Hi all! Newbie here.
A while ago I bought a mandolin, kind of on impulse, it was the cheapest one I could find (Stagg M20 for the equivalent of $80). I wasn't sure I would like it, I'd never played a mandolin or any string instrument for that matter, and so I didn't want to spend much money on it in case I'd regret it.
In any case, I ended up liking mandolin in general quite a lot. I used to play the piano for years, but kind of gradually stopped, because it's so non-portable and so solo... I very much like mandolins in that you can mostly carry it anywhere and easily play along with friends who play other instruments and/or sing, etc... I'm sure you know what I mean. And it has that unique sound. In short, I'd like to continue and develop if possible.
However often I'm having a hard time fretting and I'm not sure if it's just my lack of training and experience or if the low quality of the instrument shows.
When I got it the string action was ridiculously high, comparing to values recommended online. I managed to lower it by both sanding the bridge and filing the 0-th fret (it didn't seem hard to do and I have some woodworking experience). This did help somewhat. Right now I have 0.3~0.4 mm on the first fret and a bit above 1mm on the 12th fret. Not sure if that's OK. But I still have trouble pressing the string for chords that are close to the 0-th nut, especially the B-flat major chord, B minor, and E major. Makes my fingers hurt.
I have no idea if it's the instrument or my inexperience (or possibly both). What do you think? I also have fairly skinny fingers, maybe that's a problem too...
Does it make sense for me to get a more quality instrument? Or is it OK to just continue learning on the cheap one I have for some while until I get more experience?
I'm based in the Czech republic, Central Europe and the availability of good mandolins seems to be much scarcer here compared to the US... There's some Ibanez mandos and an occasional Gretsch. Also, apparently, I could order a Loar mandolin from Germany. Apart from that, there's a whole bunch of other brands like Ortega, other Staggs, Pilgrim, Godin, Epiphone, VGS,... I have no idea whether any one them are any good. Many of them seem like knockoffs, but I really don't know.
Ideally I'd like to try out whether playing a quality instrument would make a difference, however, all local shops mostly sell those weird brands mentioned above. I also sadly know no other mandolinists near me.
Jesus, I wrote a lot of text. Sorry for that.
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