Obligatory Rookie Thread

[paleosteveo]

Hey all

I have been doing a bit of research and listening and have found that I particularly like how a Mandola sounds, where a Mandolin sounds just little high for me, I like that the Mandola is an octave lower, also that it’s a slightly bigger instrument to fit my larger hands and frame. I have held and seen a few of each this past month trying to get the gumption up to buy one. but I have noticed that Mandolas are a lot more expensive than Mandolins. My Budget is limited. I am an inner city cop (we don’t make nearly as much as people think) and I’m getting married next year so most of my extra money is going to my wedding.

I can afford to buy a 300 dollar Mandolin, but have found it impossible to find a Mandola in that sort of price range. (Stupid questions) Are there any serviceable Mandolas in or around 300? Also can you make a Mandolin sound lower like a Mandola (affordably, without going into a crazy custom built instrument) OR should I just buy a Mandolin to start learning and down the road buy a Mandola.

Lastly Does anyone know of any Mandolin teachers in the Nassau County NY area?

Thanks all for you patience with me. This is something I really want to learn how to do and do well. In my job I find it really beneficial to be able to come home and create something nice, whether it’s a meal with my fiance, painting miniatures for my DnD games or playing music.

Thanks all,God Bless and and Stay Safe

[red7flag]

Welcome to the Cafe,
Being a mandola player, it is not an octave lower, only a fifth. Take away the high E on the mandolin and add a low C and you have a mandola. The scale is longer 14" to 17" and the body is a somewhat larger. Now and octave mandolin is an octave lower. Has a 22" scale and a larger body than the mandola. Many of these now are made in a guitar shape. The scale lengths may vary somewhat, but those I provided will give you the approximate differences. Mandola is my personal favorite for many of the same reasons you give. My arthritic fingers prefer it also for obvious reasons.

[Seter]

The mandola is actually a 5th below a mandolin, the octave mandolin is an octave down. Hora makes both within your price range and sells them on eBay; they're bare bones, solid wood, serviceable instruments especially if you don't mind doing a little set up work yourself. Otherwise you'd probably need to look at used.

[red7flag]

Additional info: There is a Blue Moon BM10 at Hobgoblin for 285. I don't know about the vendor and their set up. Maybe some Cafe member can chime in. Here is a link to all their mandolas.
http://www.hobgoblin-usa.com/local/s.../320/mandolas/

[Seter]

I think those Blue Moons are made by Hora, they look identical to the ones on their eBay account: http://www.ebay.com/usr/2flowers0307...p2047675.l2559 and their website http://hora.ro/rg_2_mandola.html I've only played a Hora bouzouki but mine gets heavy use.

[Eric F.]

That's a tough price point. The mandola is even more obscure than the mandolin, so you won't find many of them, let alone many of them at a low price. If you're set on getting a mandola, this one from Moloney Music in Ireland would be right around $300 with shipping. I bought an octave mandolin from the same maker from them, and Kieran Moloney set it up nicely before shipping. It has an amazing quality-price ratio, but I have no experience with their other instruments.

Lots of people with big hands do just fine with mandolin. If it were me, I'd buy a mandolin first and learn it, then move on to mandola later but there's no reason you can't just learn the mandola.

Good luck and let us know what you end up doing.

[Br1ck]

Buy a Kentucky KM 150 at least.

[Jill McAuley]

Keep your eyes peeled for a used Mid-Missouri or Big Muddy mandola - I've seen those going in the $300-400 price range from time to time.

[almeriastrings]

I think those Blue Moons are made by Hora

Yes, they are. Same thing exactly.

[allenhopkins]

If what you want is an instrument an octave lower than a mandolin, you want an octave mandolin, not a mandola. You can get beginner level octave mandolins made by Hora (discussed above) in a couple places: Hora's eBay Store for $165, Thomann USA for $20 less.

Now consider carefully the anticipated quality of a fairly large stringed instrument sold for about $150. The Hora seems to have garnered a couple decent reviews, but keep your expectations modest. It's described as "extremely lightly built" -- no surprise there -- and I'd guess it may fall in the "OK to learn on, can't wait to get a better one" category.

