What do love most about your prime mandolin

[Tone Monster]

I love what Hans has ,I might get one so mine has a mate.

[Tim Bowen]

Originally Posted by Jim MacDaniel

My wife like it because the mandolin is not a babe magnet.

I'm a happily married fellow, but if I were single, I think I'd go back to gigging my Ovation Adamas mando exclusively. When I was playing it - like clockwork, some young lady would come up and say, "THAT is the cutest thing I've ever seen - what is it?", and then initiate further conversation. Honestly, it was like taking a baby to the park. No instrument I've ever played has created such interest among the ladies.

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As to the original question. I love my Michael Kelly Legacy because:

* It's reasonably priced.
* It looks like a classic mandolin, and the finish is beautiful.
* Plays and intonates great.
* The Fishman system sounds great DI'ed to the PA.

And because...

* I don't care if I win the lottery, I'm not going to pay for a mandolin what I would for a used automobile. Why should I? This one does exactly what I need it to do.

[billkilpatrick]

Originally Posted by Tim Bowen

... No instrument I've ever played has created such interest among the ladies ...

... and you live, where?

[Youda]

I'd been playing a bowlback, then one day I walked into a guitar store, and they had this old dusty Gibson (mandolin) with rusted strings hanging on the wall... Like the "shoes" I used my rent money to put her on lay-a-way, then put in a bunch of over-time at work, and had it home within a month. I loved the shape, the tone, and my playing took an immediate jump upwards. Like others said before, everything that was hard to play was suddenly easier on my old Gibson. She forgives the sloppy fretting at times by still giving me a sweet tone...heck, we're FRIENDS! The only mando that's come close to really tempting me since is a Weber....

[allenhopkins]

Don't have no prime mandolin. Have to keep 'em all happy, play 'em once in awhile. Took the Howe-Orme out for a spin last night, doing 19th-century music at the Town of Riga bicentennial dinner. Tonight the Eastman 'dola went to a sing-around. 'Spect to take the Octofone to my coffeehouse gig next Saturday, probably the Strad-O-Lin to Tuesday's sing-around. The Sobell and the Flatiron are on deck for the Celtic concert in Wayland on the 19th. Probably going to drag the 3-point F-2 to the New England Folk Festival end of the month. That Merrill aluminum bowl-back's been complaining it ain't been out of its case in a couple months; same with the Eastman 'cello. I feel like the guy in Big Love...

[woodwizard]

Mine is a joy to take out of the case. From the very first day I touched it ... it spoke to me. Everthing that has been mentioned above reminds me of Goldie.

[Fliss]

What I love most about my prime mandolin - sweet tone, playability and a wonderful smell!

Fliss

[Capt. E]

I love the sound of my Weber "Bighorn" most of all, then the look of it, then the sound of it, then how it feels in my hands, then the sound of it... you get the idea. I also feel a bit humble when I realize it is worth more than my car (a 97 Mercury Sable).

[rekx]

What I love about my main mandolin - the chop...that Weber (my avatar) has the thickest, punchiest, most complex chop I have ever heard. That mandolin can completely dominate in a jam.

[LarryMando]

It's the only one I got
It cost so little (Rover rm-75 for $350) that I didn't need permission from my wife
It's so svelte - it's like carrying a concealed weapon (compared to my guitar)
Pick any note - and I'll play you a scale - a two octave scale if I like you
I don't think I can play a wrong note, only a note at the wrong time.

[allenhopkins]

Originally Posted by LarryMando

I don't think I can play a wrong note, only a note at the wrong time.

I love this concept. You know that C# that sounded like a real "clam?" I was supposed to play it yesterday at 7:45 p.m., when I was playing Boys of Blue Hill.

[mandopete]

Like others have said, I like the sound and look, but there's one particular point of interest and I don't really know why. When I'm playing the mandolin (Collings MF-5) I like to look down at one area of the instrument. There's just something about the geometry of this little area...

[Fred G]

the sound mainly but...
What is really cool though is sometimes when I'm playing in a hot jam the top vibrates so much that whole mando vibrates and even though I hold it away I can feel the vibration through my belly. I really feel connected to the instrument then.

[kinnjohn]

I love the fact that Victor Smith (Flatbush mandolins) has refretted and set it up, and I'm hoping to have it back tomorrow..

[Hammrn]

I love the $49 price tag and the smell of plywood! It's not my best piece, but my most played.

[billkilpatrick]

Originally Posted by Hammrn

I love the $49 price tag and the smell of plywood! It's not my best piece, but my most played.

(ho-ho) way to go! ... more power to you!

[Rick Lindstrom]

My Bridger- I pick it up and it plays me......

Rick

[Jim MacDaniel]

Originally Posted by Tim Bowen

I'm a happily married fellow, but if I were single, I think I'd go back to gigging my Ovation Adamas mando exclusively. When I was playing it - like clockwork, some young lady would come up and say, "THAT is the cutest thing I've ever seen - what is it?", and then initiate further conversation. Honestly, it was like taking a baby to the park. No instrument I've ever played has created such interest among the ladies...

LOL! You mean like this?...