Kentucky km 505 vs. Tacoma m2

[calabbyjo]

I am a guitar player that has decided to learn the mandolin. I have narrowed my search down to a Kentucky km 505 or a Tacoma m2. Unfortunately I am not able to play either one due to location. Any thoughts? sound, playability, etc?

[Mike Scott]

I would go with the Kentucky. I have only played one, but was very impressed with the tone and playability (playability is ultimately a preference of neck shape and set up). I have never played a Tacoma, but it is sort of an odd animal as mandos go. I think your resale value and ease of selling would be enhanced with the Kentucky too.

I hope this helps. YMMV. Good luck with the search.

[almeriastrings]

http://www.elderly.com/new_instruments/items/M2.htm

Now that really IS a bolt-on neck....

Never encountered one of those either, but I have encountered quite a few KM-505's and they are nice mandolin and great value. I'd go with the 505 every time.

[Tiderider]

I owned a Tacoma many years back, it was very well constructed but it's voice was very thin and subdued. It would be a great instrument to "electrify". I'd go with the Kentucky.

[Steve Ostrander]

km505 any day of the week. No brainer.

[Fstpicker]

The few Tacoma mandolins I have played had a very different voice than a regular mandolin. Seemed more "guitar-like" in tone. One thing as well, is that the neck width's are pretty wide when compared to the more common 1 & 1/8" or 1 & 3/32" widths many mandolins use now. Kind of similar in width to the wider-necked Ovation Mandolins.

Jeff

[calabbyjo]

Thanks for all of the input. I am going to throw another one into the mix, Eastman MD305?

[Folkmusician.com]

Now you have two comparable mandolins. :)

It is a really tough call between these two mandolins. A lot of it will be down to personal preference.

These two have a similar feel with the KM-505 having a slightly larger neck. The tone on the KM-505 is more of a dry Bluegrass tone, The Eastman is thinner sounding, but not in a bad way. Without being able to play them in person, you are fine flipping a coin. Both are nice. :)

[abuteague]

I owned the Tacoma M2. I learned on it. It served me well for 3 or so years.
My complaints:
I did get some separation between the top and the sides of the instrument that had to be regluded. One of the tuners was sharp and would pop my e string so I had it sanded down. This could happen to anyone.
My big complaint was...
I didn't like how the tail piece had 4 tags to hang 8 strings. If I wasn't extremely careful, the strings would cross and cause strange noises when I played that were hard to identify. I mean, each pair is of course touching each other at the tag in the tailpiece, but if they touched a little farther from the tag than they should, it was bad news. Noise problems always came down to the strings being in contact with each other somewhere where they shouldn't. I called and asked Tacoma if they had a different tail piece with 8 string tags that I could buy, but they claimed 4 was the way to go and all they had. This frustrated me. My local luthier said that for all my investment in getting a new tailpiece I could do just as well or better saving for a new instrument and that is what I did.


I haven't played the others.
Good luck.

[calabbyjo]

Thanks for all of the input. I decided to go with the Kentucky. Looking forward to getting it in my hands and learning a new instrument.