Originally Posted by
Mandobart
Update on this thread: my Mandobird VIII arrived today from Musician's Friend. I paid $199 for what was advertised as a used, very good condition instrument. Mine claims to be from Indonesia. When it arrived it looked new. I still can't find any wear marks, but I'm certainly not complaining. Thoughts so far, after ~ 2 hours with it - finish, feel, are all fine, and better than I expected for a $200 instrument. The bridge is not a "tunematic" style; as posted above you can only adjust the angle of the saddle and the action, can't individually adjust intonation for each pair of strings. So setting intonation is like doing it on an acoustic mando. As others posted, I have not been able to get the intonation perfect all the way up the neck. But, I can get it acceptable. The tone pot seems to have a bent shaft, there is a little wobble as it rotates, but it works fine. Sound through my old Peavey is pretty cool! The E pair of strings are definitely weak as also posted above, so I think a pickup upgrade is in order. Thank again everyone, gotta go play...