Do we want better?

[Rick Schmidlin]

I love my MF5 #and have no plans selling or trading it. But the question is this every day I am on the cafe. Read post of many mandolin model questions,read the classified,check out dealer sights and listen to samples. I also love to go into shops and playing the wall. Is it I also want better or think I would find it or have just a serious case of being a "Looky Lou". I will soon be buying another serious mandolin, but not selling or trading my Collings. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/coffee.gif

[Lee]

I've posted before: There are many pinnacles of excellence.

[Wesley]

I think it's perfectly normal - esp for us men. I'm a happily married man but I still check out Jessica Alba every chance I get. We're hunters by nature - it's what keeps the human race alive. Plus - it shows that you love the mandolin. You want to check others out even if you're happy with your own.

[Chip Booth]

I don't understand.

[SternART]

I bought a t-shirt at Wintergrass.
It says One Woman..... many Mandolins
That kinda sums it up for me...

[Greg H.]

There's always going to be the search for the perfect mandolin. Even if we all had loars we all (or many of us anyway) would still be checking out different tones, different feels. (this mandolin has a really good neck. . ..but this one has killer tone. . . ..Oh and. . . .)

Heck, if nothing else, it's fun! #http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

[mandroid]

One woman can emit a lot of different tones.
but the tone variety of different mandolins is more subtle.



http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

[mdlorenz]

I am constantly looking around at other mandolins. Playing, listening, looking... Some of it #I do think is just a musicians nature. You have something that you are very closely bonded with, that you have a relationship with & you wonder what else could be out there.

[JEStanek]

I believe the number of good, and really good, and excellent instruments to choose from (and I also think this is a sliding scale based on your relative skill and/or budget) makes all the looking possible. Espescially with the internet where so many ideas and builds and what not can be "seen" in an instant.

I bet if the supply number was more like what it was in the 60s - 70s the desire to look at so many others would be less.

But that's just post lunch full belly of Thai food musings.... so sleepy...

Jamie

[Ted Eschliman]

I think it's perfectly normal - esp for us men. I'm a happily married man but I still check out Jessica Alba every chance I get.
I can't find her in the Builder's Database anywhere. Randy Allen, but no "Alba."

[300win]

I've always loved to try out differant mandolins, guitars, banjos, although I've never had the means to get a lot of instruments. Yes if I was able I would get more, but I've finally got to the point where I was able to afford a nice mandolin { A-9 }. I own a Blueridge BR-140 thats a very, very good guitar, a Morgan Monroe banjo that my wife got me 3 years ago that I've modified a great deal, and my dad's D-35 circa 1966 Martine that I'm going to have a new top and forward scalloped bracing put on it in the not too distant future. But again if I was able, I'd buy a lot more. But you can't pick but one at a time. I used to trade a lot in firearms, mainly rifles, but shotguns and pistols also, and I suspect that MAS is a lot like that quest for the most accurate gun. Today I'm not much interested in guns anymore as far as swapping around, but I'm afraid that the MAS bug is growing silently in me, and they are way more expensive than guns. But whatever comes in the future, if I do get more mandolins, this A-9 that I got recently will remain with me. It took too long to get a good one, to let it go.

[Glassweb]

I think it's perfectly normal - esp for us men. I'm a happily married man but I still check out Jessica Alba every chance I get. We're hunters by nature - it's what keeps the human race alive.
Oh sure... this kind of view is exactly what keeps the human race "alive". Thank God, huh?

[JGWoods]

I repel money but I attract mandolins, no idea why that is.

[TomTyrrell]

I refuse to accept the concept of the "perfect" mandolin. That would mean that at some point I could possibly fall into a situation where I only had the need for ONE mandolin. This would not be an acceptable situation for me.

I like the way different mandolins speak to me and with me. I am inspired in different ways by different mandolins. I enjoy trying as many different mandolins as I can - just to see if they have anything new to say to me. If I were limited to only one mandolin, even the "perfect" mandolin, I would indeed be limited.

[JeffD]

What it really is, is the almost drug induced high of getting a new mandolin. Its very much like that first week with a new girlfriend.

And the problem is the same. Once you own the mandolin for awhile, the newness wares off. You seek to experience that new mandolin feeling again.

At least with mandolins there is a solution that doesn't cause pain and grief. And your old mandolin won't even be jealous.



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[Rick Schmidlin]

I refuse to accept the concept of the "perfect" mandolin.
I did get to play John Reishmans Loar and I would have to judge as perfect.

[TomTyrrell]

Does Reishman's have the Virzi?

[Glassweb]

I'm "mandonogamous"... well, almost!

[Glassweb]

Does Reishman's have the Virzi?
Nope, original non-Virzi.

