Differance Between Mandolins Finally learned

[GuitarDogs62]

I have been playing my Loar 520 F Style Mandolin that was recently restrung. I have really been putting the time
in practicing and having a lot of fun. My Loar sounds great and I find it easy to play. Now I bought
a Cheap Epiphone to play and practice in the parks. Well last nightI decided to play the Epiphone
which is an A-Style mandolin. First the Epiphone sounded lousy compared to my Loar and two,
I found it a little hard to play. I inspected the strings and then made sure intonation was right and
the rest of the set-up sound. After almost one year of playing I have greatly come to learn how
much my ears and skills have grown. I can no longer tolerate the Epiphone at all and wondering
what the heck was I thinking. Now I understand and can finally appreciate good to great
Mandolins. I will be looking in the spring to upgrade my Loar to something else and I am quite sure
I will notice the difference when I upgrade to something better than my Loar. Now I finally
understand why everyone says look at better instruments and buy quality. My Loar I am keeping
and is a great take anywhere and play Mandolin. My New one will be the one for jams and home
play. Now I finally get it.

[Chip Booth]

Appreciating acoustic tone has a learning curve. A person needs time and experience with a lot of instruments. I had owned or played dozens of nice instruments such as Gibson, Weber, Breedlove, Givens, and Flatiron before I played my first Gilchrist, and it still took me about 20 minutes of playing it before I "got it". But when I did, I recognized potential in the instrument that I didn't know was there before. Enjoy the ride, and play everything you can get your hands on.

[belbein]

That's the reason why I keep telling people here who ask what entry level mandolin they should buy spend as little as possible and buy used. Because only one thing is guaranteed: in a yearm, they're going to feel differently. Some will drop the instrument. Some will decide to play mandola or octave or m'cello. Some will decide they want oval hole, some f hole. They only really start to know once they have a little experience. But, alas, I always end up shouted down by the "buy the cheap mandolin-and-tuner kit" voices.

[JeffD]

Great post. It moves the discussion along from "There's no difference, why spend the money", to "I can't appreciate the difference (yet), so why spend the money", and ultimately to "Yea, I can appreciate the difference, but is it worth the money." These are very different discussions that sometimes get confused.

[GuitarDogs62]

To me I play Guitar and have also taken up the Mandolin that I am really enjoying to play. Now that I am finding how much there is to this
instrument and all the sounds that I can produce, I am just having a ton of fun with it. But I feel in order to get where I am at now is because I
practive every day and my ears like the guitar are maturing. If I could start out again, I would have brought a better Mandolin like I am going to
do now and would have never bought the Epipone. I am going to drive up to Mandolin Brothers in Staten Island from Southern NJ to see and try
all the Brands and models there are to play. The Mandolin is really becoming a great instrument that I am finding I love to play more and more
everyday. I am a Bluegrass Flat picker on guitar and have found a joy and sense of pride playing the Mandolin. I am working on some breaks right
now on cripple creek and am getting better and faster at picking the break. I feel a little more time and that break will just come natural. What
is really cool is now I rememberring the break from my head and not from the notation and tab.

[mtm]

Great post. It moves the discussion along from "There's no difference, why spend the money", to "I can't appreciate the difference (yet), so why spend the money", and ultimately to "Yea, I can appreciate the difference, but is it worth the money." These are very different discussions that sometimes get confused.

... and the other eventuality ... I can appreciate the difference but don't HAVE the money !!!!!