Evaluation period

[Br1ck]

I imagine this varies all over the place, but I'd like to hear what other's honeymoon period is, and when your infatuation subsides and you can honestly evaluate the merits of your new purchase based more on playability and tone than emotion.

When do you know you have a keeper?

And, tell the truth, how much weight do you give to that beautiful flame maple finish.

I myself will cop to not liking a logo sometimes. Totally turns me off if I don't like it.

[Jeff Mando]

I'm not sure if this is what you are asking, but for me, as the old saying goes, the feeling of quality remains long after the sting of the purchase is forgotten...or something to that effect.

Settling for a cheaper instrument will always stay with you everytime you pick it up....

[Roger Moss]

Six months and counting. I don't think I compromised at all with an inexpensive instrument (KM250).

[soliver]

For me it comes back every time I clout in new strings and it sounds like it did in the store on the day I bought it

[Mike Snyder]

My standard; Never give up on a mandolin until the first set of frets are worn out. That was before EVO, Jescar, stainless, etc.

[Relio]

I knew I had a keeper when my wife, who has no interest in instruments, said, "Wow, that's really loud and sounds great." I was recently jamming with my dad on a deck, and my Aunt came out and asked me if the mandolin was plugged into an amplifier.

[Br1ck]

Well, to use a car analogy, I bought a Honda CRV new in 2005. It now has 180,000 miles on it, and every time I get in it, I think this is a good car.

You can't help but be on an emotional high with a new purchase. Instruments for me take a month or so for that yeehaw feeling to subside.

[fatt-dad]

I know immediately whether I really like a mandolin. It takes a few years for me to know whether it's a keeper.

f-d

[BrianWilliam]

I know immediately whether I really like a mandolin. It takes a few years for me to know whether it's a keeper.

f-d

+1

[JeffD]

I only buy keepers. I only sell under duress.

[UsuallyPickin]

The 48 hours you get is enough time to play an instrument and get a feel for how well it's made and how well it plays. Tonally if I like it I keep it. if I'm not sure I take it to someone and get a second players opinion as I can, of course, hear one better from the front. R/

[Mark Wilson]

All I know is it takes more than a day or two for me. I'm hoping after I've owned a few more and become a better picker I'll know right away.

[pheffernan]

The 48 hours you get is enough time to play an instrument and get a feel for how well it's made and how well it plays. Tonally if I like it I keep it.

The 48 hours you get is enough time to see if the instrument has arrived as described. If it does, I keep it, but it usually takes me about six months of playing, in different environments and against different rivals, to determine whether it's a keeper.

[Jeff Mando]

Well, to use a car analogy, I bought a Honda CRV new in 2005. It now has 180,000 miles on it, and every time I get in it, I think this is a good car.

I try to take the car thing one step further. I buy a used one with 180,000 on it and try to get ANOTHER 180,000 out of it! So far, it's actually worked with 8 different vehicles.....that's what I call "cutting out the middle man!"

[Pasha Alden]

I tend to do a great deal of research: the rand and all those little problems. So when I choose my instrument it has to be good. Emotion: only when touching the beautiful wood, hearing the honey sweet tone. If no obvious defect then it is good for me.

[Ivan Kelsall]

When you stop getting a 'buzz' out of your instrument,then it's usually not the instrument's fault. We tend to become disatisfied with 'things' all the time for one reason or another & decide we need a change,even though we know that somewhere down the line,we'll become disatisfied with the 'new thing'. Fortunately, after 9 years of owning my Weber / 8 years of owning my Lebeda & close to 2 years owning my Ellis,i still enjoy them 100 % every time. When i play my 30 year old Stelling banjo,i still get a real kick out of playing it & i can't see that going away any time soon. I'm afraid that the ''must have'' bug never got close to me either. I've always bought 'the best that i can afford' at any one time, & usually it's good enough to satisfy me. I'd only change something if it had a distinct advantage or was substantially better than what i already have,
Ivan;)

[fatt-dad]

Yeah, I'm at 305K on my MB wagon.

Back to the to the topic at hand, the longer I own a mandolin, the more stories with the instrument. These stories become important.

f-d

[LadysSolo]

Got my Weber and Pava in the spring and am still thrilled every time I paly either one. Got my bowlbacks last fall and still like them too. So apparently I am either still in the "honeymoon" period or they are "keepers" (I think the latter is true.)

[BrianWilliam]

How do the Weber and pava compare? Never played the latter.

[lflngpicker]

Assuming you didn't mean the 48 hour trial period, I think it takes a week and hours of playing to determine where it will fit in your arsenal. I usually change the strings right away and set my intonation and string height, but not every instrument needs this and not all players are prepared to do those adjustments themselves.

