Hi Everyone. This is my first post to the Mandolin Cafe. I have gotten a ton of great information off of the forums here though, what a great resource!
I am posting this for anyone thinking about getting a Lafferty Octave Mandolin. There is not a lot of information on the Lafferty models yet, so read on if you are interested!
I am relatively new to mandolin. I am a saxophone player and high school band director who bought an Eastman 505 a year ago. I really enjoy playing mandolin but most of the time I am playing alone, so I wanted something more in the guitar range for singing. After much research and debate I decided to buy an Octave Mandolin. I settled on the Lafferty based on the Mandolin Store's reputation, some great conversations that I had with them, the price, and the fact that the one that I wanted was on sale.
So now I own the Lafferty "Deluxe" Octave Mandolin. Here is a link: https://themandolinstore.com/product...-walnut-cedar/ It has Walnut back/sides and a Cedar top. It has nice sustain and a really deep, full-bodied, almost guitar-like sound. This is especially true when strumming the open chords, which I do a lot of. You can definitely tell that it is a mandolin, just a nice mellow mandolin sound with a sweet tone. Melodies (when I play the right notes) sound great as well.
I'm not an expert, but the build quality seems top-notch. The instrument itself is beautiful, especially the dark-brown walnut on the back and sides. I can't find anything wrong with the build. The finish, the binding, the frets, the nut, all of it is done exceptionally well.
As a bonus, there is a pick-up installed on this model. I don't actually know what kind of pick-up is in it, I'll have to find that out. It didn't list a pick-up on the website, but they did tell me about it over the phone. I plugged it in to my amp and it really sounds fantastic. I was very pleasantly surprised with how "acoustic" the OM sounds plugged in. A very nice addition to the instrument!
This OM responds very well to a capo, especially on the second fret. I have heard that sometimes a capo can hurt the sound of the instrument, so far I have used a capo up to the fourth fret and I have not noticed any problems.
It comes with a hard case. It is a nice case and the instrument fits well, no concerns there either. I think it is probably a banjo case, though I am not sure.
The mandolin was packaged for shipping very well and there was no damage to the case or instrument in transit. It shipped from the Mandolin Store in Arizona to Western New York State in exactly one week.
Overall I would highly recommend the Lafferty Octave Mandolins as a great option if you are considering getting a flat top octave mandolin. To be fair I should say that there are no stores in my area that stock octave mandolins so my experience with other brands or models is extremely limited. Those arch-top Weber OMs look like amazing instruments, but they are just too expensive for me. I really didn't want to get a Gold-Tone or a Trinity College. They seem like they can be fine instruments, but I really liked the idea of buying something made in the US. And since the Lafferty brand is fairly new I thought it would be fun to dive in and give them a try.
Of course the Mandolin Store was great to work with, and very patient with my many questions.
Hopefully this review will help someone else out if they have questions about the Lafferty OMs. If you have questions for me feel free to ask. Keep in mind I am really just a want-to-be mandolin and Octave Mandolin player. A typical performance for me happens in my living room. But my family hasn't told me to stop yet so we'll roll with it.
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