Collings MT in the shop & my son's KM-505 is a worthy sub

[terzinator]

My Collings MT needs a refret (I must have a death grip or something...), so I'll be playing my son's Kentucky KM-505 A-style for a couple of weeks. I have to say, this thing is a really nice-sounding mandolin. Strong chop, very resonant. Fret ends could use a little filing to make the instrument feel more finished, but that's easily done.

I'm pretty impressed. No gigs coming up, but a few rehearsals... and I have no reservations playing this thing.

When I dropped off my MT at the shop, I played a new MT2 they had. Kind of an orange-burst Adi top and "bubble maple" back and sides. Tortoise binding all over. Ohhhhh, man was that a sweet thing. Seemed really reasonably priced at $3250. (It's at the Podium in Minneapolis, if anyone's interested. No financial interest here, just passing on the info...)

[Grommet]

Hi Chris-
Just curious as to which wire you ended up choosing, and how long had you been playing the MT? Were you the original owner?. I may aslo have had a hard grip as I wore deep grooves in frets 1-5 on my low end import (new) after 8-9 months. I leveled the frets and got another 8-9 months. Some new grooves were evident, but not nearly as bad as the 1st time around. But, the neck joint had failed and along with the repair I took the oppurtunity to replace the fingerboard and install new EVO Gold frets (.080 x .043 FWG74 from LMI) to help control wear. Coincidentally, after all that I actually think I am now learning to back off the grip a little. Anyway, I like the new wire. They feel nice, but at 13.75 scale length the .080 wide fret crowns do seem to narrow up the intra-fret width somewhat up the neck. Hope your MT turns out nicely.

Scott

[terzinator]

I've only been playing it since May. I wasn't the original owner, but the fretwear when I got it was only minimal. I certainly did a number on it. (But I probably have been playing it at least an hour or two every day.)

I don't know the exact wire yet, but I'm pretty sure it's EVO... Not sure of gauge. I just dropped it off on Friday, and the Podium's main tech, Marty Reynolds isn't their mandolin guy. Jed Germond is the guy who will be doing the work, so I plan to talk to him tomorrow about the particulars.

[CJ_inMN]

I don't know the exact wire yet, but I'm pretty sure it's EVO... Not sure of gauge. I just dropped it off on Friday, and the Podium's main tech, Marty Reynolds isn't their mandolin guy. Jed Germond is the guy who will be doing the work, so I plan to talk to him tomorrow about the particulars.

Jed is the only person I trust my with my instruments. He's also a heck of a mandolin player! I'm looking forward to hearing what type of wire and gauge you guys chose.

CJ

[terzinator]

Talked with Jed this afternoon.

He's not a big fan of that EVO wire, so we're gonna look at the options. I don't have a problem using regular good ol' Stew-Mac banjo wire, which he really thinks is the best... I think my big problem is technique, plus I think the nut slots were a little high. So, we're gonna make sure it's set up properly, and I'm going to work on my technique (which I've been doing at my lessons over the past month or so)!

First time I've ever talked with him. Seems like a really cool guy. I'm going to meet up with him at his shop on Friday to go over the details. (I have a couple of spots on the neck where the finish is scratched, so we're also talking about taking off the finish...)

[Steve Ostrander]

I had a km505 and it sounded good, but my km900 blows it away. They are the most underrated mandolin under 1k, IMHO.

[terzinator]

Steve, how would you compare the KM-900 to your MT?