If you are referring to the 48 hour trial period, it makes sense that if the instrument is what was described in the ad, you keep it and give it time to become yours. If it has issues you were not informed of when you purchased it, you would consider a return.

I believe a buyer should decide they want something and be responsible in making a purchase. If it doesn't work out, the new owner has the option of selling it themselves.

[Br1ck]

Not talking about 48 hour trial. Thinking more about the raw newness dissipating and a more measured evaluation possible.

[JeffD]

The question really is "When is the honeymoon over?" Doesn't mean it isn't a keeper any more, or that you want to replace it, just that it has become a reliable part of the stable and you can concentrate on the music now without being distracted by the wonderfulness of owning the instrument.

And I find that takes me about six months or so. And if I put it aside and play something else for a while, when I take it back out the honeymoon starts again for a few months.

I got thrown by the "keeper" part.

[Pasha Alden]

Well perhaps one should also say when is the mandolin-/mandola-playing honeymoon phase over? It is for me the tone and the music! The honeymoon starts anew.

[Willie Poole]

The OP asked about the grain of the maple wood...A lot of people are drawn to an instrument by the way the wood grain looks...I don`t really believe the grain has a thing to do with the tone but I may be wrong...No one sees the back anyway when you are playing it...

Willie

[Payton]

As a true beginner I've been asking my self and others the same thing. For veterans I assume years of playing and having the ability to stretch an instrument out would be much easier to reach that conclusion based on your preference. For me the answer is harder to come by. I totally rely on the shop I purchased from by asking them to make that choice for me. I feel comfortable and trust the place I purchased from and feel like I'm getting a quality product even though I'm not really certified to give an honest opinion. Both my mandolins sound better than I do and the wood and Finnish on either are not what I've seen on some of my friends instruments. I still love playing them and paid for both with my hard earned money so I'm proud to have them.

Payton

[LadysSolo]

BrianWilliam, I like them both for their different sounds. The Weber and Pava both project very well. The Pava has a bit "brighter" sound IMHO. and the Weber has a bit deeper sound. If you play classical piano, think Mozart with the Pava, and Beethoven with the Weber. Both wonderful and enjoyable, just different.

[Richard Mott]

I guess there's a difference between evaluation period--where you assess the instrument according to your then-current standards--and a "growing out of the instrument" process, where it's actually your standards that move.

For the first of these, for me it's a few hours. For the growth out of the instrument phase, my first good instrument took a couple of years, the next maybe four, the next ten. My most recent, I don't expect to grow out of.

[Ausdoerrt]

And, tell the truth, how much weight do you give to that beautiful flame maple finish.

Doesn't mean squat to me. For one, you don't get to see it often if you actually play the thing. Also the finish could be top-notch but the sound not to your liking.

As for the rest, I may have been lucky, but I haven't really "grown out" of any mandos yet - I have had both of mine for about a year and have only grown to like them more with time as they "open up" and I learn to play better.

There were other instruments I tried in the meantime, but I usually knew almost instantly whether I liked them or not.

[Randi Gormley]

I rarely evaluate an instrument I own since they sound so different, but the ones I decide not to keep -- I usually decide that after having them a couple of months. It starts with not being quite satisfied with one or another small thing -- the weight, or the height of the bridge or the way it takes forever to wake up ... at that point, the look of the instrument becomes secondary and the feel and sound of it becomes of more importance. I'm still willing to play it, but I become less satisfied somehow, and my eye begins to wander (contrary to my usual practice. I'll look, but not be interested generally). It's only happened twice that whatever "honeymoon" I had with the instrument went away, but it very definitely did so. My keeper isn't what you'd call a beauty queen -- it's blacktop (so no fancy woods) and definitely has been played and worn through from use. But after two years plus it still gives me a thrill to pick it up and play it.

[Bob Clark]

I know immediately whether I really like a mandolin. It takes a few years for me to know whether it's a keeper.

And another +1. That's me exactly.

Except in regard to my current mandolin. I knew right away that my Phoenix Neoclassical will never leave. They really are different, and for me, in a great way.

[Atlanta Mando Mike]

The 48 hour trial period gives me time to know if it is a mandolin I like. It takes 2-6 months of playing to really know if I'm going to love it and it's a keeper. I feel mandolins change, opening up, me getting to know it, weather, humidity, whatever you want to attribute it to. Every mandolin I've had goes from sounding it's best to its worst to my ears over time, and back again. It's like a cycle. I have to be able to handle the periods where It doesn't sound it's best and that takes having it for enough time to go through the cycle at least once, preferably a few times.