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Rob Ray
Feb-08-2012, 10:22am
Hi All,

I was just wondering about what madolin people started with and what they are playing today. I suppose most of us begin with something relatively inexpensive and progress from there.

I started with a 200 dollar plywood Epiphone and within a couple of months knew I really like this "mandolin stuff"! I got a big muddy next and now have serveral mandolins. My favorite is a Collings MF and I would really like an MT to go with it. I'm thinking now of selling off some of the mandolins that I've tried along the way and just focusing on a couple that really speak to me and a less expensive "beater" for fishing trips, etc.

Where have you been on your mandolin journey?

ROB Ray

mandobassman
Feb-08-2012, 10:31am
My first mandolin was a 1924 Gibson A "snakehead". I bought it in a small vintage instrument shop in 1977 for $325. Played it for 10 years before I bought my first F model in 1985, a Kentucky KM-850. Played that for another 17 years. Had to sell that mandolin to help fund the purchase of a bass. Later on I went through a couple of cheap F models (two lousy Michael Kelly models, money was tight) before, in 2006, I bought the Breedlove OF I have now.

Marc Berman
Feb-08-2012, 10:36am
I started with an Eastman 515. Well actually I started on my daughter's Eastman 505 and after a couple of months playing hers I was told to buy my own. Two of my friends own F5s by Lawrence Smart and I fell in love with them. After of year of playing I figured what the heck Lawrence has got a two year waiting list so I put my name down and started putting money away. Now I'm the proud owner of my own Smart F5 :mandosmiley:

abuteague
Feb-08-2012, 10:37am
Acoustic:
Ibanez two point - Free
Tacoma m1
Weber Bitterroot f5
Mix a5

Electric:
Weber Maveric 5 string
JBovier EMC4

I don't collect instruments. I play them. I make use of what I have. I sell or give away instruments when I move on. They don't always become more expensive, but they more closely match my needs. At this point I would have to sell to get something new. I regret selling the Weber Bitterroot. I imagine having a vintage 3 point f4 sometimes, but I don't know where that money would come from. I think it is ok to dream. In the mean time I have tunes to learn.

Randi Gormley
Feb-08-2012, 10:38am
Mostly treading water, but it's all been entertaining. I started with a bowlback, a gift from my parents; when that went out of whack, I got the strad as a replacement. Played that until the neck came loose, then got a Kentucky to replace it. I ended up with two workable mandolins when I got a neck reset on the strad about a year later. That was it, mostly, until a couple of years ago when I saw what eventually became my bandolim hanging in a music shop window and pulled the plug after about a six-month span of playing it in the shop and working my sensibilities up to buying an instrument I didn't need. I believe in the interim my husband and I purchased a Musician's Friend two-pack (guitar-and-mandolin for $99 or something like that) to have something at my mother's home so we wouldn't have to travel with our "good" instruments, and I got an electric mando for $45 from a music store going-out-of-business sale. Turned in the e-mando about a year later to help pay for a bridge pickup. Last summer, decided to buy the eastman after playing it in the vendor tent at Grey Fox, and sold the Kentucky to help pay for it. Picked up the ABSM-1 bandolim a month or two ago because it was on Craig's List and looked like it needed a home. One of these days, I may work my sensibilities up to buying a really fine instrument, but I'm perfectly happy with my crew of low-price noise-makers.

JeffD
Feb-08-2012, 10:57am
I started with a Tanada, a pac-rim laminate from the 70s. My Dad got it for me from a televison repair shop for $80. I played the potatoes out of that thing until one time, many years later, I left it in a closed car one summer day, and it self destructed. Every mandolin I acquired since that day I still play in active rotation. For those with a real interest I put up pics in my album http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/album.php?albumid=10 and you are welcome to take a squint.

From my first mandolin to my second was a jump, but from there on it has not been upgrading, it has been acquiring cool things to play. My second mandolin was and still is enough to keep me happy for the rest of my life. The others are too. I am very fortunate.

terzinator
Feb-08-2012, 11:04am
From a Mid-Missouri (had for a year):
http://www.dezinnia.com/cboone/guitars/misc/midmo.jpg

to a Kentucky KM855 (had for three months):
http://www.dezinnia.com/cboone/guitars/misc/KM855.jpg

to my first Collings MT (had for a year):
http://www.dezinnia.com/cboone/guitars/collingsmt/collingsmt1721-01.jpg

to my current Collings MT wide nut (owned about 9 months now):
http://www.dezinnia.com/cboone/guitars/collingsmt/collingsmt1517-01.jpg

Saving for an MT2V or Ellis A or BRW 2-point.

George R. Lane
Feb-08-2012, 11:20am
I started with a Michael Kelly till the fretboard warped, then a Kentucky, A Weber Gallatin, Weber Vinatge A (still have it) and now a Weber Yellowstone F. All in about 5 years.

