My first Mando!

**shortymack** · Jul-06-2012, 10:50pm

I received an early birthday present today, got a smokin' deal on it (yea, its a present but the deal was too good to pass up). I know its just a Michael Kelly A, but it sounds great and is in mint condition, not a scratch on it. Came with a nice padded bag and some books/chord charts. Time to re-teach myself everything Ive learned on guitar for the past 35 years!

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**Bill Clements** · Jul-06-2012, 11:02pm

Congrats!
Enjoy your new mandolin and the music you'll be learning.

**Astro** · Jul-07-2012, 6:35am

Yippie ! Condrats. I'm right there with you. Cramped claw and all.

**Folkmusician.com** · Jul-07-2012, 2:44pm

Glad that worked out for you. Great deal!

**shortymack** · Jul-08-2012, 1:02am

Will, Astro and Robert thanks alot for the good wishes. I think that its great that one of the best dealers around actually is cool enough to chime in on my beginner/bottom of the line quest to play this instrument. Some probably will scoff at my new acquisition but to me its like being a kid at Christmas.

Its all good cuz Ive learned ALOT just in the past day...woohooo. BTW, man that chop spread is a doozy!

**Ivan Kelsall** · Jul-08-2012, 2:34am

From the OP - "Some probably will scoff at my new acquisition ". Not me buddy !.This one was my first & very good enough to prove i had a talent to play mandolin in the first place.I didn't need a mega-buck mandolin to do that & you did right as well. You & MK enjoy yourselves,
Ivan

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**blueron** · Jul-08-2012, 3:00am

Originally Posted by Ivan Kelsall

From the OP - "Some probably will scoff at my new acquisition ". Not me buddy !.This one was my first & very good enough to prove i had a talent to play mandolin in the first place.I didn't need a mega-buck mandolin to do that & you did right as well. You & MK enjoy yourselves,
Ivan

I'm with Ivan on this. There is certainly a bit of brand snobbery in the mandolin community, but the main point is that the player is enjoying himself, and you are already doing that, so well done.

ron

**shortymack** · Jul-08-2012, 11:34am

Thanks Ivan and Ron. I sorta get that vibe about the brand thing as well and think that probably alot more people would of chimed in had I got a better one. Just the way it is, same goes for guitars and the like on those forums. I would of loved to get a nice Eastman, Loar or Kentucky for my first mando but it just isnt in the cards right now. What matters is that Im having a blast and am tearin' it up already and have been introduced to this great lil instrument hands on.

**Jim** · Jul-08-2012, 1:19pm

Congrats on the new instrument, I'm sure you're going to have alot of fun with it.

**Bob Clark** · Jul-08-2012, 9:27pm

Congratulations and happy playing Shortymack! Pretty mando, best wishes for lots of great playing time with it. The right instrument for you is the one that makes you happy and inspires you to play more. Sounds to me like you have the right one (and like you got some cool stuff thrown in the deal, too).

**JEStanek** · Jul-08-2012, 10:59pm

Congratulations, Happy Birthday, and welcome to the Cafe! Enjoy your new mandolin.

Jamie

**LA Mando** · Jul-08-2012, 11:35pm

This is the same as my first mando! And although I've purchased three others (yes, MAS sets in!), that MK gets a lot of playing time every week. I love that mando. It's pretty, sounds great, and still makes me smile. Enjoy it! Welcome!

**shortymack** · Jul-09-2012, 1:01pm

Wow, thanks alot everyone for all the warm wishes!!! Played some out on the patio yesterday evening while tending the bbq, it was loud for being so tiny! Usually the outside sucks up the volume from my guitars but not this lil baby. I feel bad though, havent touched my guitars since I got it. I blame it on that darn B string.

**Turnip Mountain Picker** · Jul-10-2012, 2:41pm

I was watchin a rerun of the Grand Old Opry last night of the post flood show and Dirks Bently's mandolin player was using a MK. I love mine. Congradulations!!!

**CES** · Jul-10-2012, 3:12pm

Congratulations!!

BTW, that 4 finger G chop is tough, but you'll get there. It helped me to actually start up a couple frets with an A chop (or even higher if that stretch is still too much), then gradually move it down a fret at a time until the G was comfortable, FWIW.

Keep playing the heck out of it, and don't worry about the brand snobbery/quality issue. Most people don't know a mandolin from a ukulele, and even fewer know MK from Eastman ("they make shoes, right?") from Kimble. If you can play it, no one will care!

**shortymack** · Jul-10-2012, 11:18pm

Cool TMP!!! Yea Im really liking mine even more after I intonated it last night and lowered the action. Thanks!!

CES - Thanks too, I have been on a tear with this thing the past 4 days, got the chop down alot better, learning some more chords and have also learned a bunch of songs, St annes reel, arkansas traveler, whiskey before breakfast, garfields horn pipe, angline the baker, old spinning wheel and bits n pieces of others. What a blast! Ill post a soundclip soon.

**shortymack** · Jul-10-2012, 11:25pm

I do have one problem however..... I picked up my Eastman E8D last night for the first time since I got my mando and that thing felt like the lock ness monster in my hands! Oh noooo.... what have I done?