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Rick Schmidlin
Mar-28-2008, 1:00am
Mine was 2004 Prucha F, it was a great mandolin but I needed to explore more with MAS http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

Fretbear
Mar-28-2008, 1:23am
A Kay "pos"; it made me appreciate everything else since.......

Buddah
Mar-28-2008, 1:25am
Geez Rick, a Prucha F ain't a bad place to start!

Joel Spaulding
Mar-28-2008, 1:26am
Rick, very nice first instrument! I started at the other end of the spectrum with an Oscar Schmidt A-style, less than $200 -After consuming a copious quantity of Sierra Nevada Bigfoot - had a buddy to drive me to a music store in Lexington because I was "going to get a Mandolin, D#&n it !" Think we had spent the afternoon listening to the proprietor of the watering hole play his homemade banjo ( he also had a Mastertone). He was playing (trying to) along with Newgrass Revival, and I recall thinking how COOL the Mandolin sounded. I had played (read:strummed) my pharmacy mentor's F5 onetime, an experience that planted the seeds of MAS. Subsequently purchased a decent bowlback - THEN found out I would likely get some funny looks http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wow.gif #(at best) were I to bring it to most jams here in the Bluegrass state. In 2007 - just for fun- placed a $90 max bid on an Ebay special from a "world famous inlay artist". The less than stellar intonation of the instrument upon arrival is what led me to the Cafe, last May.

My iii mandolin (http://www.iiimandolin.com) #17 arrives TODAY!!!! Will be fixing my Avatar ASAP after arrival and will post impressions and soundclips as time permits. The clips Geoff has sent me sound fantastic! A nice photo can be seen on the iii website, Gallery page top left corner.

Peace,

Joel

F5G WIZ
Mar-28-2008, 2:02am
Cheap Alverez A, around 200.00, but the problem with andy mandolin is they all are carriers for the dreaded MAS virus of which there is no cure. It only goes into remission for a time. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

Ivan Kelsall
Mar-28-2008, 3:23am
A Michael Kelly "Legacy -Solid". A nice first Mandolin that was good enough to make me realise that at least i had a talent to play.I had it less than 3 months & didn't really play it too much as i was still working.
# I traded it in for my Lebeda F-5 Premium Plus,which was in turn traded in against my Weber 'Beartooth' after getting my 'Fern'.

gnelson651
Mar-28-2008, 7:25am
The first first mandolin...a cheap ebay POS that was unplayable. My first clue should have been that the shipping/handling cost the same as the mandolin - $30.

My first (real) mandolin-Mongan Monroe MMA-1 from Elderly for $200. Very playable and the action was set nicely. Not much volume but great as a starter for learning. I still have it.

Eric Hanson
Mar-28-2008, 8:04am
A Johnson A style as a gift from my father about two months before his death. Not exactly a great instrument, but a great place to start learning.
Now I have a "Click" mandolin from a small shop builder in Frankfort, IN. Great sound. Full and woody. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

Eric

ALog
Mar-28-2008, 8:23am
My first mandolin was a Stella which my Dad traded for a 1918 Gibson A about 1968...still got it.

mdlorenz
Mar-28-2008, 8:26am
Flatiron Performer A. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

Timbofood
Mar-28-2008, 8:29am
POS Harmony, I think it was about 60 bucks. Then, I upgraded to a 30's Kalamazoo flat back. Ended with the 1975 Alvarez that I still play now. Waiting for the next one but, that will be a while.

mandopete
Mar-28-2008, 8:31am
There's a "Post A Picture Of Your First Mandolin" thread over in the pictures category.

Here (http://www.mandolincafe.net/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=15;t=50616)

Bigtuna
Mar-28-2008, 8:33am
Alvarez 2 point (Gibson copy). Now I think I'm on number 4, a KM1000. Number five is going to cost me, I must break away from the PAC rim mandolins! I just waiting for my bank role and playing skills to mature.

JEStanek
Mar-28-2008, 9:08am
Lone Star Venice!