Jim Garber
Feb-08-2012, 11:35am
A friend lent me his Martin A to fool around with when I was in college in the early 1970s. Then I bought an American Conservatory bowlback for $75 from the House of Musical Traditions when it was in New York City. Traded for a Vega cylinder back from Sandy's Music in Cambridge. I started playing in an old time band and sold that Vega to my friend in order to buy a white-face 1919 A3 from Mandolin Brothers. That was around 1976 or so and the price was a whopping $300!! I had that one for years and then found my 23 black A2 snakehead which was my only mandolin. In fact I pretty much was a serial monogamist back then. Then in 1983 my Gibson needed some work and I realized that even tho mandolin was one of my main instruments I did not have a backup. At that time Flatiron just came out with their carved line starting with A models and I tried one out at Mandolin Brothers and bought one of the first A5-2s. I still have the last two instruments plus a pile of others. And, of course, full circle back to the bowlbacks. Ironically, in my stupid way, that first American Conservatory was a pretty nice instrument.

rgray
Feb-08-2012, 11:39am
Started with a finger-bleeding Morgan Monroe Bean Blossom via eBay for $65 in April 2009. Self-taught setup got it bearable (since sold via eBay). Bought a Kentucky 160 via eBay that was quickly returned (not as advertised). Fed up with eBay I bought a Kentucky 505 from TMS and really began to enjoy. A Weber Gallatin A was next in 2011 as a retirement gift and continues as my main mandolin. Traded the 505 for a Redline Traveler just to have something different. Just bought a used Trinity College Octave Mandolin to give that a try.

multidon
Feb-08-2012, 12:22pm
First, I got the Stew Mac Campfire kit as a gift from my wife. I had built other kits so it seemed like an easy build resulting in something I could actually use. I got hooked on the sound and wished I had something "better". Saw the Mid-Mo used at Elderly and pull the trigger. Then came the Mid-Mo mandola, also used from Elderly. Soon after that I saw the Floodtone #72 in the classifieds and I was facinated by the flamed birch. $350 seemed a real bargain for that one (and still does in hindsight). Lastly, traded a guitar I no longer played or cared for at a GC for a used Breedlove FF, which is technically my "best" now. I find that the Breedlove is the easiest in the stable for playability, and it has a good tone, but I actually prefer the tone of the Floodtone for most of what I play. The Mid-Mos aren't getting a lot of love right now, but they make great back-ups. I have the mandola strung DAEB right now, so it is now getting a little more use, The kit build? I practically never ply it anymore. Very sad. I guess it could make a good beater. I still don't think I have found "the one". One day I hope to get a chance to go to a store with a huge selection and fall in love with something!

Spencer
Feb-08-2012, 12:45pm
Forty years ago, I found an old Sterling mandolin (identified by Jim Garber), that had been my dads in an attic, and learned to play Lost Indian on it. Found it much more productive than trying to play fiddle and changed to mandolin. After 2 Gibsons, and a Novotny from the Czech Republic, I discovered Flatbush mandolins in 1999 with a nice A4, and just took possession of a wonderful V5 a week ago. I basically moved up in quality when I found some limitations in the instrument I was playing at the time. I think I can stop looking now.

Spencer

Charley wild
Feb-08-2012, 12:55pm
My first was a blond Gibson "A" I got as a throw-in to even up a trade in 1963. It was destroyed in a car accident in 1965. The value made up in said trade would have been about $100 or $125.
From there I went on to three more Gibson A's, an F2, an Alvarez F5 copy, a Michael Kelly A+, and my current Stonebridge A. Oh yeah, I had two bowl backs along the way, one was a Fischer and the other I don't recall. Also a mandolin/banjo of some sort, about a medium quality.

ejb
Feb-08-2012, 1:07pm
I became friends with a guy that played a mean auto-harpe and I play a guitar. I was working with a guy that played the 5 string and both of them were very good. We started playing together and brought in another local talent who also had a heavy music background. He was even getting royalties from song he had written. He also played the guitar, much better than I. Since we were leaning towards bluegrass tunes I decided to learn the mandolin. I purchased a Washburn A-style. I knew nothing about mandolins and it was a good thing I purchased it from a shop that had set it up to play. I learned enough to start using at our jam sessions and we were totally acoustic and the banjo player complained my mandolin wasn't very loud so I shopped around and bought a Sigma F style from Elderly Instruments about 1992. It sounded better but had to take it to a shop to set it up to be more playable.He had to take a high spot out of the neck about the 12th fret and re-fretted the instrument. This made it possible to lower the action and turned to be a good playing instrument. I am still playing it. I played with this group for a little over 10 years. We lost two of the band members due to illness. A couple of years a go I started playing with some guys that play mostly country and they are plugged in and amplified. Micing my mandolin just wasn't enough so I bought a cheap electric A style just to see if I was going to like being plugged in. It was a Harmonia. I bought it off ebay and figured if it could keep from folding up on me long enough to try being amplified I would then invest in something better. I was pleasantly surprised how well it was made and sounded. Good tone and as loud as my Sigma. The setup was terrible. I had to lower the nut and the bridge was too high and wouldn't adjust low enough so had to whittle some of the wood away. The neck is true and frets even. I had my fist gig with it a couple of weeks ago and the other band members loved it. They could actually hear me and it sounded good. I am currently looking for a F model with a pickup. Musician's Friend has an Epiphone with the controls in the pick guard. Anyone know anything or had any experience with this set up? I know it has got to better than what I have I only paid $60.00 and did my own whittling on the bridge and nut.

