Buying a mandolin ONLY 'cause you like its looks

[Tate Ferguson]

As I enter my twilight years, I find the unusual, wild or garish instruments much more appealing...

I saw some gray-finished mandolins a couple years ago. Nice look, kinda classy.

I like the blue Eastmans I saw recently too. Why not, I got the bucks.

Saw a green Weber - great for those Irish tunes.

And there's F-style mandolins too - that's all about the look, as far as I can tell.

And in the way of guitars, I kinda like a couple of sherbet-colored Ovations I saw - orange and lime - tasty.

Whatever I play, it sounds like me. Might as well get something that's fun to look at...

[MikeEdgerton]

I have bought more instruments because I liked the way they looked than I ever bought because I liked the way they sounded.

[doublestoptremolo]

I get where you're coming from but it's kind of hard to find wild or garish mandolins at affordable prices. Guitars and violins, however . .

[mrmando]

I bought an experimental mandolin by a custom guitar builder mostly for its looks ...

Turns out it was the only one he's ever built. He had never slotted a mandolin fretboard before, and frankly, he screwed it up. The space between frets 9 & 10 was wider than the space between frets 8 & 9. Intonation was way off. It did have an interesting tone.

I sent it back to the builder for a rehaul, and courteously suggested that he buy a pre-slotted board from Randy Allen rather than try to do it himself. Since I bought the instrument secondhand, I'm not getting the work done for free, but he did quote me a very reasonable price.

So we'll see how it turns out. If he's able to fix the problems it could be a swell instrument.

[Jill McAuley]

I've always been a fan of Weber's "Black Ice" finish, and I'd LOVE it if Collings offered their "dog hair" finish on an MT-O!

I had a light blue Weber Aspen II years ago, and the color was definitely one of the things about it that caught me eye. That said, as a friend of mine's da used to say "when you buy, you sell..." - not everyone has a taste for the more unusual looking instruments so it can lead to difficulty selling down the line.

[foldedpath]

The post above by doublestoptremolo makes a good point, about how you probably won't find something very distinctive and different until you get into the upper, custom price tiers.

I'm totally with 'ya on wanting a different look though. I've always pursued that with guitars when I was finally able to afford spec'ing out a custom instrument. Or in a few cases, choosing something vintage and unusual, like my ugly-as-sin 1930's steel body Dobro, painted to look like wood sunburst with mother-of-toilet-seat headstock and pickguard. Don't see many of those around.

I chose my one and only mandolin first on builder rep (Lebeda), but I was also attracted to the unusual top wood (Redwood) with an even more unusual stain treatment (semi-transparent dark brown overall). It's the foreground instrument in my avatar at the left. I like that it looks different from most other mandolins. Although it's still fairly conservative, compared to say, bright blue or green stain.

[MikeEdgerton]

For years I've been looking for the right artist to do this to the back of my mandolin.

[Jim Garber]

When I bought my Flatiron A5-2 way back in 1983, Mandolin Brothers had an A5-1 (less fancy wood and less binding) and an A5-2. I don;t recall that there really was much different in tone but there was about a $100 difference in price. However the back wood on the A5-2 was also stupendously flamed and I liked the way that one looked better, so that is what I bought.

OTOH, a few years earlier, I bought the best sounding Gibson A that they had which was a whitefaced A-3. I was not fond of the looks but I preferred the tone over all the others.

[SternART]

Mike, if I'm not mistaken.......I think Steve Gilchrist might have removed that one.

[DHopkins]

For years I've been looking for the right artist to do this to the back of my mandolin.

Send it to Vietnam. I hear they're big on that sort of thing.

[mbruno]

Generally speaking - if you own an F style mandolin, you've bought something for looks more than sound since the scroll does nothing but look nice and drain the wallet a little more

That said - all my mandolins are F's except my 1890's bowl back and my Mandocello (double point). The nicer it looks, the more you want it visible, the more you'll play it. That's my theory anyway. Of course, a nice looking bad sounding mandolin is still a bad mandolin (or a good piece of wall art I guess)

[yankees1]

I have owned for "one day" several drop dead gorgeous mandolins but I sent back promptly for a refund as a nice voice they did not have !