Jamie

John Flynn
Mar-28-2008, 9:19am
One just like the picture. A "Lotus POS Master Model" made of extra-select Korean plywood by a luthier with many years' experience...making cheap furniture.

brunello97
Mar-28-2008, 9:24am
Well, Jamie, thanks for coming clean. # I have a Paracho, MI mandolin as well, the same model as the LS Venice. #I still play it every day. #I replaced the bridge and nut and it sounds really fine. #I hang it near the kitchen stove and play while I'm waiting for my morning coffee water to heat up, # I have others, of course, but while I'm waiting for my mind and fingers to wake up it is Paracho time. #I can't imagine giving up my morning espresso, so the 'Venetian' will probably be with me for a long, long time.

Mick

Keith Erickson
Mar-28-2008, 9:27am
July 1923 Gibson F5 Lloyd Loar..... http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

Yeah right?!

Seriously....

Mid 1980's A-Style Harmony

...now that sounds more like it http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

John Craton
Mar-28-2008, 9:41am
My father gave me my first mandolin when I was about 13-14 years old. It was an A-style Kay, but I don't know the model. For my purposes at the time (trying to transition from violin) it served my purposes, and I kept it till I was a needy undergrad when I sold it. For sentimental reasons I'd kind of like to have it back, but it really wasn't a very good instrument. Still, I remember it quite fondly ... the first mandolin I played Hoffmann and Hummel on.

Mark Walker
Mar-28-2008, 9:53am
Mine - like MandoJohnny's - was (is - I still have it) a Lotus A-style. #However, it's NOT plywood (solid maple back and sides, and some sort of spruce top) and it's not a bad playing and sounding instrument. #

It doesn't have a truss rod, and I had to have the neck heat-straightened a few years back, but it's not a bad first (and 'beater') mandolin. #It even goes to the U.P. of Michigan with me for deer camp! #

PacRim, but not POS! #http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

Joe F
Mar-28-2008, 9:53am
My first mandolin, in 1981, #was also a Lotus. #It was pear-shaped with a hideous yellow-to-black sunburst and all-laminate construction, but was very inexpensive ($39 new). #Once I figured out that the mandolin was what I really wanted to play, I traded it in for a Japanese-built Kentucky KM-200S, a substantial improvement. #The Kentucky has been my main instrument ever since. #(That will change this summer when I receive my Clark F5. #Woo Hoo!)

Jason Kessler
Mar-28-2008, 9:58am
I was out to buy toothpaste and stumbled into a music store. Came home with an Oscar Schmidt F ("I'd always kinda been interested in mandolin").

Sounded pretty quiet and thin, but played fine all the way up the neck. It served it's purpose; it showed me that this "mandolin thing" was fun and was gonna be with me for a long time.

I upgraded, but I still have the Schmidt. Installed a Fishman, and now use it in electric situations where the thin sound is easily modified.

Kevin Briggs
Mar-28-2008, 9:59am
$50 non-name off of eBay. I couldn't even play on the first and second frets. The tailpiece was just four wood nails pounded into the spot where the tailpiece should be. I had to double loop each string.

It made me want somethign better so bad.

Nick Alberty
Mar-28-2008, 10:03am
mine was a Kentucky A-style brand new from my dad for Christmas. i loved that mandolin and wish i still had it beacause of who gave it to me. i "lost" it in tennessee when i was playing there.

Sorry about my typing. i just had a trigger finger release on my left hand on wednesday. i can't wait to pick again

Steve Cantrell
Mar-28-2008, 10:09am
I had a black Johnson A from ebay. The neck was so twisted that when I strung it with J-74s the binding popped off. It might have been playable on five frets, if that many.

Philox
Mar-28-2008, 10:35am
Kentucky A, purchased for me at Old Town School of Folk Music in Chi-town by my future wife as a b-day present in '92. Loved it and passed it on to my daughter.

Alex Orr
Mar-28-2008, 10:40am
My one and only mandolin (so far) is the Kentucky 380S I got about a year and a half ago.

Givson
Mar-28-2008, 10:58am
A Harmony "Batwing" (Baroque). It's most memorable feature was its 18:1 Grover tuners. It was soon replaced with a Stradolin that weighed 1/2 as much and sounded twice as good.

Steve Stewart
Mar-28-2008, 11:24am
My first mandolin was an Epiphone A (solid top) purchased when I started playing in 1997. Once I started playing it regularly, I realize i didn't like it at all.

I then purchased a Mid-Missouri M-2(?) Maple back/sides. This was a great mandolin. #I just sold it a few weeks ago
Got the bluegrass bug....