If you can come up with a larger budget, I'd look for a Trinity College; they go for $700 or so new, but used ones aren't that uncommon. This one apparently sold for $400 at Guitar Center, and there may well be similar deals cropping up from time to time. Trinity College OM's get pretty uniform positive feedback here on the Cafe.

Keep an eye on CraigsList, or the bulletin board at your local music store -- remembering that octave mandolin is a real "niche" instrument, not too many people play them or buy them, so it's not like picking up a Chinese Telecaster clone, sold by the thousands to teenagers everywhere, and soon thereafter up for sale by the parents. But the NYC metro area's a big place, and there are probably quite a few miscellaneous instruments up for sale at any given time.

Good luck!

[mandobassman]

Hora mandola on eBay. $165 +shipping.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mandola-made...d/162608148191

[paleosteveo]

Thanks for all the help friends, my local music shop will have a mandolin for 100 bucks. I think Ill just buy that so that the i can take lessons for a while and eventually move up to a Mandola. Gotta crawl before you can walk right?

[almeriastrings]

A $100 mandolin is unlikely to be very inspiring..... just when you need inspiration most, try not to buy into aversion therapy...

[Paul Busman]

There's a WANTED section on the Cafe's classified ads. Ask for what you're looking for. Lots of people have unused instruments that they've been meaning to sell but never got around to.
FWIW-- I have a Trinity College octave mandolin and it's a terrific well made instrument. I play mostly Irish tunes, melody, not just strumming. I found the sound too muddy for that purpose. Recently I took half of the strings off and am now using it as a tenor guitar and I LOVE it. A lot depends on what you want to use the instrument for.

[CelticDude]

This is the standard dilemma most people of limited means face: buy the one I can afford now, or save and wait for something closer to what I want. Since you have already stated that a mandolin sounds too high, and you like the deeper sound of the mandola (and you should look up octave mandolin on YouTube if you want really nice deep sounds), my advice is to save and wait. As others have mentioned you can find a mandola or an OM used.

I give this advice having gone the "buy now" route.

[EdHanrahan]

... any Mandolin teachers in the Nassau County NY area?

While the Long Island social group has had low activity for several years, they'd be the folks to ask directly. A question asked there, as a group member, gets forwarded to all other members, I believe. You might get lucky. Or at least scan the existing postings for hints at where to look on your own. There's also a Metro NY social group.
https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/group.php?groupid=54

(FWIW, I grew up in Nassau County but didn't play mandolin until after several decades in N.J.)

[Seter]

If $100 is more your budget, you could always get a tenor ukulele and a set of Aquila fifths tuning nylon strings to tune CDGA, at least then you would have the same chords and scales and pitch range of a mandola, albeit not the sound, and be familiar with all the fingerings once you're ready to jump to a regular mandola.

[allenhopkins]

Thanks for all the help friends, my local music shop will have a mandolin for 100 bucks. I think Ill just buy that so that the i can take lessons for a while and eventually move up to a Mandola. Gotta crawl before you can walk right?

Yeah, but you don't want to crawl over broken glass and dog poop while learning to walk upright...

What "mandolin for 100 bucks?" And I'm assuming at that price that there hasn't been a lot of time and effort lavished on setting it up properly, either. The "entry level" mandolins usually recommended here, go for closer to the $300 you've budgeted for the "mandola" (I still think you really want an octave mandolin, since you're talking about a pitch an octave lower than the mandolin) you hope to own eventually.

Evidently you have a budget, and I'm assuming it's $300 or so. There are very decent, solid wood, carved-top mandolins, like the Kentucky KM-150, available discounted for less than that. Mandolas and octave mandolins are another story, as discussed above.

There's a widespread, and erroneous, assumption that because one is a beginner, any old instrument will do; later, one can "get serious." This leads to beginners trying to learn on instruments that an experienced player would find difficult to play, and impossible to get a good sound from. A few more dollars invested in the first mandolin, can lead to a much more pleasant and rewarding learning process.

