what are the regular folks playing.

[mandolin tony]

this goes out to all the people here who DO NOT have deep pockets. what brand of mandolin or mandolins do you own. I have a Kentucky 805 & 3 Eastman's, 305 series, 400 oval hole & a 505 that I love.

[Roger Moss]

This humble proletariat plays a simple Rover RM-35S. I adore it.

[Mandoplumb]

I don't know I'm high-test folk

[108 Mile]

My old Duff

[trodgers]

My main instrument is a Collings MT. No deep pockets here; I bought it used after much saving up and careful shopping.

[JeffD]

I wouldn't want to imply that folks with high end mandolins are irregular.

I would say my mandolin is worth more than my car, but that doesn't mean much when you look at my car.

[MikeZito]

See my signature below . . .

[onassis]

I wouldn't want to imply that folks with high end mandolins are irregular.

I would say my mandolin is worth more than my car, but that doesn't mean much when you look at my car.

Same boat here. I have one mando worth more than my truck, and will soon have another, but those are the exceptions in a life of thrift. Gotta have your priorities straight.

FWIW, the current is a Northfield NF5S.

[JeffD]

The really expensive part of mandolinning is not he cost of the mandolin, but the cost of the mandolin life. Especially in terms of time and effort and emotional investment. My goodness the amount of time my mandolin sucks up, if spent on medical research, well who knows right? Who the heck knows.

[sblock]

this goes out to all the people here who DO NOT have deep pockets. what brand of mandolin or mandolins do you own. I have a Kentucky 805 & 3 Eastman's, 305 series, 400 oval hole & a 505 that I love.

Hmm. You proclaim yourself to be one of the "regular folks," without deep pockets, and yet you have four different mandolins that cost (if purchased new today) about $1,500, $700, $750, and $700, for a total of $3,650. For that kind of investment, you could equally well get one higher-end mandolin, say, something from Weber, Collings, Pava, Pomeroy, Mowry, or Northfield (and many more).

Were you hoping to hear back from all of us in that category, I wonder? I tend to think that many of us would sooner own a single fine instrument than three or four lesser ones. Of course, three of four fine instruments is even better...but less affordable.

[Br1ck]

Your description of non deep pockets folk would apply to most of us, I think. You have chosen a variety of nice mid priced mandolins. Some, myself included, would use the same monetary investment on one mandolin, but then you have an oval hole and I don't.

My main squeeze is my Silverangel. My other that gets perhaps more than equal play time is my Michael Kelly 199.00.

[mandolin tony]

dear sblock, I paid no were near the #'s you have posted. shop worn & on sale. got some real good deals from the vendors here. plus just because you send a whole lot of money does not mean your mandolin is going to sound all that much better than a lesser mandolin. it's all in the masters hands. plus I have a ODE model C banjo that I bought used for $600.00 that blows away a Gibson RB-250 that I bought new.

[Trav'linmando]

I don't have deep pockets. Just very little in expenses. And currently no other hobbies. So 60% of my time is on my Pava. 35% is with my 404 and the leftover 5% is shared between the 815 and A8.

I drive, pick and sleep 11 months of the year. Almost sounds boring.

[Zach Wilson]

My Red Valley (which has become my favie!) flat top is the most expensive mandolin I've bought. My Weber (which is 4 or 5 times more expensive) was won through the cafe and one of the cafe sponsors (The Mandolin Store)... (seriously, thanks a million guys!). I have two young children and my wife stays home. My pockets are incredibly shallow but I have been blessed.

[Charles E.]

I sold my Eastman mandolins (315 & 314) and was lucky enough to find a used, mint Girouard F-5. I do not miss the Eastmans one bit.

[mandolin tony]

were all blessed here, no matter what we play. we have ten working fingers that can make music & hopefully make people smile.

[Charlie Bernstein]

A Mid-Missouri and a Red Line.

[MontanaMatt]

Rocking my Ratliff.

[Russ Donahue]

Deleted.

[108 Mile]

were all blessed here, no matter what we play. we have ten working fingers that can make music & hopefully make people smile.

Amen bro, imagine if you lost a hand, how would your shiny mandolin look?

[Frost]

I play a Kentucky KM272 and a Girouard A5.

My wife says I am highly irregular though, so I may not be useful as a data source for you. She does agree that I don't have deep pockets though.