Bought a 1999 Weber Absoroka, loved it, but got the scroll fever, sold it in 2004

Ordered a custom Weber Fern, loved it too, still love it. This was my lifelong instrument... until I played...

My Daley. #I traded the Fern for the Daley. #I then started missing the Fern, so...

I'm buying the Fern back # # http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

mcgannahanskjellifetti
Mar-28-2008, 11:28am
A Kentucjy KM-172 I got 3 days ago. It has a wonderful tone, I think?

David Currie
Mar-28-2008, 12:21pm
I got mine in the early 1970's. It was passed on to me by my brother's friend as he had bought a new Suzuki bowlback. It was a flatback, nylon strung mandolin on 'permanent loan' from a local college. It was unplayable beyond the 7th fret as the neck was concave. Still,it got me started and was actually quite sweet sounding.

In due course, I bought my brother's friend's suzuki in about '78 for £13. I still had it until quite recently though it too had become unplayable beyond the 7th fret.

PaulD
Mar-28-2008, 12:31pm
Borrowed a A style Kay that hadn't been played for years from a friend's parents. Learned some basics before my little brother broke the headstock off the Kay. I built my friend's dad a grape arbor in lieu of buying him another mandolin (win-win for me... my friend and I used to drink the wine he made from the grapes). Then I bought a Flatiron 1SH (Pancake or Army/Navy), which I still have but it doesn't get played much anymore since I've got my Gibson F-9 and A-40.

pd

Jim Broyles
Mar-28-2008, 1:57pm
First ever was a Thornward bowlback. Looking back, I wish I'd kept it, but it financed my first F style which was the ubiquitous blonde Pac rim job with the flame maple back on eBay. Mine had the dot inlays and the name "Infinity" on the headstock. I sold that one to get a Rover RM-75.

Ken Olmstead
Mar-28-2008, 2:02pm
My first mandolin was an Epiphone A (solid top) purchased when I started playing in 1997. Once I started playing it regularly, I realize i didn't like it at all.

I then purchased a Mid-Missouri M-2(?) Maple back/sides. This was a great mandolin. #I just sold it a few weeks ago
Got the bluegrass bug....

Bought a 1999 Weber Absoroka, loved it, but got the scroll fever, sold it in 2004

Ordered a custom Weber Fern, loved it too, still love it. This was my lifelong instrument... until I played...

My Daley. #I traded the Fern for the Daley. #I then started missing the Fern, so...

I'm buying the Fern back # # http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif
The above referenced Fern is AWESOME!! Maybe I should go play it for you this weekend??? Post a youtube video?? Just kidding!!

My first mandolin is/was a Kentucky 250s which can't hold a candle to the new ones I have played. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif

Greg H.
Mar-28-2008, 2:23pm
Mine was 2004 Prucha F, it was a great mandolin but I needed to explore more with MAS

Heck, my LAST mandolin is a 2002 Prucha F. . . . . My first was a Tut Taylor kit A model, supposedly put together by Charlie Clark (Bobby Clark's father). Stain but no finish on it with the words 'The Copy' in the peghead. All in all a nice mandolin though, I still keep it around as my camping mandolin.

lmartnla
Mar-28-2008, 2:40pm
My wife gave me a Kentucky A model for Christmas 2000 she purchased for $165 from her friend, a musician with a music store day job. #She has bought me every mandolin I've acquired since, trying to find one that sounds good in my hands. #Might never stop buying them.

Fendercaster
Mar-28-2008, 3:44pm
I bought my first mandolin a month ago, a Fender FM-52E. I bought my second mandolin last week, an Eastman 615.

lovethemf5s
Mar-28-2008, 4:05pm
1920's Gibson A4.

Jim MacDaniel
Mar-28-2008, 4:17pm
Mine was #2004 Prucha F, it was a #great mandolin but I needed to explore more with MAS http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
Show off!

Mine was a Fender plywood MSO (Mandolin Shaped Object).

Soupy1957
Mar-28-2008, 4:21pm
Mine was the Kentucky 620B..and I regret selling it. So I bought the 630, since I couldn't buy back the 620B.

