View Full Version : Mid-Mo (Big Muddy) Mando ???
wildbill1962
Jan-11-2012, 3:18pm
Howdy, Looking for my first Mandolin, was wondering what your opinions are of the Mid-Mo aka Big Muddy mandolins. American made and all solid wood ?
Thanks in advance
Bill
Dave Weiss
Jan-11-2012, 3:25pm
In my opinion you won't do any better. Check out the Big Muddy Social Group. Lots of positive feedback and samples of playing. Good luck and welcome to the Cafe!
JEStanek
Jan-11-2012, 3:47pm
They are a very good product and offer a range of tonal options. Welcome to the Cafe.
Jamie
wildbill1962
Jan-11-2012, 4:39pm
Thank you so much for the advice guys !! There is one for sale in the classifieds, thinking of contacting the guy about it
Thanks again
Bill
Jim MacDaniel
Jan-11-2012, 5:16pm
Can't go wrong with a Mid-Mo/Big Muddy -- and if you have to buy sight-unseen, the cafe's classifieds section is a good way to go too.
Aiki_Mando
Jan-11-2012, 6:13pm
This was my first "real mandolin", and I could not be happier. The tone is sweet and they are just all around good little mandos (granted, I am pretty wet behind the ears mandolin wise, but thanks to my dad I've handled a few). I may buy another of a differing wood configuration just because....because. Also, the maker, Mike Dulak is a heck of a nice guy who is very responsive to questions. Go for it.
brunello97
Jan-11-2012, 6:30pm
I thought the shape of these was pretty odd when I first saw them. A pal has one though, that he keeps here at work, and I have played it often. Looks can be deceiving. The one in the classifieds is $300. A lot of mandolin for that money. I haven't tracked them really, but it seems the price bottoms out at around that (or higher) so it is almost a no-risk investment. Go for it!
Mick
multidon
Jan-11-2012, 8:27pm
I have both an M-2 (maple) mandolin and an M-16 (morado "rosewood") mandola. They are great for the money. They don't have a bluegrass tone, but would be ideal for Celtic, Old Time, Folk, just about anything else. The design is simplicity itself, no truss rod adjustments or adjustable bridge to fuss with. If you ever have to adjust the action you have to buy higher or lower bridges from Mike Dulak. Some owners keep 3 different height bridges to allow for temperature/humidity changes, but what kind of extremes are they getting exposed to? I've never had to do anything to mine. Just keep it in the case, where it should be if you aren't playing it, and humidify it when needed. They do have a steel neck stiffener "truss rod" but non adjustable. On mine again, never an issue. The necks haven't moved one bit. Mike always seems to find exceptional woods. At his price point, I've been tempted to collect an example of each of the wood choices!
brunello97
Jan-11-2012, 8:54pm
Don, I actually have a Big Muddy bridge on a Kalamazoo KM11. It had major top sinkage issues that called for rebracing. I wound up needing a slightly taller bridge than the original and my pal with the Big Muddy, like you, had a spare. Nice bridge and the KM sounds very responsive with it.
The mandolin profile still seems kind of odd to me, but I appreciate the simple elegance (I love Shaker furniture) and focus on the wood and (especially) tone quality. The ebony fretboards do look very nice. Not for me to say, but I wonder if Mike could go with all domestic woods and still keep his clientele. I have a hunch he could. All around solid product.
Mick
Loretta Callahan
Jan-11-2012, 10:30pm
I absolutely love my Muddy. I have the M4: Rosewood/Spruce. The tone always lifts my spirits! I love it so much, I'm actually upgrading it, rather than trading up to another mandolin. Mike Dulak is the best. For the price, quality and service .... Big Muddy is most certainly among the best in the business.
Another voice for Big Muddy. It is a work horse of an instrument... Perfect for beginners. And the used price is great as mentioned above... These are purchased by serious beginners and those looking for elegant simplicity. People tend to upgrade to more expensive instruments if they take to mandolin so there are a lot of fine used instruments in excellent condition on the market at any given time. A wonderful choice.
Loretta:
Love your quote at the bottom!!!
bildio
Jan-15-2012, 10:39am
I absolutely love my Muddy. I have the M4: Rosewood/Spruce. The tone always lifts my spirits! I love it so much, I'm actually upgrading it, rather than trading up to another mandolin. Mike Dulak is the best. For the price, quality and service .... Big Muddy is most certainly among the best in the business.
What is the upgrade?
8ch(pl)
Jan-16-2012, 5:46pm
I have lots of posts, responses to questions about Mid Missouri/Big muddy Mandolins. Great, I own 2 and love them both.