I'd play anything, or at least try, at least once. Once I played a (sanitized) kazoo I found under a rock in a state forest. I tried to give it away but nobody wanted it. Eventually, it got stepped on and I had to recycle it. I believe the trash and recycling has cost somewhere between 150-200 a quarter over the last 10 years. From an admittedly distorted perspective, an argument could be made that the kazoo cost me several thousand dollars. I don't remember what year it was I got rid of it, otherwise I'd be able to give a more accurate figure.

The point of that story is that in my opinion the cost of a thing is only relevant when considering how much you can afford to spend, or lose. The only other thing that matters as far as I am concerned is how much you enjoy whatever it is you've got.

[sblock]

dear sblock, I paid no were near the #'s you have posted. shop worn & on sale. got some real good deals from the vendors here. plus just because you send a whole lot of money does not mean your mandolin is going to sound all that much better than a lesser mandolin. it's all in the masters hands. plus I have a ODE model C banjo that I bought used for $600.00 that blows away a Gibson RB-250 that I bought new.

I am happy for you that you managed to get great bargains on all four of your instruments, outlaying rather little money, and that all of them sound so great -- at least to your ears. (That was NOT intended as sarcasm, by the way -- it's sometimes hard to tell online). And yes, as you wrote, "just because you send (spend?) a whole lot of money does not mean your mandolin is going to sound all that much better than a lesser mandolin." That's undoubtedly true.

But it's also true that, on average, most of the mandolins that routinely sell (new) in the $3,000+ range (Weber, Collings, Northfield, and others) do sound better than PacRim mandolins that routinely sell (new) in the range below $1,000 (Eastman, Kentucky, The Loar, Rogue, etc.). That's just a fact of life. It's the main reason, in fact, why there's a factor of three-fold difference in the asking price! Are there exceptions to this? That is, can one point to the occasional bargain Kentucky or Eastman instrument that sounds better than a given Weber or Collings or Northfield that you might identify? Of course these exceptions exist! All mandolins sound a little bit different, after all, and you can get lucky. But these sorts of exceptions are certainly not the rule. If they were, then no one would ever spend over $3,000 on a mandolin that sounded worse than something you can get for under $1,000. The market would re-adjust itself downwards, fairly quickly. In fact, something like that actually happened when Northfield first started making superior instruments at a lower price point than some of the domestic makers. Good for them, I say!

But is it "all in the master's hands", as you wrote? Well, yes and no. A great mandolinist can often make a mediocre instrument sound pretty darned great, using technique alone. I have heard it. But that same mandolinist can, in all likelihood, make a top-end instrument sound even better! So it's not ALL in the master's hands. We can argue about just how much is, but I think you get the point. Also, I would point out to you that nearly all the great mandolinists that I listen to, and admire, play better instruments that cost more than $3,000. And often, a whole lot more, like Gilchrists, Nuggets, Monteleones, Loar-era Gibsons, Altmans, Hendersons, Ellis's, and so on. These players are not paid endorsers, for the most part. They have significant investments in their favorite axes. They do not tend to play low-end Kentucky or Eastman mandolins. So, maybe their ears are better educated? Or maybe they're just spoiled? Or slaves to fashion? I would hate to think that all these mandolin heroes are just deluding themselves!

Yes, money certainly won't buy you better technique. (More practice might.) But money will probably buy you a better instrument. How much better, though, is a matter of personal opinion.

P.S. When I was younger, I certainly did not have "deep pockets," but I worked and worked and saved and saved and saved to buy a great banjo (a Stelling Bellflower) in the 1970's, which I would happily match up against an ODE Model C. My philosophy has long been to get the best instrument that I can reasonably afford. It's a carrot on a stick: the lovely sound entices me to play more, and it makes me practice harder to "deserve" it.

[yankees1]

What is your definition of deep pockets ? I know players who can afford whatever they wish to buy and always buy used and not that expensive instruments and I know players who don't have that much money but play a more expensive instrument.

[Iron]

Not everyone that plays a nicer, $10K+ mandolin have deep pockets, some of us had to save awhile to get what we wanted

[LadysSolo]

I do NOT have deep pockets, and consider myself pretty regular. I play what I consider to be "mid-range" instruments, a Collings MT I bought used, a Pava A5 player, and a Weber Bitterroot. I bought the Pava and Weber on 18 months same as cash, and paid them off early. I am approaching retirement age, and want nice instruments to play as I age. I also still have my original instrument that started me on this journey (a the Loar LM 220) an a Kentucky KM 805 I got in trade for a guitar that didn't suit me size-wise. I have a few bowlbacks I bought off e-bay (all less than or equal to $200 each.) So I would say I have less than my truck in all my mandolins added together (and I bought my truck used last summer.)