Just my 2¢.

[paleosteveo]

I have decided to get a Loar Honey Creek Mandolin from elderly.com it seems to be the nicest in my price range and they do Mandolin setups. I'll continue to keep my eyes peeled for an OM in the mean time and save money till I can get one.

[ccravens]

Nice!

Let us know how you like it.

[Ron Cox]

I'm going to chime in on the Hora instruments, or rather, the Irish Bouzouki.

I currently own two Eastman Mandos, a Gold Tone Mandola and have had several "cheaper" mandolins. My budget has never been very large, but I've been pleased with some of my bargains.

I got it into my head that I wanted to add a bouzouki to my stable and with very little research, bought a Hora on ebay.

Shipping was long (20 days) and no case or bag was included. Payed 140 usd and 49 shipping. It came well packed and intact. No scratches dents or dings. It is light, but has huge sound and the tone (to me) is outstanding. Mine has a huge scale length and despite my lack of skill with an instrument of this size am able play it without too much trouble. I think I'll work on my strumming and chord work.

I don't feel like I've wasted my money in any way. Maybe if I was a professional musician I'd want more something but this one won't leave you discouraged learning to play.

[Ron Cox]

[Bill Cameron]

I'm not sure why you gave up on the mandola as your next instrument. The down side is that because its tuned a fifth lower, there are complications in casual jamming with other players because they are used to playing tunes in a given key, usually the tune is designed to fit the fingerboard while playing in that key. So you have to work a little harder because you have to figure out fingerings that the tune does not expect...or you can work out harmony parts...in either case, more advanced studies.
BUT the upside of mandola is that it is quite a minor difference in technique to adapt to the longer scale length (typically about 17", while the mandolin is a 14" scale), so you can easily learn to play tunes if you use the same fingering as mandolin players do and are content for it to come out in the "wrong" key. AKA "now Steve's going to play a solo piece". And as you noticed, it can sound and feel great, there is nothng wrong with this! But music is a social activity, which is why mandolas have a lot of case-time or wall-time even when owned by active musicians. (Yes I have one and I very much enjoy tuning it up and playing it a few times a year.

The Octave Mandolin is a grand instrument, but it aint just a big mandolin. It has a scale length of 20-24" which makes for quite a stretch to play tunes on. (About a 21" scale is the practical high end for tune-fingering, beyond that you will be trying other parts, or experimenting with other tunings so you dont have to reach so far.)

I am going somewhere with this...I recommend you look into "large-body mandolins". This is a variant developed by Stephan Sobell, combining the large mandola-sized body with a mandolin short-scale--very short in fact, he made them with a 12.5" scale--which produces something like that mellow, resonant mandola sound we like, but is played as a regular mandolin--hurray! I just wish more builders had picked up on this idea, Sobell's instruments are now very expensive and rarely for sale. He had a number of acolytes however, its something to keep an eye open for.

[Capt. E]

I didn't read this whole thread, but have you thought about a Tenor Guitar? They can be tuned CGDA (a fifth lower, which is my preference) or GDAE ( a full octave lower) than a mandolin (there are other tunings as well). I find it a very versatile instrument and almost prefer it to my mandolin. It has been very popular for jazz and also was significant in the folk revival. It can be absolutely fabulous when finger-picked and sound like two instruments together. You should be able to find a nice tenor guitar within your budget.

[Em Tee]

That's a tough price point. The mandola is even more obscure than the mandolin, so you won't find many of them, let alone many of them at a low price. If you're set on getting a mandola, this one from Moloney Music in Ireland would be right around $300 with shipping. I bought an octave mandolin from the same maker from them, and Kieran Moloney set it up nicely before shipping. It has an amazing quality-price ratio, but I have no experience with their other instruments.

Lots of people with big hands do just fine with mandolin. If it were me, I'd buy a mandolin first and learn it, then move on to mandola later but there's no reason you can't just learn the mandola.

Good luck and let us know what you end up doing.

How are the Moloneys compared to the trinity college?