[jasona]

I'd like to change the neck shape on mine, but otherwise am very pleased with its sound.

[jim_n_virginia]

but not selling or trading my Collings. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/coffee.gif
EVERY mandolin has a price..... http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Lee]

Yeah, the combo platter would be nice. I'd like my mandolin with the tone of the Laura Ratcliff, the neck like the Old Wave, with a Phoenix 2-point body, and the price of a Johnson http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Greg H.]

I refuse to accept the concept of the "perfect" mandolin.

Sorry, in my usage I wasn't meaning to imply that we'd ever find it. To find the perfect anything would be kind of a bummer because you'd loose the joy of the search. It's kind of like hiking in the mountains, the joy is in the process. . .once you reach the end it's done.

[Patrick Sylvest]

I love my cedar top Weber and I'm sure I'll find a lovely A model to accompany her. Too bad I had to sell my MT, but when you gotta, you gotta!

[Rick Schmidlin]

I love my cedar top Weber and I'm sure I'll find a lovely A model to accompany her. Too bad I had to sell my MT, but when you gotta, you gotta!
ummmm..... I sold a Weber Cedar and a MT for a MF5.

I loved the custom Yellowstone,but not the neck and hope someday to get another MT or a Collings A when they come out.

[OzMando]

Yeah, the combo platter would be nice. I'd like my mandolin with the tone of the Laura Ratcliff, the neck like the Old Wave, with a Phoenix 2-point body, and the price of a Johnson http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
Yeh, mine had the price of a Johnson. Unfortunately it also has the tone of a Johnson, neck of a Johnson ... you get the picture.

It's stacks of fun however, and certainly gets the job done. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

I understand the desire for a new or better toy to play/express one's self on, and also the great delight of using what you've already got.

[tree]

I own one mandolin and one guitar, but I love playing the field. #I view this as an educational experience, the chance to learn how various instruments typically feel, play and sound. #And I view places like Elderly's or Mandolin Brothers as libraries, or institutions of higher learning. (I do try to make some sort of purchase if I spend a lot of time just playing instruments in places like that, and I am careful to treat the instruments and the institution with respect.)

Even at the top of the line, where fit, finish and function are fairly consistent, there is a LOT of variation in tone, volume and feel. #Viva la difference!

[wildpikr]

I bought a t-shirt at Wintergrass.
It says One Woman..... many Mandolins
That kinda sums it up for me...


Gotta agree with this...mandolins don't get jealous if you play with another mandolin - wives don't follow this example!

[Paul Kotapish]

I have no particular desire to own another mandolin--I'm quite satisfied with what I have. Still, I can't help checking out the classifieds on an ongoing basis, and I still go into music stores and try all the mandos whenever I have the chance. It's a fun obsession.

[steve V. johnson]

Experience, I want the experience. Microphones, preamps, cars, motorcycles, songs, mandolins, guitars, bouzoukis, octave mandolins, dobros... (Fiddlers, button accordion players, pubs, countries, landscapes, highways, restaurants, books, languages... stories... on and on and on...)

I don't need to own 'em, and I'll keep some (instruments/mics, etc.) around as essential and reliable tools and good friends.

But humans make so much great stuff with such variety, and it seems that the wider experience I have of stuff, the happier I am.
(I wish I could say 'the smarter I am', but noooooooo....)

And thanks to you all for feeding my quest for variety of musical experiences!

stv

[Ken Olmstead]

I am very happy with my Weber Fern but contrary to my elementary school teacher's advice, I think day dreaming is a good use of time!! It is amazing how different folks are, one guy is still driving a Datsun B210 given to him in high school and looks like it should be condemed while another has to cruise around in the new Caddy Escalade. I am sure that I fall somewhere between thes two personality types! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

Of course we are all just renting these things any way!

[Keith Erickson]

By the end of the year I'll have 3 mandolins. Each mandolin will serve a different purpose in my life.

However my desire to listen to different types/ styles of mandolin music outweighs my desire to buy more mandolins.

It's probably because it's a lot less expensive of a proposition to do just that http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

[man dough nollij]

I think it's perfectly normal - esp for us men. I'm a happily married man but I still check out Jessica Alba every chance I get.
I can't find her in the Builder's Database anywhere. Randy Allen, but no "Alba."
Definitely not a "Flattop" or a "Bowlback". That kind of narrows it down. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[JeffD]

Here is an enlightening exercise. I did it in grade school many years ago, and I just did it with my neighbors kid.

All you need is a tank, two hermit crabs with shells, and one empty shell. Put crabs and shells in tank. Watch.

Those fellows will trade around and around and around, even getting back their own shell just to be sure, (or because they forgot and thought it was a new one.)