-Soupy1957

Dan Adams
Mar-28-2008, 6:29pm
Harmony A-style. Purchased it from the Denver Folk Lore Center in 1975. Still have. Best part of the story, and the only reason I still own this buzz box, it was sold to me by Charles Sawtelle. Of course I still own all mandolins I've ever purchased. This particular one has a special place because of Charles. Dan

mandomick
Mar-28-2008, 6:34pm
Mine was a Weber Y2K with F holes. I wish I still had it.

niaflsbob
Mar-28-2008, 8:30pm
A 70'S HARMONY BOLT-ON NECK F (?) STYLE. I GUESS THIS WAS THE "BAT WING BAROQUE. AS THE NECK JOINT COLLAPSED OVER THE YEARS THE ACTION BECAME UNPLAYABLE. ITS NOW A WALL HANGER. BUT IT GOT ME STARTED SO IT HAS GOOD MEMORIES. SINCE THEN (IN ORDER) A WASHBURN JETHRO BURNS (JAPANESE 80'S), A CAPEK A-STYLE AND JUST 2 MONTHS AGO A RATLIFF R-5. THAT POS HARMONY STARTED ALL THIS.

Crowder
Mar-28-2008, 9:05pm
I got a Sigma S6M (I think) which was awful. I played it for only a couple of months before I had to upgrade. It wouldn't even stay in tune. I got a rather beat-up Flatiron Performer F from a top local player and that worked well for me for several years. Then MAS took hold and I went through a bunch of them before falling into my Passernig. I'm happy now http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

Patrick Sylvest
Mar-28-2008, 9:25pm
Epiphone mm30E, still got it. Of course, it's only been a couple of years since I started pickin' mando.

Jim
Mar-29-2008, 10:55am
A plywood Lotus ,like mentioned by several others, It was difficult to tune and to keep in tune.It did sound OK and got me started.

Rick Banuelos
Mar-31-2008, 11:38am
First mando: Fender FM-56.
Second mando: Weber Elite F.

Bernieo
Mar-31-2008, 12:11pm
First mando is a Washburn M6SWK have had it for about 6 weeks plays fine I guess use it jamming weekly with friends everyone seems to enjoy the addition Wish list think Webber Now back to practice

Rick Schmidlin
Mar-31-2008, 12:12pm
First mando: Fender FM-56.
Second mando: Weber Elite F.
Great upgrade http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

TomTyrrell
Mar-31-2008, 12:36pm
Mine was a Penco copy of an F5 that Gibson never made. Made in Japan in the 1970s and not a bad instrument. I traded a banjo for it. Had that mando for about 20 years and traded it for an old Epiphone Emperor jazz guitar which got traded for something else I probably don't still have either.

Mattg
Mar-31-2008, 1:07pm
A true Jedi makes his own light saber. I made my first one at Rocky Grass Academy 3 years ago. Flattop with a round hole. THEN, I learned how to play (still at it 5 mandolins later)

Plinker, Great story about Charles by the way. I wouldn't sell it either.

allenhopkins
Mar-31-2008, 2:04pm
Two: late teens Gibson A-1, B&J Victoria bowl-back, both found in the attic of the house in Pike NY where my grandfather and great-aunt had lived. We were selling the house (this was in 1969 or 1970); I was the "folk musician" who owned a Gibson J-50 guitar and a Ode/Muse Style 2 banjo, so I got the mandolins. The Gibson went in a series of trades (A-1 to F-2 to F-5). I still have the Victoria, and play it at the Genesee Country Village restoration when a "period" instrument is needed.

Brian Ray
Mar-31-2008, 2:14pm
Morgan Monroe Phantom of the Opry

mandroid
Mar-31-2008, 3:41pm
a Gibby A40, made in the 50's I'd Guess.

EdSherry
Mar-31-2008, 3:51pm
A Harmony "Monterey" A-style F-hole from the 60s. Long gone -- a friend wanted to learn, and his girlfriend wanted to buy him one, and I was looking to upgrade.

otterly2k
Mar-31-2008, 4:52pm
an Aria, bought in the mid-80's

pjlama
Mar-31-2008, 5:19pm
Tacoma M2, it was an impulse purchase. I'd always wanted to try mandolin so I goofed around on it for six months and then got serious hence the financial blood letting that took place for the better part of last year. I'm basically cured though just need to find a beater for trips. So now I have inexpensive MAS, I check out eastmans, kentuckys, and jboviers online with either the Ellis or MM in my lap, kind of ironic.