Jim MacDaniel
Jan-16-2012, 8:58pm
Hey Wild Bill, did you end up getting that one from the classifieds you were looking at? If so, please make sure you tell us how you like it.
Earl Gamage
Jan-16-2012, 10:16pm
They are good mandolins. I have one.
Fireball
Jan-20-2012, 1:59am
I've been playing my M-2 Mid-Mo for 8 years now and still love it! It's the best beginner-intermediate mandolin i can think of, plus the added bonus of being made in the USA!
Bluejunco
Jan-21-2012, 12:02am
I own a big muddy m2 and love it.
Loretta Callahan
Jan-21-2012, 2:27am
Can't take credit for it .... it's an homage to lovable town drunks. I think the Andy Griffith Show was the last place they were honored in the media.
Loretta:
Love your quote at the bottom!!!
Loretta Callahan
Jan-21-2012, 2:33am
Can't take credit for it .... it's an homage to lovable town drunks. I think the Andy Griffith Show was the last place they were honored in the media.
Loretta:
Love your quote at the bottom!!!
I'm getting a radiused fretboad, new tailpiece and a fancy pants Celtic Knot design around the soundhole ... and the added bonus of getting to have email conversations with Mike Dulak of Big Muddy .... who is a real delight.
What is the upgrade?
midmo2
Feb-04-2012, 6:11pm
Big Muddy/Mid-Missouri are great mandolins! I've had my M-2 for 10 years now, and I love it!
samlyman
Feb-04-2012, 8:46pm
I have a Mid-Mo M-3 as a second mandolin. It is a great little mando that is fun to play with a nice tone and good volume. It does not have the bass response of my Collings but it did not cost $3,000 either. Many people compare these to Flatiron pancake mandos. I have been owned by both but prefer the Mid-Mo since the fretboard is more comfortable for my hands when I play for long stretches of time. What is especially gratifying for me about Mid-Mos is that my friend Mike Dulak makes them. Mike lived for many years in Moscow, Idaho and was and is an all-around nice guy!
Best wishes,
Sam
Couple of Mid-Mo/Big Muddy's in the classified adds today, an M-3 and an M-11.
NFI
How bad is MAS? We don't yet have our first mandolin(supposed to be here Mon. or Tues.) and
we are already thinking about buying a second.
Pretty sure it will be a Mid/Mo too.
Can't miss starter mando. Easy fretting, great tone. Hooked me solid on mando.
Can't miss starter mando. Easy fretting, great tone. Hooked me solid on mando.
What model do you have?
charvolino
Feb-06-2012, 12:56pm
I talked to a dealer the other day who said he liked the Big Muddy mandolins, but he also said they were not ideal for bluegrass work. I would like to get some other opinions about that, as I would like to purchase my first "real mandolin" that was good for all genres. Thanks.
multidon
Feb-06-2012, 1:51pm
Big Muddy is great for just about everything except bluegrass. It is the nature of the tone. Two strikes against Big Muddys for bluegrass are the flat top and the oval (actually round) hole. Conventional wisdom with most players is that only the carved top with f holes has the "bark", or hard attack on notes, to cut through the rest of the bluegrass band. Of course, there are exceptions to every rule. I recently attended a bluegrass festival in which one of the bands had a mandolin that was clearly a very fancy luthier made Celtic style oval hole and he did just fine with it! With a mike, of course. Using mikes and a mixer board changes everything and makes it so everyone can be heard if your sound guy knows his stuff. So is it completely out of the question to use a Big Muddy for bluegrass? No. But is it common? No. Will you get funny looks if you bring it to a bluegrass jam? Probably. But I'm a big believer in playing whatever floats your boat. You have to like the tone and playability of anything you play with any regularity.
8ch(pl)
Feb-09-2012, 7:33am
A second hand Mid Missouri seems to sell for about $350, more or less. The same for an M-0 to an M-4. I paid that for my M-4 twelve years ago and I paid $300 for my M-1 a couple of years back. Both came with Gig Bags. I have seen the M-0 for $350. I have seen them priced for $500 as well, but $350 is a good start point.
Charvolino, if you buy a second hand Mid Missouri for this price range it will be excellent to learn on. Then if you get serious about bluegrass or decide to upgrade you sell the Mid Missouri and recover your money, or most of it at least. If you buy a new one, it will be a couple of hundred loss.
For what it is worth, I like the mellow tone of my M-1 generally a bit better than the M-4. The M-4 I prefer for instrument or band accompanyment, but when I sing, I like the tone of the M-1.