Search:

I've always thought the lessons on this site are well-organized and helpful:

http://www.mandolessons.com/

Seeing how many classical guitarists these days wear a miniature sleeve over there right forearm to deal with discomfort due to the edge, I'd say this is a fairly common issue and that mandolin...

I really enjoy them. To my ears, they have a stronger fundamental and fewer overtones than phosphor bronze

I have an armrest made by Voight Mandolins. The slightly elevated height does help a bit with good picking technique, but the main reason I bought it was because the corner of the mandolin where the...

Yes they do seem like they have more give to me, even though they apparently have more tension. I once compared the tension to two otherwise identical sets for acoustic guitar: both Martin strings,...

I regularly use D'Addario's stainless steel strings, and they are excellent. I haven't noticed any corrosion/oxidation after even months of use. The strings are more likely to wear out from metal...

This has been my experience too. Despite the name, they aren't especially popular among jazz guitarists in my experience. Jazz guitar players use every shape under the sun, but the Jazz III seems to...

Hey pops1, sorry for the delayed reply. The PEEK is by far the brightest (and loudest), owing to its relatively high density versus other materials out there. The brightness might be a bit much for...

Hi Brad, that's the Large Triangle

Hello! It’s exciting to see this thread on the forum! I’ll try to very briefly address every standout point or question:

Jim Garber: The PEEK is fairly bright sounding in comparison to Blue Chip’s...

Aside from the Nickel Bronze strings, D'Addario has Stainless Steel and Nickel-Plated Steel options, both of which I think are severely underrated

A little over a month ago, I purchased a 515 that came with Ping tuners. Unfortunately, they were completely unusable. One of the A-string tuners was stiff to the point of being unmovable (machining...

This is exactly what I was hoping to read in this thread. The tuners on my MD515 aren't even usable, so I'm going to have to look into these

It would definitely be easier to order some new buttons altogether from somewhere like Stewmac or LMII. There really isn't an easy way to take ivoroid and stain it completely black, as it is not a...

It's interesting to see other people talk about having problems with the tuners on their Eastman mandolins. I just recently purchased their MD-515 model and am having the identical problem. The...

I don't know if anyone here has tried them, but Voight Mandolins sells armrests as well. I haven't tried one of his yet, but the fact that the threaded hardware that join the top and bottom pieces...

Sounds pretty great. The violinist had some really good ideas. Do you guys play with any other jazz/gypsy jazz musicians in the Colorado area?

I haven't been able to try a 505, but I have tried a 305 and an LM-400. It's hard to speak definitively from trying only one of each, but I thought the Eastman had a little more volume than the Loar,...

Pick making is a lot of fun, and every player should try it at least once. It's really satisfying to watch them gradually take shape from a chunk of raw material.
However, Vespel and PEEK are far...

Both the originals and the new ones are made from celluloid, but they have a different hardness. The celluloid used for the current ones is actually the identical celluloid used for the D'Andrea...

This is correct, although a century ago (a little longer in some places) other tuning systems were just as (or more) common as A445, since there was no universally agreed upon standard. But yes, it's...

Thank you so much for the review, Steven! I remember making your order last week. The quality of polishing does indeed make a difference in a pick's grip, although I do still believe a Fender pick...

About a year ago, I tried the D'Addario Stainless Steel strings in medium gauge, and I don't know if I'll ever be able to go back to anything else

At their price, the Fender Tru Shell picks are definitely what I would consider a "work in progress" pick. With added beveling and light polishing, they can be quite nice, although it's certainly up...

Hi, I'm the owner of EML Picks. I've browsed this forum for a few years now, but after receiving an email from a forum member and seeing this thread, I decided it was time to finally join. ...