mrmando
Feb-08-2012, 1:38pm
I started with a Loar. I traded it to a Chinese collector for 1 million PacRim factory mandos, which I am now selling off on eBay for $99 apiece. When I'm done I should have enough for 3 Loars.

allenhopkins
Feb-08-2012, 1:46pm
Played folk music, banjo, guitar, Autoharp, harmonica, in the 1960's. Loved bluegrass, wanted to start a band with my brother on guitar and my friend Bob on banjo. Just about that time, found a 'teens Gibson A-1 and a B&J Victoria bowl-back in the attic of my grandfather's house, which we were emptying after his death.

Kept the bowl-back (still play it), traded the A-1 on an F-2, the F-2 on my current F-5, added a Flatiron octave mandolin, Sobell mandola, three-point F-2, Dobro mandolin, National Triolian resonator, Strad-O-Lin "beater," and so forth. Now have more than a dozen varied mandolin-family instruments. Recently have acquired four Eastmans, a DGM-1, DGM-2, MDA-615 mandola, MDC-805 mandocello.

I still keep my eyes out for unusual instruments, like my Howe-Orme mandolinetto, Regal Octofone, Gibson TL tenor lute, and so forth. Considering buying a Bernie Lehmann OM at Bernunzio's, and constantly, though not intensely, looking around for a vintage bowl-back mandocello.

Homer Savard
Feb-08-2012, 1:50pm
Never owned my own mandolin until I bought a Gilchrist in 1987. Knew what I wanted and waited a few years to find it. Since then I've aquired 2 La Plants and another Gilchrist. So far I've kept them all. I figure it's the only humane thing to do.

Ed Goist
Feb-08-2012, 2:27pm
All this in just under two years (don't judge me)...I'd say I'm more a "catch and release" guy than a collector. :)

Acoustic Mandolins
* Kentucky KM-172 - First mandolin. A great intro to the instrument. Good starter. Moved along...
* Breedlove OO Quartz - Very nice guitar-like playability, nice tone, but wasn't 'woody' or 'dark' enough for me. Moved along...
* Morris A5 - First really great mandolin. Excellent. Gone now, but this is the only one I've moved that I miss. Fine instrument.
* Morris A4 - Very nice mandolin, and certainly beautiful. I just didn't connect with it. Moved along...
* Brandt Bowlback - Beautiful, classic bowlback. Love it. I don't play much due to the flat board, but I'll likely keep forever.
* Highland Strings Orpheus - My #1 - A stunning, fantastic instrument. Easily outperforms instruments costing three times as much. One of the two or three best sounding mandolins I have ever heard. Moreover, she sounds a little better every time I pick her up. A MAS killer of the first order.
* Girouard AOH - A glorious, modern, oval hole mandolin. A wonderful gift from my wife. Spectacular. Sounds wonderful, and sounds quite different from the Orpheus. This is my 'oval hole MAS killer'.

Acoustic Octave Mandolin
* Weber Hyalite Octave Mandolin - Wonderful OM with great playability. I didn't play it enough to warrant keeping it. Just moved along to a very happy new owner...

Electrics
* JBovier EMC-4 - Very nice, with good playability. Excellent first e-mando. Moved along...
* Ryder EM-44 - A professional grade custom instrument with a huge 'Wow Factor'. E-mando MAS killer.

On the Way:
* Blueridge BR-40T tenor guitar (tuned GDAE). Will the tenor guitar and I hit it off? Will its single strings on a guitar frame be a better fit for me than an OM? We'll see.

Still to Come?:
Maybe a four-string electric OM or tenor guitar?...Will decide based on experience with tenor guitar.

So, when it comes to acoustic and electric mandolins, I think I'm set... :mandosmiley:
For the lower register, fifth-tuned instruments, the odyssey continues... :grin:

Justus True Waldron
Feb-08-2012, 2:37pm
Am I the only one who thought this thread was going to be about places to go to further your mandolin career? "And this is where the Dawg first played EMD.... I shall build a shrine!"

mfeuerst
Feb-08-2012, 2:37pm
Ed: Too funny. Your signature list hints at the detail that this posting dragged out of you. You're close to a one man buying guide for MC members. One question: can you put into (more) words how the Girouard sounds different from the Orpheous? I'm interested, given your comment on the Breedlove sounds. Also, did you find the Morris A5 as playable as the Breedlove?

