View Full Version : What exactly is this mandolin?
Taith
Dec-17-2014, 10:08am
I recently got this mandolin off of ebay. And I am just not quite sure what it is.
I cannot find any references to it on the internet at all and I am interested in what it really is. And if maybe I just lost money.
It is a Bean Blossom by Morgan Monroe. And that is all it says, there is no other markings on it.
Here are a few pictures of it
127753
127752
127754
The closest thing I can find to it is a Morgan Monroe MFM-300. But it is not labeled that.
So what exactly is this?
almeriastrings
Dec-17-2014, 11:22am
A Bean Blossom by Morgan Monroe.
:grin:
I quote: "The Bean Blossom line of acoustic instruments from Morgan Monroe combines all the great quality and features of their big brothers but focused for the player just starting out or for those looking to expand that ever increasing arsenal!"
They also make (or made) banjos and guitars with that designation. One of the guitars was called a "Martinsville"... ouch. A bit near the mark, there. Believe they dated from around 2005.
Taith
Dec-17-2014, 12:02pm
A Bean Blossom by Morgan Monroe.
:grin:
I quote: "The Bean Blossom line of acoustic instruments from Morgan Monroe combines all the great quality and features of their big brothers but focused for the player just starting out or for those looking to expand that ever increasing arsenal!"
They also make (or made) banjos and guitars with that designation. One of the guitars was called a "Martinsville"... ouch. A bit near the mark, there. Believe they dated from around 2005.
I am so to get that cleared up ;)
By my own research. I had thought that the Bean Blossom acoustic line was only banjos and guitars. And strengthening my thoughts were the fact I could find nothing on mandolins, but I could find guitars and banjos. I did read were someone said they had a "Bean Blossom" MFM-300. Though I am not quite sure they knew what they were talking about.
And another thing about this, if it was made in 2005 (Or around then) It would be about 9 years old. This mandolin must have been bought and put in a case for those 9 years, it has hardly been played at all.
But again, I am not sure about it. Which is why I am here.
Edit: Doing a tad bit of research using images actually. I have found one like mine that was for sale back in 2008. Also it confirmed my suspicion that it is all solid mahogany. Though they said it was manufactured by Fender. Which just confuses me haha
Steve VandeWater
Dec-17-2014, 12:51pm
A Bean Blossom by Morgan Monroe.
:grin:
I quote: "The Bean Blossom line of acoustic instruments from Morgan Monroe combines all the great quality and features of their big brothers but focused for the player just starting out or for those looking to expand that ever increasing arsenal!"
They also make (or made) banjos and guitars with that designation. One of the guitars was called a "Martinsville"... ouch. A bit near the mark, there. Believe they dated from around 2005.
Martinsville is a small town in southern/central Indiana and is very close to the Morgan-Monroe state forest, and not too far from the town of Bean Blossom where the annual Bill Monroe memorial bluegrass festival is held. I drove through Martinsville the other day. I doubt very much that it is meant to deceive anyone into thinking it's a CF Martin guitar.
Jeff Mando
Dec-17-2014, 2:57pm
Martinsville is a small town in southern/central Indiana and is very close to the Morgan-Monroe state forest, and not too far from the town of Bean Blossom where the annual Bill Monroe memorial bluegrass festival is held. I drove through Martinsville the other day. I doubt very much that it is meant to deceive anyone into thinking it's a CF Martin guitar.
Not sure I follow the connection between the state of Indiana and an Asian manufacturer of instruments. Unless they are trying to make that connection between the festival and instruments? Seems a stretch....."here on center stage is Joe Blow playing the low-down boogie-woogie on his Woodstock elecric guitar, proudly made in the mysterious East...":confused:
Steve VandeWater
Dec-17-2014, 3:26pm
I agree. But that's exactly what Kentucky brand mandolins have done too. Everyone knows Kentucky is "The Bluegrass State", so why not associate a pac rim mandolin with it? Great marketing strategy
allenhopkins
Dec-18-2014, 12:33am
Not sure I follow the connection between the state of Indiana and an Asian manufacturer of instruments…
Connection is through the "Bean Blossom" name; Bean Blossom is a town in Brown County, Indiana, where an annual bluegrass festival (http://www.billmonroemusicpark.com/) is held. It was sponsored and hosted for years by Bill Monroe, and was one of the best-known BG festivals.
Morgan Monroe took the name "Bean Blossom" for a line of bluegrass-related instruments, following a long tradition of Asian manufacturers using Southern/bluegrass/Appalachian names for instruments sold in the US, and, to some extent, Europe. Thus you get "Kentucky" mandolins, "Blueridge" guitars, "Ozark" mandolins, "Galveston" resonator instruments, etc. -- all made in Asia. Just as you get "Trinity College" octave mandolins and bouzoukis, aimed at Irish/Celtic players, and made in China.
Just a marketing ploy. Would it surprise you to know there is no "Mr. Morgan Monroe" involved in producing these instruments, just as there's no "Mr. Michael Kelly"? I guess there once was a "Mr. Oscar Schmidt," but he's long gone...
