Trust yourself

[Br1ck]

One of the most important skills you can develop along this quest is to be able to evaluate what you hear in an instrument as it pertains to your own needs and desires. This is no mean feat. I have found this skill for me is somewhat transferable from my guitar quest. But really all the this vs that dialogue, while fun and sometimes informative, is no substitute for knowing what is important to you. I know of no other way than hands on experience, and I feel for those who can not easily avail themselves of a well stocked dealer.

Of course, like everything in life there are trade offs. You won't lust after the $5000 mandolin you have never played. But even regarding the modest instruments one can afford, strive to know your own likes and resolve to trust your ears if they tell you to go against the mainstream. Better to be right than safe.

My favorite instrument is a 1965 Epiphone Texan guitar. Now this guitar has the much derided adjustable bridge, and the equally hated 1 5/8 nut width, but when I picked it up it just had the tone I was hearing in my head for a backdrop for my voice. It just works for me. I hope I can recognize the same in a mandolin should I ever encounter it.

[Roger Moss]

I don't trust me any farther than I can throw me...

[MikeZito]

My breakthrough instrument happened back the in the mid-1990's when I picked up my first Rickenbacker 300 Series electric guitar. I actually started to sweat as I played it! It was as if somebody knew EXACTLY what I wanted in an electric guitar, even better than I did. The guitar cost me 5-times as much as I had ever payed for a guitar before - but it was worth every last penny . . . it literally changed the way that I played guitar, and inspired new directions in my music that I might have never discovered if I hadn't stumbled upon that first Rickenbacker. I am still hoping that someday I find that breakthrough mandolin as well.

[Randi Gormley]

Know what you mean. I've been to a few stores and festivals with a nice selection of mandolins and played them and thought "eh." Either my ear wasn't trained enough or i just didn't hear the sound I wanted. My usual instruments were good enough, although I was becoming more dissatisfied the longer i played them. just didn't have the bottom i wanted, for all they had nice top ends. When I played the snakehead -- which wasn't one i chose, it was given to me by the owner just to try out -- i suddenly felt i'd found exactly the bottom end i had been searching for (plus the top end, of course) and it was enough for me to bite the bullet and pay out the money -- the most i've ever spent on a musical instrument except the piano. But as has been said, it was worth it and remains worth it. that mandolin just had something i needed.

[Br1ck]

Know what you mean. I've been to a few stores and festivals with a nice selection of mandolins and played them and thought "eh." Either my ear wasn't trained enough or i just didn't hear the sound I wanted. My usual instruments were good enough, although I was becoming more dissatisfied the longer i played them. just didn't have the bottom i wanted, for all they had nice top ends. When I played the snakehead -- which wasn't one i chose, it was given to me by the owner just to try out -- i suddenly felt i'd found exactly the bottom end i had been searching for (plus the top end, of course) and it was enough for me to bite the bullet and pay out the money -- the most i've ever spent on a musical instrument except the piano. But as has been said, it was worth it and remains worth it. that mandolin just had something i needed.

And the chances you would seek out a snakehead? I've only played two. Both were really good, especially the A2Z. Sometimes you just have to get lucky.

[SGraham]

This very thing happened to me last August with an 1891 Martin 1-21. When I first plucked a chord the sensation was very similar to what I felt the first time I saw my wife walk into the room. She wasn't my wife yet, you understand. I ended up marrying her. And I ended up buying the Martin.

[Willie Poole]

I went with a friend to a music store where he was having a banjo worked on, while he was in the back of the store talking to the repairman I saw some mandolins hanging on the wall, I tried playing them all and when I stroked down on a Flatiron Festival it "spoke" to me and I bought the thing on the spot...I played it for about two years and it always sounded great, so great that a fellow made me an offer for it that I just couldn`t turn down so I let it go and I will say that was a huge mistake, I thought I could find another one that sounded the same but that never happened, I even offered to make a trade with the fellow that bought it sense he was sort of a beginner but his teacher told him to never get rid of it that it was as good as any mandolin that he had ever heard or played...Pretty much the same experience I had with a Kentucky KM-956, what a great sound and playability it has...All of us like different sounds so maybe what I like isn`t for everyone but there is a mandolin out there somewhere that will be the ultimate one for each of you...Just keep looking and trying every one that you can, when the right one comes along you will know it......

Good hunting to all...

Willie

[Bob A]

A few decades ago, when I scouted pawnshops for interesting instruments, I bought, in partnership with a dealer, a blonde Gibson L5CESN that had a neck profile that was just perfect for me. I've never held another guitar that handled like that one, and I really wanted to keep it, but it was not to be.

Oh, well . . .

