My new Lafferty Mandola

[ebubier]

For Christmas 2012 I got a Lafferty Mandola from Dennis Vance at http://www.themandolinstore.com
It was made by James Wilson at www.redvalleymandolins.com (http://www.redvalleymandolins.com) in Sedona, AZ.

It arrived, securely packaged, and ready to play. It was really tough to wait the recommended three days for the wood to acclimatize, but that meant I could play it for the first time on Christmas Day. Kinda neat.

I've been playing mandolin for about a 2 years.
For the first year or so I had a cheapo Fransiscan model.
About a year ago I bought a Loar 220
I wanted a mandola because I thought the greater spaces between the frets (compared to a mandolin) would make it easier for me to play.


Anyway... I've been playing it for three days now and here's what I've noticed so far:
1 - It is much louder than my mandolin.
2 - Visually, I find it very pretty. I just love the look of natural wood.
3 - The tone is quite bright & even across all the strings - medium guage phosphor bronze D'Addario J-76.
4 - The larger spaces between the frets is more comfortable than my mandolin.
5 - It stays in tune better than my Loar, even with hard strumming.
6 - I really think that The Lafferty Mandola is a great buy for $1000.
Beautiful, full, bright tone, and nice looking. I love it.
(I should say that this is the only mandola that I have every played,
and I have never played a high-end mandolin).

Below are some pics.

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[Markus]

Thanks for the review and welcome to the cafe.

That's a lovely mandola.

[Mike Romkey]

Cool!

[Ruskin]

I´ve just had mine for 5 days, yes, it´s nice , quite different from my other mandolins,. Chunky neck , nasal and woody sounding.Haven´t managed yet to find a good spot for pickup. J72 dáddario strings are ok. Also came from themandolinstore, great Dennis ;-).
Pitty gigbag had some holes inside where string ends pointing upwards on headstock. :-( . Also had to file new slot for 2nd A string cause it was way to near 1st A . Like the jumbo fat frets and natural finish/look . Quite happy, but still getting the hang of the instrument and it´s sound/feel. FOTOS : http://www.flickr.com/photos/31643326@N06/sets/72157634027495035/

[Ruskin]

ahh, my signature appears now :)

[Andy Phillips]

I liked your review. I just did my first post on MC about the Thomann mandola - yes, it too is louder than the usual mando too and far easier for me to play (I have big hands and can't cope with narrow mandolin fret boards). I really am sold on mandolas!

[Ruskin]

better sonds from the twin spot K&K 103365

[Ruskin]

found John Pearse mandola strings #2240 to be easier players than D´Addario´s J72´s . Slightly lighter but nice for celtic fiddle style playing and easier on chords. They seem to be more balanced pressure (tension)-wise. Both share the same 4th string .049. :)

[almeriastrings]

That looks a fine mandola. I would think there are very few in Europe.

Nice to see another 8-string picker in Spain on here!