Ken
Mar-31-2008, 5:53pm
A banjo uke with the skin head replace with redwood, head plugged and re-drilled for mando tuners. Crude but effective. Been a lot of years, but I remember that the tone wasn't bad at all.

birdman98
Mar-31-2008, 7:25pm
Don't even know the name of the thing. It had rusty strings and the tuners squeaked every time you turned them. Would have been more useful as firewood.

I had just gone to Merlefest for the first time, seen some great mando pickers and decided that I was gonna get myself a MANDOLIN and I was gonna get one NOW.

Traded a decent Yamaha ac guitar for it at a crusty pawn shop in Georgia. That guy got himself a good deal. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

John Kasley
Mar-31-2008, 7:36pm
'30s Epiphone Strand

bones12
Mar-31-2008, 8:13pm
In 1974 I was able to buy a Harmony A with a lovely repaired top for $20.00. I thought I was in heaven but my fingers bled a lot and the cats cried. The next year I got a 1912 Gibson A for $125.00 and I was off toward MAS. How lucky we are to be now surrounded by great mandolins. Doug in Vermont

Zigeuner
Apr-01-2008, 12:58am
My first mandolin was a 1964 Model A Martin. Mymother bought it for me. She paid all of $84.50. I'm no pro but I have played that one quite a bit. I don't think Martin makes mandolins anymore but they made a lot of them in the 20's and 30's.

Later in the 1980's I inherited a 1949 Gibson F-12 and a 1917 Gibson A-3. That's probably going to be the total collection for me. I never sell musical instruments. You can get attached to them. In my case, they each have their place. I also have a good number of guitars and one Tenor Banjo. I keep coming back to the mandolins due to the sound and the ease of holding them. I just think they're neat!

Jim Garber
Apr-01-2008, 7:31am
My very first was an American Conservatory bowlback. Ironic that I came full circle after going thru quite a few other mandolins.

Capt. E
Jul-27-2011, 2:37pm
Thought I'd bump this old thread...

I was lucky with my first, a Mid-Missouri MO I found in a pawn shop for $275. Even more, it came in a great Eastman retangular case that I still have. I thought it looked really cool and appealed to my "folk" orientation. The mandolin grabbed me right away, so much more than guitar ever has. Then MAS set in and I sold it to fund another purchase.

JeffD
Jul-27-2011, 2:44pm
A pac rim A style with F holes, a Tanada. Dad got it for me for $80.00 from a television repair shop. It got me through several years, till one summer it destroyed itself in a super heated car.

So it was on to a Martin bowlback, that I got at a garage sale for $25.00 that had apparently spent many years as a silk flower planter or something. After a few years it separate at the neck, but it had spent 25 or so years without any strings on it so it never had much of a sound.

Back then I could not have envisioned how much a part of my life music would become, and how I would some day own more than one, two or even three playable mandolins.

Keith Witty
Jul-27-2011, 2:49pm
An Ibanez A style for 150.00

bgjunkie
Jul-27-2011, 3:46pm
My first mandolin was an Epiphone MM30. I still have it, and honestly I would love to have a custom mandolin build with the same next width, fret size and string spacing as my MM30. The MM30 plays great but is real thin on sound.

Lance K.
Jul-27-2011, 5:59pm
A rented pac-rim model when I was about 14. After about 6 months my parents bought me a brand new 1979 (or maybe '80) pancake-style "Flatiron" mandolin made in Montana by an outfit called "Backporch Productions." About a decade later, I traded it straight across for a used asian-made banjo. In hindsight, this was not a smart move. In my daydreams, I still imagine someday finding that mandolin up for sale in the classifieds...sigh.

Randi Gormley
Jul-27-2011, 9:26pm
Suzuki bowlback, which I played for about four years before putting it away for a couple decades. Then I played it again for about a year until I realized the neck was bent (no wonder it was so hard to tune!) and replaced it with my Strad in 1999.

dcoventry
Jul-27-2011, 10:51pm
LM700-->Brentrup 21--> Rigel G5 that actually stuck after the first 2 were quiick returns.

sbarnes
Jul-28-2011, 12:13am
1st was a fender acoustic/electric A style.....still have it and still play it everyday.....
i other better mandolins now too but the fender has become a comfortable old friend

fatt-dad
Jul-28-2011, 12:44pm
Some 50's era Kay. Still have it too and really would like to get the neck reset for nostalgia's sake. Not quite worth it though. . .