[Richard Mott]

Dear Br1ck--Great you trusted yourself on the '65 Epiphone Texan! Your judgment is in good company--Paul McCartney bought the same guitar on tour and used it on "Yesterday" which half a century later still stands out as a masterpiece of understated guitar work. Great minds ... --Richard

[Em Tee]

This is such a great thread. Thanks, br1ck for starting the conversation.

[Eric Platt]

Never been able to trust myself. Have had too many "right" instruments pass through my hands. Including a '65 Texan. And an early '50s J45. And more handbuilt guitars than I want to think about. If I had been smart, would have stopped years ago. Even with mandolin, can't seem to find just one. All that I have are good. But nothing that makes me want to sell the rest.

Have had better luck with the wife. This year is 29 for marriage and 34 for being together.

[hattio]

I don't trust me any farther than I can throw me...

Isn't that called Jumping Roger?

[LadysSolo]

My 3 forever mandolins each felt like "coming home" when I played them. And they will not be sold - that feeling is very telling to me - I hope everyone finds a mandolin that gives them that feeling.

[MikeZito]

My 3 forever mandolins each felt like "coming home" when I played them. And they will not be sold - that feeling is very telling to me - I hope everyone finds a mandolin that gives them that feeling.

Some of us cant find ONE - and she has THREE!

As Herman Munster once said: 'Not fair, not fair, not fair!'

[Eric Hanson]

There have been a few over the years that spoke pretty loud to me. One was a ‘27 Fern that was better sounding than the Loar that was side by side in the same shop. The shop worker said something like, “That ‘27 sounds better to me than the Loar, in my opinion.” His opinion was SPOT on! At $85k it was FAR too rich for my ability and my reality.
I also played a Gaicomel that was just wonderful. SUPER easy to fret. Beautiful sound.
Now though, I have a really marvelous Collings that I am in love with. The luthier that was selling it on consignment was reluctant to sell it. Both he and I feel strongly that it is a very special instrument. When I first picked it up it was easy to strum. The tone was intoxicating. The warmth in tone would heal you on a cold night. It is one that would be very hard to part with. Its beauty and tone a something to behold.
It is really odd to me though. I didn’t think I would like a wider nut, at 1-3/16. But, it seems so at home.
Hmm. I think I need to stop typing about this one and just play a little more before the night ends.
The end thought? Yes. They can be found. It may take some time. It may take a little more than what you had saved for at first. But, when they come along it is time to act, if you have any possible way to do so. Otherwise it will become what you dream of, and always wish you had bought.

[David Lewis]

I ave a half baked theory tat each instrument is made for exactly the player who ends up with it. With two exceptions, I have played each instrument I’ve bought in the shop , and instantly knew it was mine. Interestingly too, some of these instruments were hanging in the shop for years before I got them. The two exceptions are my jbovier els and my fender Nashville telecaster, both Imported from ted eschliman. Both are my favourites and as soon as I got them out of the box I knew.

Your instrument is out there.

[Rodney Riley]

Mine is a Godin A-8. It just fits. End of discussion. Tho I did play a Breedlove A-style that if I was a rich man, the Godin would have an awesome competitor for my time.

[Tim N]

When I decided I wanted to learn playing mandolin about 8 months ago, I didn't expect too much from a first instrument. My local dealer (the only store I know in the area that even sells mandolins) showed me a couple of cheap flat tops (around 280 euros) and my spirits sank at the sound. Then he conjoured up an old German Gewa which someone had given him in part exchange, and the improvent in tone was so remarkable that I bought it without hesitation, paying 250 euros (including new Thomastik strings). Argueably it may not have been the easiest instrument to start on, but the sound was sweet, and encouraged me on. More recently I bought A new Paul Hathway instrument - playing it in the shop alongside others, and it wasn't hard to decide, trusting my own judgement, but of course also encouraged by the knowledgeable shopkeeper who knows all about its provenence.
It shows it's really worth playing the instruments before buying - if you can, but it's not so easy if you have to travel far to even find a dealer

[Willie Poole]

BEWARE!!! Before the Asian mandolins started sounding real good I bought a custom made F model mandolin whos maker I won`t disclose at this time any way at the time I thought it was as good as I would ever want but now I find that I couldn`t sell it if I wanted to because the Asian mandolins that are being built now days are far better than that one...It was built in 1968 and I assume by the standards at that time it was a great mandolin....I play it quite often when I have people over to jam and hope someday someone will ask if I want to sell it...I have thought about giving it to a local VFW that holds fund raising jam/auctions each year and then I could deduct its value from my income tax`s....

Willie

[Br1ck]

I just happened to be within the five mile radius where the magnetic pull sucks my car to Gryphon. Played a 20s A4 that was very sweet. I'll own an old Gibson someday but not as a primary mandolin.The celticish fiddle tunes really sounded good on it though.