Mike Bunting
Feb-08-2012, 2:38pm
Never owned my own mandolin until I bought a Gilchrist in 1987. Knew what I wanted and waited a few years to find it. Since then I've aquired 2 La Plants and another Gilchrist. So far I've kept them all. I figure it's the only humane thing to do.
I played, briefly, a LaPlant mandola this summer, damn fine instruments, don't know about those Gils though :)

I originally had a nameless (because I can't remember) flatback that sounded like a mandolin but it fairly quickly transmogrified into a Mann F5, pooped out of the same sausage machine as Ibanez's etc. But by 1978, I bought a new Givens F5 for $1500 and went upscale. We needed to borrow $1100 for a car and I persuaded my wife to let us up that loan to include the mando (great lady!). The car lasted a few years but that mando stayed 25 years until 2003 when I traded it on a new Collings MF5. Somewhere in the early part of this century I acquired a 1924 A Jr and 3 years ago a Stanley V5.
Interestingly enough my Inflation Calculator app tells me that the best deal in terms of money was the Givens, $1500 then is $5000 today which was the trade in value I got for it in the Collings deal, though this had little to do with my acquisitions, just an illuminating little factoid. I play them all regularly, keeping the A Jr in an open tuning, a pick up in the Collings for those drastic times when I need to plug in and the Stanley for blue grass.

Jim Garber
Feb-08-2012, 2:45pm
All this in just under two years (don't judge me)...I'd say I'm more a "catch and release" guy than a collector. :)

I see the catch but where is the release?

Jim Garber
Feb-08-2012, 2:50pm
A friend lent me his Martin A to fool around with when I was in college in the early 1970s. Then I bought an American Conservatory bowlback for $75 from the House of Musical Traditions when it was in New York City. Traded for a Vega cylinder back from Sandy's Music in Cambridge. I started playing in an old time band and sold that Vega to my friend in order to buy a white-face 1919 A3 from Mandolin Brothers. That was around 1976 or so and the price was a whopping $300!! I had that one for years and then found my 23 black A2 snakehead which was my only mandolin. In fact I pretty much was a serial monogamist back then. Then in 1983 my Gibson needed some work and I realized that even tho mandolin was one of my main instruments I did not have a backup. At that time Flatiron just came out with their carved line starting with A models and I tried one out at Mandolin Brothers and bought one of the first A5-2s. I still have the last two instruments plus a pile of others. And, of course, full circle back to the bowlbacks. Ironically, in my stupid way, that first American Conservatory was a pretty nice instrument.

Oops I missed the last part of the OP's post: "what they are playing today"

I still play the Gibson A2 but have also branched off into other things. I now have my ultimate(?) bowlback, a 1904 Embergher No. 3 which is an incredible instrument. I recently acquired a Brentrup A4C which is a modernized Gibson -- in other words, basically the same structurally as a vintage Gibson A4 but with more clarity and volume. I also have a nice bandolim made by Manoel Andrade for attempting to play choro music. A Monteleone mandola and late 1930s Gibson K1 mandocello. A few choice electrics: early 1960s EM-200 and late 1930s EM-150. At least those are the ones I play mostly.

Ed Goist
Feb-08-2012, 4:24pm
Ed:...snip...can you put into (more) words how the Girouard sounds different from the Orpheous?...snip...

Most definitely...

The dominant characteristics of the Orpheus are: Incredible responsiveness and an amazingly explosive and eruptive voice.
The notes seem to burst out of The Raven like shells out of a cannon.
She reminds me very much of a premium violin. The tone is fundamental, clear, powerful, dark and untamed. Like lightning.

The dominant characteristics of The Girouard AOH are: Openness, richness and sustain.
The notes seem to pour out of Autumn like a fine wine from its bottle.
She reminds me very much of a fine concert piano. The tone is balanced, rich, full, encompassing and sophisticated. Like distant rolling thunder.

Also, thanks to the skills of Jason Harshbarger and Max Girouard, both of these mandolins, while quite different from one another, still each possesses the dark, bluesy, and raw voice I was hoping for.

I can't imagine wanting or needing another mandolin.


Ed:...snip...did you find the Morris A5 as playable as the Breedlove?

I would say the playability of both of these mandolins was very good for different reasons. Here are the characteristics that defined the playability of each:

Morris A5
* 12" radius
* 1 1/8" nut width (My preferred nut width is just a hair under this at 1 3/32", so I liked this about the Morris)
* Narrow but tall frets (I liked the tall part, the narrow part...not so much)
* a medium thickness rounded V neck profile (a little chunky for me, but easy to get used to)
* A remarkable set-up with razor close action. Probably the most noteworthy thing about Sonny Morris' mandolins (IMO) is his set-ups. They are remarkable...insanely close action with no buzzes. Great stuff.

Breedlove Quartz OO
* 12" radius
* 1 3/16" nut width (A little too wide for me - I never quite got used to it.)
* Big frets!! :) Wide and tall. Yea baby!
* a rounded neck profile (I'd say D shape or 'modified oval') very similar to a modern Martin guitar. (I liked this a lot)
* A good set-up (but not outstanding like the set-up on the Morris).

Ed Goist
Feb-08-2012, 4:28pm
I see the catch but where is the release?

+ 11 - 6 = 5 :mandosmiley:

OMG! I've had 11 different mandolin family instruments in less than 2 years...go ahead, judge me.

