Camping adventures with the beater

[Br1ck]

Just got back from a five day camp in the coastal California Redwoods. Took my 199.00 MK.

Day one: had mando in right hand after just exiting my tent. One of my escape artist doggie critters squeezed by as I was zipping the tent back up. Reached out to grab him just as my, toe hit a tree root. Went down hard, mando top first, then the neck I was holding landed as I braced my fall. Horrible banging sound, strings breaking, knees loosing battle with the ground. I turned mando over expecting a top crack or two, the bridge displaced or broken in half and a top full of road rash.

Two broken strings. No structural or visual damage whatsoever. Not so much as a dent or a ding. Wondered how my wrist and index finger would feel next day.

Day two: Had just broken an E string setting up my new nut last week. Robbed one from my last set. Threw this set into my case thinking, probably won't need it. I had ordered more and a bunch of extra Es. Restrung the E and A that broke. All was well.

Day three: E string, the old one, was flat. Twang, broke tuning up. Up a creek, no paddle. That was when I decided to play the rest of the trip with one E string.

Days three, four, and five: Learned a seven string mando was better than no mando at all.

I still don't know how it survived, my knees quit hurting after the second day, and I learned what having a beater was all about. I've gotten quite attached to my MK, and wonder if my Silverangel would have survived.

[Folkmusician.com]

I have an MK here that took a fall from a second story balcony. It didn't fair so well!

Glad to hear the your mandolin was not seriously injured!

Love the Redwoods, we were discussing header there soon.

[sbhikes]

I bring a strumstick when I go backpacking. I just came back from a 5-day trip through a slot canyon. The strumstick got rained on and banged around on rocks and is not worse for wear.

[Eric Platt]

Glad the mando (and you) fared decently. Banged my knee pretty good last year about this time after a fall. Ended up getting infected and resulted in surgery last June.

So, you could have had it worse. Probably will keep my LM-220 for camping situations.

[dhergert]

Glad you, the mandolin and your dogs all survived and enjoyed the Redwoods... I'm glad you're enjoying your MK also.

I can imagine its dulcet tones echoing between the Giants. Thanks for sharing your experiences!

Edit: Btw, related to breaking the strings, that's why mandolins have 2 of each string isn't it?

[Br1ck]

AND I found out how you can rubber band a D'Addario tuner to a headstock and it still works, but you have to snap it back together first.

[Bertram Henze]

Playing in the wild has other thrills, too: make sure to bring a double fence (or avoid playing Black Sabbath).

I have tried this with cows, once. It works.

[allenhopkins]

I hope this thread is read by all those who say, "I have no need for a 'beater' -- I take my good mandolin wherever I go. What's the use of buying a great mandolin if you're afraid to take it into all situations?"

The "use" is that there are plenty of rough-and-ready circumstances where that kind of accident, if it happened to your $10K F-5, would cause immediate cardiac arrest, not to mention major potential repair expenses. And, a significant decrease in the value of the instrument.

I have a $200+ Strad-O-Lin that goes with me into many more situations than any other of my many mandolins. It hangs over my back when I walk through local festivals, sits at my feet at sing-arounds and jams when I'm playing another instrument, and was sitting (unscathed) in the back of my Honda Element when I totaled it on the Mass Pike in 2013.

So read and heed, guys. That couple hundred bucks you plunk down for a hunk of Asian plywood, may be money well spent.

[Br1ck]

It was eye opening to say the least, as I have been in the why bother to have a beater camp. It was only the deal and the urge to do some mando wrenching that lead me down the beater path, then the rediculous attachment I've developed for it, that lead me to the point of having it camping with me.

Yes, it could happen in one's living room, but how less the odds?

[CES]

Glad you and the MK are OK! Yep, this is why I have my beater. And, I've gotten quite attached to it as well, because it's associated with so many great memories!

I've got some extended traveling by air coming up, and actually bought a Kala Waterman soprano uke. Fits in my backpack, impervious to elements, and if it breaks or is confiscated, I'm really not out much. I'll miss the mando, but the uke will get me through. (Yes, it sounds like dooty, but for this purpose I could care less). If I ever happen across a used CF Mix mando at a point when I've got the cash, I'll pounce. Availability and funding just haven't coincided yet...