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Thread: Mandolin Polygamy !

  1. #1
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    Default Mandolin Polygamy !

    Why is it most/some of us are not satisfied with one mandolin ?? I have two and two more on order ! Am I nuts ?

  2. #2
    harvester of clams Bill McCall's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandolin Polygamy !

    Of course not. By my count you’re still a few short. Btw, how many electric mandolins do you have?
    Not all the clams are at the beach

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  3. #3
    Registered User Denman John's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandolin Polygamy !

    I only have 1 mandolin and am very happy with it. I can only play one at a time and if there is another one, I start comparing rather than enjoying what I have. I like to try and keep it simple.
    ... not all those who wander are lost ...

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  5. #4
    Worlds ok-ist mando playr Zach Wilson's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandolin Polygamy !

    I'm not sure if it's un-satisfaction or more the desire to own more than one of the thing I love. Some have shoes, others reels, I don't know many tea kettles my Aunt has.

  6. #5
    Registered User Timbofood's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandolin Polygamy !

    Let’s face it, we all have a certain amount of the “Johnny Rocko” trait, we all want “More”, it’s human nature. Personally, there are only two mandolins I would very much like to have in a double case:
    1-A Halsey F-5 and
    2-A Halsey F-4 or a groovy old F-2 or F-4
    Since I’m deep in the throes of pipe dreaming a pretty set from Bill would really snap my cap!
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  8. #6
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    Default Re: Mandolin Polygamy !

    There's no single archetypical mandolin. It's sort of a Baskin-Robbins kind of thing. Many flavors to choose from, and enjoy.

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    Default Re: Mandolin Polygamy !

    1) A fruit salad wouldn't be a fruit salad if it only contained apples or -
    2) As a friend of mine once said "If a thing is worth doing, it's worh doing to excess."

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  11. #8
    ************** Caleb's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandolin Polygamy !

    I’m a one-mandolin man.
    ...

  12. #9
    Old Guy Mike Scott's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandolin Polygamy !

    I have 3: the F for bluegrass type stuff, the oval hole for ITM and OT, and an A with ff holes for travel/beater type stuff. I suppose I really need only one, but which one? And they really don’t take up much space.......
    Thanks

    Several mandolins of varying quality-any one of which deserves a better player than I am.......

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  14. #10
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    Default Re: Mandolin Polygamy !

    Quote Originally Posted by yankees1 View Post
    Why is it most/some of us are not satisfied with one mandolin ?? I have two and two more on order ! Am I nuts ?
    Of course you're nuts, as are the rest of us on this forum. Why else would grown men and women spend so much time talking and debating an A vv a F or types of strings or is a blue chip pic worth it. Yep we're all nuts.

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  16. #11
    Mando accumulator allenhopkins's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandolin Polygamy !

    In our defense, mandolin family is one of the most varied stringed instrument genres, in terms of size, shape, acoustic range and quality, etc. I have probably 15 or so mandolin family instruments, and, basically, no two sound alike or look alike. Each one is designed and suited for a particular type of music, or to produce a particular sound. My Howe-Orme mandolinetto couldn't be further distant from my Gibson K-1 mandocello, on all those characteristics, so I don't feel that it's redundant to have both.

    That's only a partial explanation -- or excuse -- for "MAS" as we call it. I've felt that those collectors -- I've known a couple -- who accumulate dozens of ukuleles are more culpable of owning them just for the sake of owning them, since they seem to have a lot of very similar-looking (and sounding) soprano ukes, only differentiated by manufacturer and vintage. I have a half-dozen or more ukulele-family instruments, but they, again, are very dissimilar: soprano uke, resonator, ukulele banjo, taropatch, baritone uke, and whatever you can call my Polk-A-Le-Le ("surfer uke," I guess). I do, however own two tiples, pretty much like each other.

    No apologies here, and no (I hope) defensiveness. Earning a fairly respectable second income from performing, I've felt free to use some of it to purchase instruments that interest me. I have quite a few guitars, quite a few banjos, plus mandolins, Autoharps, etc. They're a varied lot, and I almost always have the right "tool" for what I need in a particular musical situation.