Jim Garber
Feb-08-2012, 4:52pm
go ahead, judge me.

All right... guilty!! (I should talk...)

Treblemaker
Feb-08-2012, 5:40pm
My first was a decent Japanese A model by a maker called Yasuma.
I purchased this for $100 from Matt Malley in Berkeley, CA around 1990.
At the time Matt was playing electric bass in a Berkeley Based Bluegrass Band called "The All Girl Boys."
(Matt was attending UCBerkeley and fell in with Adam Duritz and formed the Counting Crows - and the rest is R&R history.)

I took that Mandolin to the Big Island of HI for 2 months and basically sat on the beach teaching myself to get around on it (after having played guitar for roughly 20 yrs.)

When I got back I wound up bringing this mando to a jam party at SF's Ocean Beach.
I fell in with someone there and we wound up forming a Swing Jazz Band called the Chazz Cats with me on amplified Mandolin.

Initially I bought a fishman Bridge Piezo for the Yasuma and after a while I sucked it up and headed down to Gryphon in Palo Alto where I purchased a Flatiron Performer F. This would be my main mando for the next 12 or so years and it got beaten on pretty heavily.

Some years later while refinancing a house in SF I found the $$ to upgrade and I obtained an A. Lawrence Smart F5 (#124). This is the same mandolin that was stolen from me last summer and somehow - through the good graces of an honest guy in Sacto and the help of an ElDorado County, CA Deputy Sheriff - found it's way back to me.

I think this is for all intents and purposes my lifetime keeper instrument.

Recently via the Cafe, I set up a trade for my old Flatiron with Emando Luthier Andrew Jerman.
I went searching in the forums for help with refinishing this instrument - as I had stripped it of it's oversprayed Nitro. Andrew offered 2 Emando's in return: a Les Paul 8 String and a Custom Koa 5.
I have these in hand now and am in the process of getting him the Flatiron as per our agreement.

Happily, my old swing band is revving back up with a few Spring 2012 gigs so I will have nice opportunities to air out these Emando's in livr contexts. I also have a Schertler for the Smart - but it's not all that impressive as a Electric Swing instrument as it's more about having a profound bluegrass Chop.

Anyway - I play a lot of mandolin, a lot of guitar and a lot of bass (both electric and acoustic in various genre's) but I think I still have the most to learn, and the most fun as a mandolin picker.

-Treblemaker

Denny Gies
Feb-08-2012, 5:43pm
Began with a 70's Auria two point, then a 1916 Gibson A 2, then a Kentucky 1500 (F style) and finally, in 1993 I got lucky and got to have Randy Wood make me an F 5. Having arrived at the end of the rainbow the trip is complete and the Randy Wood just gets better and better with each note I try to play.

Ed Goist
Feb-08-2012, 5:59pm
Rob, thanks for starting this thread. It's very entertaining and informative, with lots of beautiful instrument pics. Great stuff!
Oh, and Jim, despite the fact that I claim to be perfectly "mando-content" right now, I could probably be convinced to take that early 1960s Gibson EM-200 off your hands...Just sayin'

Rob Ray
Feb-08-2012, 6:12pm
Your welcome Ed! I have become a mando nut in a short period of time...glad to see I'm in good company!

ROB Ray

mandopete
Feb-08-2012, 6:15pm
I started with a 200 dollar plywood Epiphone...

Me too! I used to call it the Cheap-a-phone. I still have a picture of it....

82100

Epiphone -
Begat a Flatiron F-5 -
Begat a Lawrence Smart F-5 -
Begat s Collings MF-5R

sgarrity
Feb-08-2012, 6:16pm
Started with a plywood Kentucky KM620......had a lot of great mandolins inbetween............have settled on Kimbles and Heidens.

Wilbur James
Feb-08-2012, 6:55pm
I started with a Stelling S5 by ward elliot, traded it towards a 2001 Gibson F5L signed by Danny Roberts, traded it toward my current Altman F5, it would be very difficult to part with this one.

JEStanek
Feb-08-2012, 9:09pm
Mine is here (http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/entry.php?7-Me-and-My-Mandos). I still play the Spira, Eastman 2 Point, TC Octave, and the L&H Bowl.

Jamie

Justus True Waldron
Feb-08-2012, 11:29pm
I don't have a very interesting "pilgrimage" but in keeping with the spirit of posting pictures of the progression, I looked for some of mine. Turns out, all the ones I had I was in the pictures playing them! I suppose that's fitting though, part of the journey.

First Kentucky - 8 years ago!
82110
Plywood mando that got me through school
82111
Kentucky #2
82112
Finally, the real deal. Don't have any pictures of me gigging with it yet though
82109

Also the electric, a regular mandobird VIII
82113
I've since retired that in favour of an Eastwood electric mandola, but again, no pics...

So that's the pilgrimage in photo form...

Ed Goist
Feb-08-2012, 11:42pm
Awesome Justus, awesome.