Had that mandolin since about 1969 or so.

f-d

Cheryl Watson
Jul-28-2011, 12:49pm
Rigel A-style.

outdoors4me
Jul-28-2011, 2:47pm
One of the cheaper black top Flatiron A's.

Beck

kkmm
Sep-20-2011, 12:12pm
I bought my first mandolin in Vietnam, the most expensive model made by the music store I bought from (still pretty cheap).
It looks really beautiful, the soft bag is made for this one so it fits perfectly.
The darn thing is the intonation is bad even at 1-st fret. I thought I got a lemon product so I put it in the closet for 7 years.
After loaning this mando to the father of a friend, when I got it back, now the intonation is better !!! I had no clue why.
Then I searched the Internet for info, then I learned about setting up the mandolin, 7 years too late.
Within a week, I learns to play two songs and record them (I played guitar a lot of years).
This gave me the incentive to practice even more.
I play mandolin for 12 months now (reaching to the 7-th mandolins in my collection, keeping the 6-th and the 7-th, both acoustic/electric).

Brent Hutto
Sep-20-2011, 12:16pm
1st Mandolin: 2009 Redline Traveler (flat-top oval, pancake, Tennessee built)
2nd Mandolin: 2010 Loar LM-400 (carved-top, ff-hole, A-style, Chinese factory)
3rd Mandolin: 2010 Mike Black A-5 #5 (carved-top, ff-hole, A-style, Kansas handbuilt)
4th Mandolin: 1992 Gibson A-5G (carved-top, ff-hole, A-style, Montana workshop)
5th Mandolin: TBA

I believe the correct saying is "Third Time's The Charm".

Markus
Sep-20-2011, 12:22pm
1st Mandolin: 2002 Olympia A-style [China import, best of the 4 at the store but still not much]. While never played intensely, it got a lot of playing over the years and I even performed with it twice.

Upgraded in 2010 to a Breedlove OF, sold the Olympia to a local college student. I'm done looking for mandolins for a while, still quite content a year later. I wouldn't object to a mandola or an old Gibson oval A - but unless a pile of money falls on my lap I'm good.

After upgrading, my wife noted that my old mandolin sounded like a toy in comparison.

Didn't play poorly, just had little resonance ... a good learner mandolin [quieter mistakes]. I am incredibly thankful it didn't discourage me so much I gave it up before realizing how much I loved playing [a real] mandolin.

JeffD
Sep-20-2011, 2:52pm
Then I searched the Internet for info, then I learned about setting up the mandolin, 7 years too late.
Within a week, I learns to play two songs and record them (I played guitar a lot of years).

Its tragic how many people are discouraged and quit because of poor set up. Expending super human energy to play despite high action and bad frets and buzzing and what ever, and then giving up. Had the thing been set up properly, that same amount of effort would have provided huge rewards.

Jeff Richards
Sep-20-2011, 4:56pm
A Flatiron 1N that my younger brother gave me for my birthday many years ago. Still have it, ..., still love it.

Nick Triesch
Sep-20-2011, 5:02pm
A birdseye maple Flatiron pancake. About 1981 I think. Very cool mandolin. $300.00!! Nick

Denny Gies
Sep-20-2011, 5:06pm
A used Aria two point with F holes. That durned thing broke so many e strings it almost put me in the poor house. Thankfully I was able to upgrade a couple times since.

WestCoaster
Sep-20-2011, 6:06pm
My first was a no-name which sounded okay but was unplayable - gave up for many years after that until I bought a £100 Stagg - sound was pretty awful but was a little playable so I stuck with it for a year or so - lost interest though and spent two more years in the wilderness until I decided to get another one - bought a little Hudson F-type for £100 on Ebay which whet my appetite enough to go up the food chain a bit and ended up with my The Loar LM 700 I have now - difference in the journey up has been an education - the enthusiasm I have to play the current one against the first one is a revelation - Beware going too cheap new mando buyers - you may lose several years of practice like I did going for the too cheap option!

