Big Name, Cheap Mandolin

[MikeZito]

Just a curiosity - how many good mandolin players have seen on stage (or even in photos) playing 'cheap' mandolins?

I know that Bill Monroe promoted Epiphone, Jethro Burns had his time with Washburn - but what else can you add to the list?

[Jeff Mando]

Dawg had a deal with Kentucky in the 80's

[catmandu2]

Bear in mind - Epiphone was at one time a 'top' brand - many of their high-end banjos from the 'Golden Age' are still desired. Many players used em - famously, John Lennon among them.

David Lindley uses/used Hora bouzoukis -

Dirk Powell owns at least one Harmony 'bakelite' banjo -

[NursingDaBlues]

Well, I play a...

Oh, wait. You said "good mandolin player."

Never mind.

[HonketyHank]

I am pretty sure he didn't own one or play one on stage, but I have seen a photo of Earl Scruggs playing a Kay.

[Andy Hatfield]

How many carpenters do you see using a black and Decker driver? Dewalt or bosch are better made, will do the job better day after day, and will last longer.

[allenhopkins]

Depends on how you define "cheap mandolin." Some of the African-American blues mandolinists had less expensive instruments, such as Yank Rachell's Harmony "batwing," the Kent mandola I believe "Gatemouth" Brown used occasionally, the electrified Gibson A-40 that Johnny Young is pictured playing, and others. I would hazard a guess that this was not totally from choice, but because limited resources and the scarcity of amplified mandolins may have led them to use whatever they could find.

Buzz Busby played a Gibson A-50, amazingly well, at a time when Gibson F-5's were pretty much the standard for bluegrass musicians. I wouldn't call any Gibson a "cheap mandolin," but the A-50 was a much less expensive model. A virtuoso like Andy Statman played a Gibson A-Jr. for years, because he liked its sound.

One of the more iconic rock mandolin solos, in Rod Stewart's Maggie May, was played by Ray Jackson on an inexpensive Columbus electric mandolin (article).

And, of course, Bill Monroe was famously pictured holding an Ibanez mandolin in an Ibanez advertisement, and supposedly played Ibanez instruments during a tour of Japan (which may have been underwritten by Ibanez, for all I know). Ibanez supposedly made a special high-end model for his endorsement, and according to an Ibanez website, only two of these mandolins were made. So they're not "cheap mandolins," per se, but they are from a less expensive line of instruments.

[MikeEdgerton]

I think there's an old picture of Monroe playing an Epiphone I don't know if he ever had any sort of endorsement deal. There are also pictures of Monroe playing an Ibanez they gave him in Japan but I'm not sure that would have constituted an endorsement deal. Rhonda Vincent had a deal with Weber but played another brand with a sticker over the label.

[mandroid]

Yea, the Checks that go with an endorsement deal , are an incentive..

[fscotte]

Tony Rice used a plastic back Ovation on the infamous Manzanita title track from the album of the same name.

[MikeZito]

Yes Mike, you're right - I was thinking of his Ibanez endorsement, but the Epiphone photo came to mind when I was typing the original post - hence the mistake. Thanks for clarifying.

[MediumMando5722]

In the electric guitar world, Jack Pearson (in)famously tours with a $100 Squier Stratocaster.

[AlanN]

Tony Rice used a plastic back Ovation on the infamous Manzanita title track from the album of the same name.

And he used the same brand on every track save one on Backwaters.

[CES]

The mandolin Rhonda put the sticker on is a Gibson Doyle Lawson (or was a couple of years ago). She was so appreciative of how the Webers had treated her that she felt compelled (or maybe contractually obligated?) to keep that name on the headstock. I saw them live a few years ago, and she was back to a Weber, but her son in law, Hunter Berry, played the DL on a couple of songs. Both were fine mandolins, but that DL is an especially good toned monster...iirc someone lent it to her in a recording session, and she liked it so much she bought it. But, memories being what they are, sorry if I'm off...

[Jim Garber]

Did Bill actually endorse Epiphone mandolins way back before he got his F-5?

I do see this ad from later times for Ibanez:

[Don Grieser]

In the Bill Monroe Homespun videos, the guitar player is also playing an Ovation. Must have been some sort of promotional deal.

[Malco]

Wow, where can one hear Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown playing mandolin and mandola? I had no idea he played them.

[JEStanek]

Paul Prespotino of Peter Paul and Mary plays an old Stradolin. Humble mandolins can still sound pretty good from a stage in the right hands.

Jamie

[John Rosett]

I saw Jimmy Capps playing a cheap Peavey Strat on the Grand Ole Opry in the 80's.

[rf37]

Larry sparks' new mandolin player (Evan Lanier) is playing a km 950 now. Although those kentuckys are lwer pruced they are fantastic professional mandolins

[Jeff Mando]

In the Bill Monroe Homespun videos, the guitar player is also playing an Ovation. Must have been some sort of promotional deal.

Ovation, beside the plastic bowl thing, was doing the acoustic electric thing early on before Takamine dominated the "Garth Brooks era". A lot of pros played them on stage including Glen Campbell, Eddie Rabbit, David Alan Coe, and others -- not because they were so great, but because they solved the "acoustic problem" when playing live.

Actually, I take that back. For years I ran a home studio recording bands, back in the age before everyone used their computers, anyway the BEST acoustic guitar tone I ever recorded, not using the built-in pickup, using three mics in a live room with hardwood floors was, yep, drum roll please, an Ovation bowl back, actually not even a "real" Ovation, I think it was an Applause series..used $100 guitar........sorry Martin, Gibson, Taylor, etc., owners..........

[catmandu2]

Quite. Before Taka, Ovation was the industry standard for 'big room' performance - everyone from McLaughlin/Dimeola to McCartney to Kermit the frog - due the efficient on-board electronics.

*recall, though the guitar part of this discussion is different - countless numbers of less-than-marquee-name guitars were used, in epic recordings - Decca, Eko, Stella, et al. - many diiferent 'brand' names on many epic recordings.

[MikeZito]

Many years ago I knew a guy who did a one-off gig with pop stars Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. He said that the guitar player for the show was fantastic. After the gig he went up to him to shake his hand and ask him what kind of guitar he played. The guy was playing a Sears guitar.

It's like JE said above; In the right hands you never know what can happen with any cheap instrument.

[yankees1]

Reminds me of a story I read about a late 1800's or early 1900's violin player who was one of the best musicians of his time ( I can't recall his name ). He had a concert to play and it was advertised that he would be playing his Strad ! On the way to the concert he stopped by a pawn shop and picked up an inexpensive violin. At the concert he played the violin and of course the audience thought he was playing the Strad . It was reported later that the audience and critics thought his playing was superb ! At the conclusion of his concert he placed the cheap violin on the floor and stomped on it with gasps from the audience ! He then explained that this was not his Strad and it is the musician that makes the beautiful music and not necessarily the instrument ! This is the best I can remember the story and I may have a few points wrong . Anyone else heard this story and want to correct anything ?

[NursingDaBlues]

He then explained that this was not his Strad and it is the musician that makes the beautiful music and not necessarily the instrument!

“A top musician gets more from his instrument than an ordinary mortal like we.”
~unknown

I wrote the following for another thread; sounds appropriate here:
My Dad was a carpenter. He once told me that only another carpenter gives a darn about what kind of tools are in your toolbox. Everyone else only cares about how well you use those tools.