Bill Clements
Feb-09-2012, 12:35am
Some very impressive posts here!
Would some of you guys talk to my wife sometime when I'm ready to own SEVERAL instruments? ;)
There's a bottle of single malt waiting for the best salesman!

I just sold my Eastman MD815 and have ordered a Lyon & Healy Model A (assymetrical two-point oval hole) reproduction from Pete Langdell of Rigel.
I have about 3 months to wait for the instrument to be completed. If anyone is interested, I'll gladly post pictures of the mandolin in progress that Pete said he'd send me.

Bill

Loretta Callahan
Feb-09-2012, 2:25am
Started with a finger-bleeding Morgan Monroe Bean Blossom via eBay for $65 in April 2009.

Ok, that's funny! I still have my "beater". She's a $300 Greg Bennett A style with some serious setup. She plays quite nicely actually.

I moved on to a Washburn MSW F5, with yet another serious setup .... and she plays like butter. With a tonegard, she doesn't sound half bad.

Got a Big Muddy M4 that sounds sweet as a springtime creek. She's on her way back from the factory, where Mike put on a radiused fretboard and better tailpiece. Can't wait. Doubt if I'll ever sell her.

I'm saving my pennies to make an exponential leap to a Hilburn in a few years, if I can hold out that long.

Ivan Kelsall
Feb-09-2012, 3:09am
Michael Kelly "Legacy - solid" which i part-x'd for a Lebeda 'F-5 Premium Plus'. I then bought my Weber 'Fern'. After i got the 'Weber,i traded the Lebeda in for another Weber,an "A" style 'Beartooth' oval hole.The 'Beartooth' turned out to have a neck problem,so i traded it in for my Lebeda "Special",
Ivan

82123821248212582126

John Flynn
Feb-09-2012, 8:49am
1. Korean plywood "Lotus" A (1 year) - the body buzzed and it wouldn't stay in tune, traded it on #2
2. Alvarez A800, handmade in Japan (10 years) - Decent, traded it in on #4
3. Mederios Travel Mandolin (10 years) - great little instrument, just sold it recently
4. Rigel A+ Deluxe (11 years) - still have it
5. Old Wave Oval A (7 years) - love it, it's a keeper
6. RISA Mando-solid (7 years) - not really an instrument, but more like a "mandolin practice device" that fits into a suitcase when I'm travelling and won't wake my wife in the middle of the the night when I'm home, yet it's fun to play, a keeper
7. Parson's flatop (6 years) - great travel/beater/keep it next to my desk in the office mandolin, a keeper
8. Mandobird IV (1 year) - tried it, upgraded it, still didn't like it, sold it.

CelticDude
Feb-09-2012, 10:58am
I started my voyage with an Ovation mandolin, bought at GC. For some reason, liked it better than the Fenders they also had, even though it was more than I intended to spend. After about 6 months I was thoroughly unhappy with it. Sounded fine thru an amp (I used a Roland Cube), but acoustically, not so good. Plus it would not stay in tune at all.

"Upgraded" to a Goldtone Rigel clone, mainly because it was within my budget, and sounded much better than the Ovation acoustically. Stayed in tune a little better.

However, while searching for the Ovation upgrade, I happened to play a Colllings MT in a small shop in Austin, TX. I immediately knew that this was the sound I wanted. The price put me off for a couple years, however, hence the Goldtone in the interim. I finally saved enough for the MT, and got it 2 years ago. While the other mandos have been sold (the Ovation helped finance the MT), the MT is a keeper, and has actually cured my MAS.

That is, MAS WAS cured, until reading this thread. Thanks to Ed's post in particular, I'm starting to feel the pull of another mandolin...

Seriously, I'm thinking a Redline Traveler, as a sort of travel mandolin, plus I am thinking an oval hole would be good to have. But all in the future. GAS has a hold at the moment...

Ken_P
Feb-09-2012, 11:07am
I started on a Kentucky KM150S, which my parents bought me as a high school graduation gift. That was good enough to get me started but the playability was never the best. I spent a few years after college not playing very much, or concentrating on other instruments. I got the mandolin bug back when I was visiting a friend out of town and happened to stop in a music store which happened to have a lone mandolin hanging on the wall. I don't remember what it was, maybe an Epi or Fender, something like that, anyway, but I had so much fun playing it that I got back into mandolin. I realized right away that the Kentucky just wouldn't cut it anymore, so I started looking for something better. I ended going for an Eastman 515 from the classifieds, which was a great decision! I only had that about two years, though, because right after I got married I had the opportunity to upgrade that I just couldn't pass up (let's just say someone in my new family had connections ;)). My avatar should tell you all you need to know about how that worked out! I can't imagine ever parting with my Collings. I added a Mid-Mo M4 last year as a travel instrument, and I love that one too.

I don't plan on adding anymore mandolins (though if someone gave me a Gilchrist I don't think I'd say no), but I'm determined to one day add a mandocello to my collection. If things go really well, I might go for a 10-stringer, but I'm not holding my breath :).

Dobe
Feb-09-2012, 11:15am
[QUOTE=Ed Goist;1020185]All this in just under two years ,don't judge me.