Jeff Mando
Dec-18-2014, 10:10am
Connection is through the "Bean Blossom" name; Bean Blossom is a town in Brown County, Indiana, where an annual bluegrass festival (http://www.billmonroemusicpark.com/) is held. It was sponsored and hosted for years by Bill Monroe, and was one of the best-known BG festivals.
Morgan Monroe took the name "Bean Blossom" for a line of bluegrass-related instruments, following a long tradition of Asian manufacturers using Southern/bluegrass/Appalachian names for instruments sold in the US, and, to some extent, Europe. Thus you get "Kentucky" mandolins, "Blueridge" guitars, "Ozark" mandolins, "Galveston" resonator instruments, etc. -- all made in Asia. Just as you get "Trinity College" octave mandolins and bouzoukis, aimed at Irish/Celtic players, and made in China.
Just a marketing ploy. Would it surprise you to know there is no "Mr. Morgan Monroe" involved in producing these instruments, just as there's no "Mr. Michael Kelly"? I guess there once was a "Mr. Oscar Schmidt," but he's long gone...
Some advertising genius was probably looking at an atlas of the United States and it dawned on him....."I have just named our next 30 product lines!" And got a big raise.
I also noticed "Fullerton" electric guitars. I guess Kalamazoo was already taken! LOL
I have a "Texarkana" laminated dreadnought that is a piece of pure bull dookey. I picked it up at an outdoor flea market (used) for $6 and I may have overpaid.
I'm just waiting for them to make a knock-off of a 1965 GTO that sells for about $1795 manufacturer's suggested list price. And if fuel prices keep going down, we can all drive around and look cool.....
"The Lake Lemon" (Used to be Bean Blossom Res), "The Bloomington", "The Needmore". Mandolin names from the area are abundant .
Steve VandeWater
Dec-22-2014, 1:03pm
Gnawbone is another little town near the Bean Blossom/Brown County area. Now THAT would make a hell of a mandolin name. Also, simply Hoosier would work nicely.
Gnawbone is another little town near the Bean Blossom/Brown County area. Now THAT would make a hell of a mandolin name. Also, simply Hoosier would work nicely. Used to go to summer camp near Gnawbone:
It looks like a cool mandolin to me. How does it play/sound?
It looks like a cool mandolin to me. How does it play/sound?
Compared to other mandolins I have played. The sound has a nice resonating tone on the GDA strings, The E string seems kinda tight (May change with a thicker string). The sound itself is fairly decent, Not the best but not bad.
As for how it plays, I have to admit it is the best mandolin I have ever played. Everything just seems nice about it, and is quite easy to play. It makes my bad playing sound like I might actually know what I am doing!
All in all, I am very happy with it and I am surprised it is as good as it is for the price I paid ($255). I think I got it for that because no one really knew what it was.
Another question I had, From research, it seemed so be made of solid mahogany, but the neck does not seem to be, is it just a different colored mahogany? Or is it some other time?
August Watters
Dec-29-2014, 10:04pm
Gnawbone is another little town near the Bean Blossom/Brown County area. Now THAT would make a hell of a mandolin name. Also, simply Hoosier would work nicely.
Gnawbone. Now there's a great mandolin name! I used to go pig roasts there; it was about halfway between Bean Blossom and Unionville, where I grew up. Martinsville -- that used to be the center of Klan activity in the Hoosier state. Not the best memorial!
multidon
Dec-29-2014, 10:14pm
Looks like all mahogany.
Taking about "Bean Blossom", "Morgan Monroe", "Kentucky" and other imports with names designed to evoke images of tradition Americana for marketing purposes, I'm surprised that no one has brought up "the Loar". :whistling:
As for how it plays, I have to admit it is the best mandolin I have ever played. Everything just seems nice about it, and is quite easy to play.
Not much more a person could ask for. If your mandolin plays nicely, you'll play it more. Enjoy!
MikeEdgerton
Dec-30-2014, 1:25pm
The company that owns the Morgan-Monroe brand name and its spinoffs imports instruments with those name brands on them is located in Indiana. This mandolin is brought into the US under different brand names as well.
allenhopkins
Dec-30-2014, 11:25pm
...Talking about "Bean Blossom", "Morgan Monroe", "Kentucky" and other imports with names designed to evoke images of tradition Americana for marketing purposes, I'm surprised that no one has brought up "the Loar". :whistling:
"Loar" only works for those with a bit of "inside knowledge"; the average instrument purchaser probably never heard of Lloyd Loar, and it's probably only mandolinists who have even a vague knowledge of who he was. I thought "Loar" was a dumb name for a line of imports, even import mandolins, but time has proved me wrong.
On the other hand, most people know what "Kentucky" means. The "Bean Blossom" line would only strike a chord with bluegrass players, but that's at whom Morgan Monroe was aiming.
Willie Poole
Dec-31-2014, 11:24am
Careful Allen, Remember when I posted about a group of young pickers in Fla. that didn`t know who Lloyd Loar was and you would have thought that I cussed someone out with the responses that I got on here, started quite a stir if I remember correctly...
I hope the OP likes his mandolin I have never seen one of that make that did anything for me but different people to there own tastes.....
Willie
Willie.