What Type of Mandolin for a Long-Time Electric Guitar Player?

[Quincella]

I KNOW that similar questions have been asked, but I have searched the forum and can't seem to find what I'm looking for. Please forgive the redundancy and know that I appreciate your advice.

My husband is a guitarist. He plays primarily electric, but also electric acoustic. He mostly plays rock and a lot of blues. He's interested in learning the mandolin, and I'd like to buy him one for Christmas. I don't want to spend $7000 for one like Eddie Vedder often plays, but that's what has him most interested in learning!

He is sort of guitar agnostic; meaning, he plays different ones depending on the music he's playing. Currently he has a strat, a tele, a couple of Gibson Les Paul's (including a gold top), a Talkovich, a Samick acoustic, a G&L, and just got rid of an Ibanez (sp?) he didn't play much, and probably a couple I'm forgetting.

Based on all of that, can someone please recommend a style and a few brands that you think would be appropriate for me to look at as a starting point? I really don't want to spend more than $500 since it's his first. He tooled around with a banjo for a while and lost interest, so I don't want to break the bank for a mandolin he'll play once or twice and put away. He'll likely want to be able to plug in so he can play with the band, but will certainly want it to sound good on its own, too.

Thanks in advance.

[John Flynn]

A Fender FM-52E Acoustic-Electric Mandolin might not be a bad choice. Since it's only $215, you could also afford a professional setup, which can really make any mandolin at any price play like a more expensive one, plus a decent case.

[Quincella]

Thanks! Off to research.

One question...when you say I could afford a "professional setup", what exactly does that mean? (Don't laugh at me).

[Larry S Sherman]

If I were you I would start at a level a little higher than the Fender, such as this one from the classifieds (http://www.mandolincafe.com/ads/61654). This one is just $450.

I have no financial interest in this mandolin, but the low-end more recent Fenders can be inconsistent. If I were a guitar guy I would appreciate the quality of the J Bovier, which is a copy of a classic Fender mandocaster.

If he decides to continue with mandolin he can go acoustic, but probably better to have a separate dedicated acoustic.

Good luck with your research!

Larry

[John Flynn]

Thanks! Off to research.

One question...when you say I could afford a "professional setup", what exactly does that mean? (Don't laugh at me).

A setup is a procedure performed by a professional luthier/repair person, where several things are checked/adjusted as needed, on the instrument, including:
tuner fit, functioning and lubrication
nut slot/nut relief check
frets leveled, crowned and polished
truss rod adjustment
bridge fit to top and bridge adjustment
other items I'm probably not thinking about

A good setup by a professional who knows mandolins, not just a guitar repair guy, can make a mandolin play and sound much better. It is not a given that a new instrument will come with a good setup, even from vendors who say they do a basic setup on all their instruments.

[MandoSquirrel]

For a little more than your $500, used Breedlove Quartz OO or OF models have necks that will feel familiar to electric guitarists. Other brands do as well, but I don't know which would have one that low in price.

[MandoSquirrel]

And listen to John on the setup.

[Quincella]

A setup is a procedure performed by a professional luthier/repair person, where several things are checked/adjusted as needed, on the instrument, including:
tuner fit, functioning and lubrication
nut slot/nut relief check
frets leveled, crowned and polished
truss rod adjustment
bridge fit to top and bridge adjustment
other items I'm probably not thinking about

A good setup by a professional who knows mandolins, not just a guitar repair guy, can make a mandolin play and sound much better. It is not a given that a new instrument will come with a good setup, even from vendors who say they do a basic setup on all their instruments.


This is exactly what I needed to know! And now I have to find someone locally who does this. Sometimes it's good to live in a major metropolitan area.

[Quincella]

This is good info, too. When we've talked about it casually he said his major concern is that the neck is so narrow and it will take some time to get used to. Thanks.

[mandroid]

An Electric Mandolin? http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?53-Four-Five-and-Eight-String-Electrics

A 4 or 5 string will be sounding OK thru all the electronic stuff they already own..

the mandolin neck is wider than a Violin neck and big fingered people play those..

[MKB]

I'm a 30 year acoustic/electric guitarist that just picked up mandolin and am having a ball with it. I own many of the same electrics your husband does (Gibsons and Fenders). I didn't really know anything about mandolin and the folks here have been extremely helpful.

One thing I did notice when trying mandolins was fret size, I am extremely picky about fret size on an electric, and found the larger fret mandolins to be more comfortable and easy to play. I recently purchased a new Loar LM-520 and am very happy with its playability and tone (price was under $450). It had the largest frets I've seen on a mandolin and is lovely to play.

There are quite a few dealers out there that will set up a new purchase mandolin for you and it will be optimized straight out of the box. It may be worth paying a bit more to get the setup.

Finally, although I am primarily an electric guitarist, I have zero interest in electric mandolin. Whenever I play live with a mandolin mic'ing is good enough. Mandolins are mighty loud so they are easy to mic.

Good luck!

[bluenote23]

I too am a longish time electric guitar player who recently picked up the mandolin.

I myself would try to get the best sounding acoustic mandolin for the price you want to pay and forget about the electrics for now. You can always get a pickup later that you can attach to the mandolin if your husband really needs to plug in.

At any rate, he's going to have to learn to play it first, before he can use it with his band and I think if you go the electric route, you are going to compromise both the sound and the ease of play at the expense of the electrics. I may be wrong. I haven't played a lot of different mandolins out there but my thinking seems to make logical sense.

I started with a very inexpensive, used Rover RM 75. As it is going to be a gift, I don't know how practical it is going to be for you to look for a used instrument.

I now have a The Loar LM700 (which is going to be out of your budget range) but like MKB, my mandolin has a neck that's a little wider than the Rover had and the frets are larger. It is more comfortable to play but I was not really bothered by the skinny neck and smaller frets on the Rover either. As a string instrument player, you get used to whatever is in your hands.

I would look at at a quality instrument from one of the well known Chinese makers, so that would be Kentucky, Eastman or The Loar. These will be easier to resell (The Rover I had was all right but the name is less well known). if your husband finds he really likes playing the mandolin, he's going to want to get something better, probably in fairly short order.

[mrmando]

Godin A8.