Ed, there is help out there, the 1st step to dealing with your problem is.......... :))
buying a Banjo ! :mandosmiley:

This is over some 20 years:
Kentucky A
Teens F-4
Nugget A
Collings F
some 15-20 of my own builds.
my current main :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTB8ponXZcI&list=UU-Y82F6AlL7pLteA232ItJg&index=11&feature=plcp
:popcorn:

JeffD
Feb-09-2012, 1:49pm
I don't look at it as a pilgrimage.

Nor is there a ladder of ever increasing quality matching an ever increasing need for quality. I think if there is a ladder it has two rungs. First is the beginner instrument, and then what you got once you could play a bit.

OK, if you are a professional then maybe there is a third rung, what you need to earn a paycheck.

So why all the other purchases. In my case its cause I like 'em. My second real mandolin was more mandolin than I ever will need. The others I just got cause I wanted them.

I can't even claim a diversity of purposes, like I do with my fishing rods - one for big water, one for small rivers, one for small streams and brooks, one or two for spin casting, and one for bait casting. Yea they have different sounds, and different music sounds marginally better on this or that. But that is the excuse I backfill when justifying my purchases.

The reality is that through playing the mandolin I have come to appreciate mandolins, and so I often see mandolins I want to own, and sometimes I buy them.

So pilgrimage to me implies a kind of inevitable path, through ever more expensive mandolins. And ladder implies that we inevitably need better and better instruments.

Nah.

Heck, need as nothing to do with it. I didn't need the first one.

OldSausage
Feb-09-2012, 2:16pm
I am just some dude, but I endorse this post by JeffD.

catmandu2
Feb-09-2012, 2:24pm
Heck, need as nothing to do with it. I didn't need the first one.

For me, I absolutely need all of this stuff...I would suffer intolerably without every last bit of it (although, at this point in life I could do without the 3K jazz CDs...maybe)


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stratman62
Feb-09-2012, 2:30pm
Started with a plywood pac-rim, went to a Aria-Pro2, traded for a Martin A, sold it and bought a 43 Gibson A50, still have it. Bought a Fender Mandocaster, recently let it go, bought a Dean McKenzie
F5, my go to mandolin, installed a Baggs Radius, and a Jonathan Mann F-7, which I love but it has been garnished by my son in law. Might do some trading this weekend, will let you know.

Fretbear
Feb-09-2012, 2:47pm
Dreadful Kay A
Univox F5
Stewmac A
1917 Gibson A-0
1984 Kentucky KM-1000
Custom "Victorian" Blacktop Stewmac F5
No Mo Mas.....

pefjr
Feb-09-2012, 2:51pm
This is over some 20 years:
Kentucky A
Teens F-4
Nugget A
Collings F
some 15-20 of my own builds.
my current main :

:popcorn:I think you might have reached Mando heaven with that walnut. And they say you can't take it with you.

Ed Goist
Feb-09-2012, 2:53pm
I don't look at it as a pilgrimage.
...snipped most of a great post - Go back and read it if you haven't already...


Great post Jeff.
Oh, and since I am sure that I'm on the first rung, I really like your idea of a 'three rung mandolin ladder'.
I'll propose Odyssey...The story is in the journey - And the mandolins are our fellow travelers, not our destinations.

Canoedad
Feb-09-2012, 2:59pm
As a beginner I haven't visited many shrines as yet. But I think I get the "pilgramage" analogy.

Check out the long list of pilgramage sites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_pilgrimage

catmandu2
Feb-09-2012, 3:34pm
btw, for those who enjoy variety...one of my favorite "shopping" sites (check out the nice charango, nfi):

http://www.elderly.com/vintage/cats/200U.html

JeffD
Feb-09-2012, 3:49pm
As a beginner I haven't visited many shrines as yet. But I think I get the "pilgramage" analogy.


So you got me thinking about this. Took a whole cup of coffee.

I think a better fit for the pilgrimage thing is the music I have played. My mandolin pilgrimage is the path that I have taken through the music, and what tunes I have played are the shrines, some old and venerable, some modern. All of them a place I go to and from which I come more dedicated than the last time.

For me anyway, the pilgrimage is the music and the mandolins are the various vehicles, buses, cars, shoes, and sandles, that I used to get there.

Thank you Canoedad for getting me thinking this way. I know very much what you mean by pilgrimage and for me I can't use it accurately any other way.

Canoedad
Feb-09-2012, 4:05pm
I think a better fit for the pilgrimage thing is the music I have played. My mandolin pilgrimage is the path that I have taken through the music, and what tunes I have played are the shrines, some old and venerable, some modern. All of them a place I go to and from which I come more dedicated than the last time.

For me anyway, the pilgrimage is the music and the mandolins are the various vehicles, buses, cars, shoes, and sandles, that I used to get there.

Excellent! That truly is what it's all about. Otherwise we're all just a bunch of gear heads. My other passion is whitewater canoeing. And yea, gear and boats are necessary. But it's all about the water. That magic carpet that so few get to ride.

