doing it and I think a bit of gratuitous advertising is in order.

http://www.tarquinboltonviolinsdurham.co.uk/

such a pleasant bloke and couldnt do enough to help

[blueron]

Good move, Sean. The changes to the set up will make the whole learning experience so much more pleasurable. Probably the most common reason for beginners giving up on their mandolin is a poorly set up instrument that is difficult and unrewarding to play.

ron

[Ivan Kelsall]

I agree with Ron. Although you didn't do it yourself,you did learn something - that's excellent,
Ivan

[bmac]

The adjustments your luthier made are standard and necessary for any instrument purchased mail order from a discounter. Money well spent. And the adjustments will make your instrument comfortable and a pleasure to learn on. People who don't do this will almost certainly have an unpleasant experience with their instrument, in the long run.

You will eventually want to learn to make most of these adjustments yourself and the information is available on this site or other internet sources.

[JEStanek]

A good set up (looking over by the folks you used) and good strings and you'll be well on your way. Congratulations and enjoy!

Jamie

[rgray]

Have fun and continue with the Cafe for just about all the info a beginner can use.

[sean cannon]

i intend to use the cafe for a very long time and thanks everyone for your support

[Bill S]

Tanglewood is an excellent make. Both my acoustic guitars are by them and you can't go wrong. And welcome to the world of the wondrous mandolin!

[sean cannon]

cheers bill

[blindrobert]

Enjoy that mandolin. Sweet!!

[mandorock]

Hi, I'm a pro musician composer keyboard player, self taught Gibson SG guitarist but a greenhorn mandolin self teaching custom player who has just got an Eastman MD504 and I love the A sweetness tone. I'm a big Led Zeppelin mandolin style fan.