Mandolin Mick
Sep-20-2011, 6:30pm
An Epiphone A model that I bought in the mid `80's when I first got the Bluegrass Bug. Actually it was the only mandolin available in the Milwaukee area; that I knew of anyway. It was really a piece of junk and I sold it at a yard sale! :(

ducky
Sep-17-2012, 2:07pm
70's (I think) El Dégas Bowl-back mandolin that I borrowed from my cousin and then shortly later got a rather nice Eastman

texaspaul
Sep-17-2012, 2:59pm
I had a 70's Ode oval hole was a Tut Taylor-Bob Given's effort. Good mandolin, wish I knew then what I know now about the value of a proper set up. Thenut height made it very hard to play so I traded for one easier to play but probably not as good a mandolin.

rb3868
Sep-17-2012, 3:18pm
An Ibanez A style for 150.00

yeah, me too. It wasn't bad to start on, and will probably be on craigslist soon

Homer Savard
Sep-17-2012, 4:48pm
Gilchrist number 179. Got it new and still have it. :)

John Adrihan
Sep-17-2012, 5:28pm
I started out with a 40's kay. It really was a neat instrument but needed some frets and I did not want to put the money in it. I then tried the ecomomy american style way and ordered a hand carved F style for $800 bucks - I had that instrument for a couple of days. The builder (who was great)took it back. I then bought a The Loar lm400. That was a real nice instrument, but after only 6 weeks the bindings cracked. I returned that at the stores asking, under warranty and recieved a replacement. This 400 was a lot better looking but nowhere near the tone. I sold it. I then purchased a KM1000 and I was sure that was going to do me until I could afford a '23 loar signed Gibson. Until.... A really nice sounding LaPlant became available. So now I have two instruments to keep me busy until......

lespaul_79
Sep-17-2012, 6:15pm
Michael Kelly. Was happy to upgrade to my Collings MT. One day I'll get that dang scroll.

Austin Bob
Sep-17-2012, 6:19pm
Wow, it's been a long time since I thought about that Epiphone. I was playing guitar with a friend one day, and he had it with him. I asked to try it and of course got the bug. I bought it for $40 from him. It really wasn't too bad, but the tuners were bent and in really bad shape. I took it to a local guy after I banged around on it for a few months, and he replaced the tuners. After I picke it up, he asked me "If you had a really good mandolin, would you play it?" He then showed me an A model he had made, a copy of an old Gibson his mom had when he was growing up. I bought it from him for $450, and had to make payments on it. Twenty five years later, I still have it.

mandobeater
Sep-17-2012, 8:45pm
1st one is the one, and only one I have now...Kentucky KM505. Set up by the mandolin store, this instrument rocks..? Well you know what I mean. Very easy to play, action and intonation spot on. Thanks Dennis....I will keep this for a while I believe..

yankees1
Sep-17-2012, 8:49pm
Eastman 515! Didn't play it long before I moved up ! Ready to sell it !

Tiderider
Sep-17-2012, 9:37pm
Kalamazoo KM-11, sure wish I would have kept that one.

Clockwork John
Sep-17-2012, 10:57pm
My first mandolin was a Trinity River Drifter (A-style, ff-holes). I picked it up at a pawn shop because it was 20% off and came with a gig bag... $100 out the door. The setup leaves a bit to be desired (Nut is a bit high, bridge looks like an unfinished, rough rosewood blank), but it's playable. intonates well enough, and is louder than several other mandolins I've played or played with, including some that cost 3-4x as much(not saying much given what I paid for it). I have a feeling this mando will still be around when I attempt to teach my son (due in January) to play an instrument.

Second mandolin is a Galveston flat top, flat back, A-style I found on craigslist for $45. It is unplayable in its current state. Nails for string hooks and a joke of a tailpiece. Bought it as a project to learn how to work on/setup mandolins, so that I can maximize the potential of my Trinity River.

Third mandolin, and my most recent purchase, is a Kentucky KM-140S. Bought it used for $150. Has a slightly better tone than the TR, but the solid top responds much better to subtle picking changes and finesse than the TR does. The TR plays either loud or louder, but the Kentucky will do everything from quiet enough to not wake the wife in the next room, to loud enough to hold its own in a Celtic session that is dominated by guitars and fiddles.

Between the two playable mandos, and what I will hopefully learn working on the Galveston, I should be well on my way to a lifetime of mandolin enjoyment. I'm sure that several years from now, I'll find a way to justify the purchase of a custom or quality vintage mandolin, but for now, I'll stick to what I've got and make the most of them.