Originally Posted by
NYmando
Unfortunately I don't live near a music store with a wide variety of mandolins, so I'm looking for thoughts, and sharing an observation. I don't play bluegrass, but mainly accompany guitar players on typical folk/country/singer songwriter stuff. (I used to play a bunch of Mandolin Orange songs with a partner). I'm at the low-budget end of the mando world as an early intermediate player, and have had mid-missouri, Breedlove, and Eastman mandolins. For the past few years I've been pretty happy with a JBovier A5, and while the tone is good, sometimes I'd like a little sharper G string. I don't like the sound of Kentuckys I've played, as they sound thin and overly bright. I've also not liked Eastmans at all, but last night, waiting to play at an open mic, I played a humble MD315 in the store. I didn't have time to A-B it against my JBovier, but I was REALLY surprised at how much I liked it!
My observation is that I probably shouldn't write off a particular make, but judge each instrument separately, as there is probably a big range in quality, especially when they're mass produced.
And my question is: given the above comments, what suggestions do folks have for a different mando to try, staying under $1500 or so? Thanks.