Folkfriends Soprancister, my first mandolin

[Roin]

Hi everybody,
I'm new to this forum and the world of mandolin playing, so I thought the best way to introduce myself is to show pics of my very first own mandolin.
It is a portuguese styled mandolin and pretty cheap (goes for like 179 euro), nothing outstanding I guess and probably not worth much talking, but it is my very first one and as a beginner I really like its playability, it is relativly easy to play for me (using lite strings), the tone is very pleasant too (yet I cant produce much up to now) and the design is sort of... nice :-).
Anyway now some pics:
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So well since I just started and I dont have much time to practice atm (writing my bachelor thesis in applied computer science) my playing is not really good right now, but I tried myself on some simple tunes so hopefully they can give a small impression of this instrument.
http://wwwlehre.dhbw-stuttgart.de/~it10102/choco.ogg
http://wwwlehre.dhbw-stuttgart.de/~it10102/diegedankensindfrei.ogg
.
So that being said I hope I'll become better in the near future (I'm actually learning mandolin by using Mandolin for Dummies by Don Julin, great book!).

Greets,
Roin

[Jim Garber]

Roin: Your mandolin looks decent and your playing sounds very good for someone who is just starting. Welcome to the Cafe and keep up the good work and best of luck on your degree.

[Levi]

Welcome to the cafe. How is it stringing on that slotted peghead? I kind of prefer them myself, but many don't. I like the mandolin, as I've recently been into the whole flat top thing. Very nice looking.

Nice playing too. It sounds very different from an arch top or bowlback.

[Roin]

Thanks a lot :grin:, well I think it is rather easy to string this instrument, but I have nothing to compare really. The only other mandolin (I have) is an old german styled mandolin (a bit more tear drop shaped and a flat back) I borrowed from a friend before buying my own (it is the mandolin of his passed away grandfather, so it stayed in a wet garage for 3 years, not very nice) and it also has a slot-head like this one. From my feeling the biggest difficulty with this type of head is to get the strings into the holes (the little metal bars you wind it around have two holes probably to choose from I only use one of them lol). On the other hand, once fastened they have no chance of ever sliping off. Anyway like I said I don't know how easy it is to string instruments with different type of tuners. So yeah I'm not at all against them the third time I changed strings everything went so fast and easy that I don't mind this type of head.

[JEStanek]

Welcome to the Cafe!

Jamie