Thank you as well.

pickloser
Feb-09-2012, 4:29pm
I think it's a rafting trip. Sometimes the water is slow and you have to paddle and paddle, while sometimes the water is fast and rough and dangerous and you can flip over. . . .No, no, it's not a rafting trip, it's a see saw ride, up and down, and up and down. . . .No, no, not a see saw, it's a roller coaster ride, you save up and up and up and then you buy one and wheeeee, but then the ride stops so you have to ride again, and you save up and up and up. . . .No it's a road trip and you're always asking if you're there yet. Yeah. A road trip. And a roller coaster. ~:>

catmandu2
Feb-09-2012, 5:00pm
Music-schmusic...bring on the toys!

Canoedad
Feb-09-2012, 5:08pm
This thread needs a soundtrack http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAmBkQDAUh4&feature=related
:)

OldSausage
Feb-09-2012, 10:21pm
Mandolins are like a box of chocolates...

JeffD
Feb-10-2012, 2:24am
Mandolins are like a box of chocolates...


:))

catmandu2
Feb-10-2012, 2:27pm
Just when I thought I'd left lectrik guitars behind...made a trade this morning for this axe. I'd been missing my Fender 400 since the 80s...but this one's nicer :mandosmiley:


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D C Blood
Feb-10-2012, 7:49pm
OK..the mem'ry grows dim, reaching into the deep recesses of the past, but I'll try. First mando was a Kent blond oval hole. Sounded bad but easy to play so not too bad to learn on. Then the requisite Kay. First good mando was a blond 50s A-40 (?) Then came my first F-style, a 50s F-12, purchased at a South Philly pawn shop for $125. Traded that to John Duffey for an F-2 and some cash...Bought John's modified 35(?) F-7 for that F-2 and $700. (John regretted that deal the rest of his life, but he really needed a car. Bought an original '35 F-7 from George Gruhn. I ordered a Paganoni from John P, great mando, another I wish I still had. I traded Duffey's F-7 off for an 1898 3 Point (I'll regret that the rest of my life). I gave the Gruhn F-7 to a young man who really needed it. I had an A-40 while I was in Vietnam. I got an F-2 from Kenny Baker in a trade for a fiddle he really liked (and later had stolen from him). (no idea what I did with that one). Traded the 1898 3 pt for another F-2 and cash...sold that after a bit. All this was in my first ten years of playing. In 1974 I went to Nashville, with the Paganoni. Our band snagged an endorsement from Aria Pro II, and they gave me two of them to use. I had some serious rent to pay so I sold the Paganoni. In 1978 I found a Charles Horner mando on consignment in a local music store for $200..I played that one for about twenty years, though I did have a nice Givens A-model in there somewhere. In 1996 I bought a really nice Scotty Jackson F-5, and had to sell it for house payments in 2003 because of a stretch of unemployment. Same time I bought a no-name A-model from Gruhn that they said was probably made by Givens, and sold that a few years later. Somewhere in here I bought a Rige G-110 and sold it. In 2006 I took the Horner back to Mr. Horner, intending to have him do a little tweaking and he discovered it was the first one he ever made, so he traded me a really nice 1983 Horner for it. In 2009 I saw a Silver Eagle in the Elderly catalog, drove up to Lansing, sampled the Silver Eagle and loved it. They traded it to me for the Horner. I've been with that ever since, adding a distressed A Model Ratcliff, and a distressed F-model Silverangel. I'm thinking at this point, I've finished my mandolin buying...See the three there in my avatar.

jrutledg
Feb-11-2012, 5:39pm
Got the BG bug in the 1980s, so the first one was an '84 Flatiron AJr. Kept it for20+ years. Sold it to someone of this forum.

Then came (all to stay) an Apitius F, Heiden A, Brock GOM, Flatiron OM, a vintage no-name oval but probably a Regal (on loan to the Irish band in which I play acoustic bass) and (arrived yesterday in fact) a Phoenix NeoClassical.

I'm done. Or so I say. I am certainly more than satisfied.

Amandalyn
Feb-11-2012, 6:38pm
Started with an A style Kentucky, was a good beginner mando. Then got a F Alvarez, not bad for an import (earlier model) My next up was a Flatiron F- Performer- OK, kept it for quite a few years, but not enough punch. Traded that for a Randy Wood 2 PT. which is a great mandolin and I still have as one of my keepers. Have had a few others in- between: Driftwood 2 Pt., Breedlove Cascade, F-5 Cole ( very good!). I was wanting a Gib snakehead, or oval hole, so had Andy Poe design me an A Style Oval hole with black top & Blond back-Engelman top, a real beauty in looks and tone. I was lucky to acquire Will Kimble's first 5 model, hence "Lucky #13", German Spruce top ( not as dry sounding as red spruce) which is a keeper. I also have a guitar shaped Bill Bussman Old Wave Octave mando, redwood top, walnut back & sides, awesome tone & definately a keeper. So, I've settled down my quest for mandolins. Also like to play and compare different makers out there, they are all different, but you know when one feels just right.