Set up

[Cochiti Don]

I love the discussions here at the cafe. The absolute number one thing that EVERY ONE says is get it set up, like you can just drive down the street and do it. Luthiers are few and far between in my experience and 99% of those work on guitars. So... if you're not from the South or a big city, What can you do? Just asking. You tube has its limits for DYI. I'm a newbie and asking newbie questions.
Don

[Br1ck]

You can get Rob Meldrum's e book and learn to do your own for very little, or send it to someone like Jerry Rosa, or the most painless of all, buy a mandolin from a cafe sponsor like Elderly, The Mandolin Store, or the Folk Musician. They set up all their instruments.

[HonketyHank]

See this thread, post #4, for Rob's email address and instructions.

You can find his videos on YouTube also but do get his eBook.

[B381]

You can get Rob Meldrum's e book and learn to do your own for very little, or send it to someone like Jerry Rosa, or the most painless of all, buy a mandolin from a cafe sponsor like Elderly, The Mandolin Store, or the Folk Musician. They set up all their instruments.

This....

I got his book and actually used it again tonight to get the intonation right in the Kentucky I just got, the instructions make the process easy and the sound is oh so sweet.

[CES]

Also, Frank Ford's site, frets.com, has a ton of useful info. Nothing that conflicts with Rob's info (I've got his ebook and really appreciate it), but a couple of alternative ways to approach some aspects.

If DYI isn't your thing, or you've got a 25,000 dollar Gil you don't wanna mess up, then shipping to a competent luthier is always an option. Randy Wood, Lou Stiver, Dude, etc, etc, all do set up and repair work, though some are certainly more selective about the instruments they'll work on, or the projects they'll take on.

[Paul Busman]

The Meldrum ebook has information that any mandolin owner should have at their fingertips (pun intended). Even if you never do setups, little tweaks are often needed and this will give you what you need to know.

[Nevin]

If you let people know where you are from you may find there is a good technician near you that a memeber can recomend.

[Cochiti Don]

Thank you cafe friends.
It turns out that I'm only a 7 hr drive to the Mandolin Store in AZ. I'd like to get an Eastman 505 or something I like and I think they'll set it up while I'm there but I'm not sure. I ordered the Meldrum book also.
Don

[mandroid]

+1) The where you buy, is significant.

Warehouse sellers , like those Rogues from musician's friend, are shipping un-opened boxes.

so then you have to add that once in your hands..

[Jill McAuley]

Thank you cafe friends.
It turns out that I'm only a 7 hr drive to the Mandolin Store in AZ. I'd like to get an Eastman 505 or something I like and I think they'll set it up while I'm there but I'm not sure. I ordered the Meldrum book also.
Don

Any instrument you get from the Mandolin Store will be well set up - you won't have to request that they do so, it's already their policy. Great folks to buy from!

[pops1]

Don if I remember from another post you are having hand issues. If this is true and my memory actually worked for once you might ask them to set it up lower than normal for you.

[Br1ck]

When I was in Az. Last spring, I was able to stop by TMS and play a bunch of mandolins. They had just received a Kentucky I wanted to play, and they set it up while I was noodling on other mandolins.

An Eastman 505 is a well built and good looking mandolin I wouldn't hesitate buying, but the drive would be a useful education. Just don't play something wildly out of your price range unless you can live with not having it. But do play a 505 and then something like a Kentucky Masterbuilt and decide for yourself. Just be aware a Collings or Pava will be in another league, both in price and sound.

Really, a 505 would be a good place to start.

[dhergert]

There are a lot of dependencies related to whether you can do setup yourself, and how good of a setup you can do. Part of that is the instrument. Part of that is how good you are at doing setup related mechanical things.

Most of us have done our own mandolin setups at one time or another. I've done mine, having had some years of experience setting up other fretted stringed instruments. And I am glad for the experience. Mandolins have their own unique set of requirements for a good setup and you don't ever really learn even a little bit about that kind of detail unless you do it yourself.

That said, I recently had a complete neck-job done on my F-9, which along with re-fretting and some other neck related items, included a complete setup. This was done for me by an extremely experienced professional mandolin builder/luthier/repair person, Austin Clark.

I am continually amazed at the high quality of his work on my F-9. Last week, experimenting, I lowered the action at the bridge thumbwheels and found that I could actually adjust the action down to slightly less than one millimeter at the last fret, and still not have fret buzzing.

A side note: the tone of this mandolin with that low action is pretty poor, the volume, body, note clarity and separation are dramatically minimized -- but there was no fret buzzing. While playing, I found myself pressing the strings harder at that low action in an effort to produce more clear notes, so obviously I was better off with higher action (where I actually press less hard) so after experimenting I raised the action to a better sound producing level.

The real point that I want to make though is that we can do our own setups all we like, but we're only fooling ourselves if we think we can do a setup like a professional who does this work for a living. All the personal interest, correct information and good will in the world won't replace skills that are honed by 10,000 hours of experience.

With that in mind, I would still encourage people to learn by doing their own setup at least once. That should get them by for a while. But then sometime when it can be done, have the setup re-done by a professional mandolin setup specialist. The results will most likely amaze.

[Br1ck]

One more thing I'd like to add, and it relates to dehergurt's post above, reinforces it actually. I have two mandolins, a Silverangel A made by a single shop luthier and bought used for $1400, and my much discussed (by me) MK F style that was yes, 199.00.

The Silverangel came, and continues to be, really well setup. I attribute this to someone who is experienced and talented building it. It was made with attention to detail with primo fretwoork.

My MK was made somewhere with cheap labor to someone's specks. It came with everything necessary to be called a mandolin, everything but talent, experience and care. I did everything in Rob's e book. This took a horrible to play mandolin to something you could play, but given a viable alternative, wouldn't. Not until I took a deep breath and leveled and recrowned the frets did it become an instrument I enjoyed playing.

Now I believe Rob's setup method would most likely be satisfactory for the likes of an Eastman or a Kentucky because of their really decent build quality, but I've played both brands out of the box and found them badly needing a setup. I've played both at a store that does a setup on everything and they were great. I also saw a Kentucky set up in front of me that was fine with no fretwork, but I think they all could be better with a level and crown. That last extra bit really is the icing on the cake.