[Louise NM]

I usually have quite conservative taste in instruments, but I have to say, I loved the looks of the grey, shark-themed mandolin someone posted a month or so ago.

[CES]

Steve Sorensen did that one, I believe...

I’m a fan of “atypical” instruments as well, and were it not for the price tags, I’d have a Monteleone, a Brentrup, a funky Rigel or two, and one or two of Steve’s creations. I’m not saying they’re not worth their price tags at all, I’m just not good enough to justify it (and will have two kids in college next year)...

[DHopkins]

Generally speaking - if you own an F style mandolin, you've bought something for looks more than sound since the scroll does nothing but look nice and drain the wallet a little more

Perhaps it's just my ear or something psychological but f-style mandolins seem to have a little more of a "bark" and the A style a little more mellow sound, for lack of a better term. What do I know? I thought manual labor was a Mexican obstetrician.

[MikeEdgerton]

Mike, if I'm not mistaken.......I think Steve Gilchrist might have removed that one.

It was removed, I don't recall who did it, it could have been Steve.

[Br1ck]

I have a soft spot for the whiteface vintage A 3s. I usually much prefer wood grain. Those gold tops look good too.

I'll bet fern inlay has sold a lot of mandolins. Check out Audy Ratliff's custom mando build YouTube series if you want an over the top mandolin.

[Bren]

Check out Dick Levens of South Ronaldsay.

You have never seen instruments like this:
http://www.levens.co.uk/older-instruments/

[dang]

It was removed, I don't recall who did it, it could have been Steve.

Thankfully it was removed. That was on a real Loar?!?

[MikeEdgerton]

Thankfully it was removed. That was on a real Loar?!?

Yes, it was real, that's from the archive. I actually like it. The decorations on the top were decals if I recall, the parrot on the back was painted on.

[stevedenver]

Oh yes.
Aesthetics are important.

Indeed F's........
Les Pauls too (not the most functional modern guitar design imho).

I love brazillian rosewood. And flamey maple. And beautiful finishes, even sparkle. Inlays too. Headstock shape.

And ive been eyeing a blue mando.

I have a beautiful red to orange sunburst D'Aquisto styled L5. Not subtle at all.

I love the design of rigels.
And a brentrup stealth, ie the deco styled f with eliptical scroll. Really wanted one.

[JeffD]

Approximately none of us are going to become star class musicians sucking the air out of the room on every stage we appear. (How do I know this, well in part because folks of that caliber are not here reading this, they are practicing.)

If proving me wrong motivates you to higher heights of musical accomplishment, I have done something good.

My point is that for the rest of us, for goodness sake get the mandolin you want, or as close as you can afford. You don't need to justify your criteria to me or anyone. Get something you can love to play and love to hold and love to be seen with. At our level these are essential joys.

[Jim Garber]

I have owned quite a few oddball instruments in my 40+ years of playing but I generally sell-off the ones that don't either sound good to me or work with my style and technique of playing.

I recently bought a brand new Huss and Dalton guitar that not only sounds great but is beautiful to look at. I still love the look of my Brentrup A4C as well as any snakehead Gibson A-4 or A2Z. Those are pretty standard and classic-looking.

The oddest looking instruments I play are my fiddles designed by Frank M Ashley around 1915, a New York patent attorney and instrument designer. They have rounded corners and other features unlike standard violins. I have three working ones now and they are my main playing fiddles. I love the fact that they are oddballs but they also sound great.

[Bob Clark]

Wow, Jim, these really are interesting. To me, that dark one in particular is a real stunner. Thanks for posting these pictures. Any sense of just how rare these are? I realize describing sound is difficult, but what can you tell us about how these sound?

[Mandoplumb]

I have a blind friend and fellow mandolin player that once when we were talking mandolins said to me “ I don t care what a mandolin looks like, it’s what it sounds like that is important”. I can see but I still agree with my friend, if I want to look at it I’ll buy the prettiest mandolin I can find and hang it on the wall. But it I’m going to play it I’ll buy the best sounding mandolin I can find and hold it in my hands and play the crap out of it.