    There are a lot worse things to spend our discretionary cash on, that's for sure.
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  18. #12
    coprolite mandroid's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandolin Polygamy !

    I have to buy them because no one will give me theirs , to play with , for a few years..
    writing about music
    is like dancing,
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  20. #13
    Mangler of Tunes OneChordTrick's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandolin Polygamy !

    I’ve got 2, an A style and an octave but I’m going shopping in the New Year . But the acquisition “thing” I have about 6 bikes but all for different purposes.

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    Default Re: Mandolin Polygamy !

    A friend of mine has 13 corvettes ! C1 thru C7 ! MAS is a lot less expensive than CAS ! Unless you are talking original Loar's !

  22. #15
    Registered User Pete Martin's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandolin Polygamy !

    You definitely need more!!!
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  23. #16
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandolin Polygamy !

    People admire a person that has a whole lot of mandolins...
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

  24. #17
    Registered User Sherry Cadenhead's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandolin Polygamy !

    Quote Originally Posted by MikeEdgerton View Post
    People admire a person that has a whole lot of mandolins...
    Interesting!

  25. #18
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    Default Re: Mandolin Polygamy !

    My mandolins all sound different, that's why I have them. Classical (bowlback,) folk, bluegrass, etc. And I enjoy them all! I could do much worse things with my money......

  26. #19

    Default Re: Mandolin Polygamy !

    My thinking is have one mandolin. Trade up until you have a small shop all solid instrument. Then think about different sounds you would like to have available to you like an oval, pancake, octave, etc.

    Or if you just know you will always just play bluegrass, collect Loars.

    As for me, I have a very decent A style, a fabulous beater, and am building an Arches kit for an F style. I could round that out with a vintage Gibson A3 (white floats my boat) and be very happy.

    The art of self delusion at work.
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    Default Re: Mandolin Polygamy !

    I have 2 and one on the way. I'm grateful for two when I'm having work done on one of them.

    My weakness is for cases. I have more cases than mandolins.

  28. #21
    Gummy Bears and Scotch BrianWilliam's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandolin Polygamy !

    Quote Originally Posted by MikeEdgerton View Post
    People admire a person that has a whole lot of mandolins...
    The 2018 MC tag line

  29. #22
    Registered User Russ Donahue's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandolin Polygamy !

    "Darlin, you can't love just one. Darlin you can't love just one. You can't love one and have any fun. Darlin you can't love just one."
    Make America Grateful Again!

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  30. #23
    two t's and one hyphen fatt-dad's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandolin Polygamy !

    buying is easier then learning.

    f-d
    ˇpapá gordo ain’t no madre flaca!

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  32. #24
    Registered User Eric Platt's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandolin Polygamy !

    Have 3 right now. Two vintage oval holes and the Breedlove K shape. Probably will add an octave mandolin at some point. All sound different. At least to me (and my friends). But probably not to a lot of folks on the street. Probably could say the same thing about my acoustic guitars. To me they all sound different. But many folks probably wouldn't notice if I were playing my Taylor 12 string, my Gibson J-35 (modern) or the Martin D Jr. It's all guitar.

    The only thing I'm satisfied with only have one of is my wife.
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  33. #25
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    Default Re: Mandolin Polygamy !

    I have 4 right now and have finally hit the point we’re I don't feel right because I can’t play them all enough. 2 nice A style ffhole mandolins and 2 oval hole. I have a RL Givens and a Pava and they are so different sound and feel wise that they both keep me very entertained. I also have a 21 Gibson A 4 and an Old Wave oval. They are much more similar sound wise to me and that seems a little redundant. The Gibson is the newest to my stable and I have always wanted an old Gibby, so unfortunately the Old Wave has been collecting dust lately. I find that unexceptable since it is a fantastic mandolin and someone should be playing it. So I’m trying to sell my Old Wave to help fund another dream instrument for me, an Ellis. Trouble is once I get an Ellis will my Pava end up collecting dust? I guess these are good problems to have. I am addicted to buying instruments but I don’t feel right if my collection outgrows my ability to play them all, which with 2 young children also seems to be shrinking.

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