Made the mistake, again, of playing a Northfield Big Mon. It has a very nice trait of being sweet when played softly, then sounding loud and aggressive when you lay into it. And once again I'm more impressed with the Collings MF over time. I think as I progress into more bluegrass licks, I can appreciate how these could really cut through in a band situation. They have a very nice Weber there now too.

The continuing education I'm getting there is quite remarkable. Like I said above, I feel for those not able to lay hands on a variety of instruments. I still need to get by Sylvan in Santa Cruz to play some Pavas and Girouards. The one Pava I played was pretty special. I don't think I'm at the point with mandolin yet where I can know where my tastes will take me. I'll have at least one more mandolin on the bright side, probably a Northfield F5S as it stands now. But I do need to finish my Arches build, as that may be the interim mandolin I'm looking for.

The problem is I find pretty much everything I'm playing very good. I did play a 2002 Eastman 815V. Much as I wanted to like it, the Kentuckys on the high end come closer to the quality of tone I'm looking for. The likes of the 315 and KM 150s though, are fabulous instruments for the money. The quest continues. For now my Silverangel is doing fine. I really stress the importance of having an instrument you like well enough to not feel the need to rush into another purchase.

[lflngpicker]

I was performing as a singer/songwriter in 1975 when I came home one night to see my home had been broken into and my Martin D35 was stolen, along with 2 other guitars and my TV. Though the funds were hard to come by, I began a search to replace it. The first pick filled in for a year and then my search widened, from Long Beach to LA, Santa Monica and Hollywood. In 1976, I walked into the original and only Guitar Center on Sunset (a small one-man shop) and found the guitar with the tone, sustain and looks that spoke to me, my Guild D55 TV Model. It took every dollar I had in the bank to own it -- $695.00, which was big money for a guitar at that time. I played it yesterday morning at church as I have so many times. "Guilda" is one of the family. I will pass it on to my oldest son one day. You are right about that sense of trusting your instincts.

[Paul Busman]

BEWARE!!! Before the Asian mandolins started sounding real good I bought a custom made F model mandolin whos maker I won`t disclose at this time any way at the time I thought it was as good as I would ever want but now I find that I couldn`t sell it if I wanted to because the Asian mandolins that are being built now days are far better than that one..
Willie

I'll bet you could sell it on the Cafe classifieds. With a good description of it's details, people here are more likely to appreciate it for what it is than if you put it on Craigslist or eBay.

Bottom line in an instrument is how it feels and sounds to the player. If you ever have a chance to go to a big dealer with a lot of choices try playing them all without looking at the prices or even the brand. I'll bet you'll be surprised how much you like some modest ones and how you'll find some higher end instruments just "meh".

[MikeZito]

I walked into the original and only Guitar Center on Sunset (a small one-man shop) and found the guitar with the tone, sustain and looks that spoke to me, my Guild D55 TV Model. It took every dollar I had in the bank to own it

Many years ago a friend asked me to go to the music store with her, to pick out a new acoustic guitar. She had a budget of about $300. She showed me two very average inexpensive used imports. I told her it was a toss-up; one played better, one sounded better. She asked me what the difference was between her 'average' guitars, and a 'nice' one . . . that's when I took the D-55 off the wall.

To make a long story short, once she played the D-55 she could never go back to the cheap imports. That day she cursed me for 'making her spend 5x her budget on a new guitar' - but for years afterwards she thanked me for showing her such a special instrument.

p.s. - That guitar was NICE! If hadn't bought a Taylor 810 about a month earlier, I would have definitely grabbed it myself!

[Tate Ferguson]

Back in the early 1970s, when my moral and intellectual character was considerably less developed than it is today, I trusted my instincts when it came to buying instruments. Unfortunately I also trusted my instincts when it came to selling instruments. Bye, 1958 Les Paul Special! Bye, 1965 Fender Deluxe Reverb! Bye, late-40s Gibson ES-300 guitar! Bye, 1918 Gibson L-1 guitar! etc., etc.

The same held true for my close relationships with high-quality people of the female persuasion... there seemed to always be better opportunities on the horizon, until there weren't.

So when the OP says "Trust yourself", I now respond with the words of Ronald Reagan: "Trust, but verify."

[MikeZito]

Back in the early 1970s, when my moral and intellectual character was considerably less developed . . . I also trusted my instincts when it came to selling instruments. Bye, 1958 Les Paul Special!

Reminds me of a guy I knew back in the late-70's. He had a gorgeous Les Paul Custom that he sold to buy an Ibanez copy. HUGE mistake. To this day, whenever he sees me he tries to walk the other way, because I like to remind him of that no-so-great choice.