The "Beater": Yes or No

[LastMohican]

Well, this was a good deal. You cats stepped up! And, holy cow, there are two distinct "schools of thought" with little to no "middle ground". The one thing I think I need to restate...I just applied the term "beater" to the second mandolin because I need to refer to it some how and I like that label as much as any. Once again, should the Loar stick around as my second, it will be cared for in the exact same manner as the NF. I enjoy taking care of my stuff and REALLY enjoy the benefit you get from this should you decide to sell. Case in point..when I sold my Breedlove American FF I came within a few dollars of getting what I paid for it and it truly was in almost perfect condition. So, in the interim, I'm not pulling the classified for the Loar...I think it runs about another week. Will I rerun it? I haven't decided. And, making the assumption that it's not sold by the end of June, this is the mandolin that will go to ROMP. Right now, I'm feeling like I need to keep it. There was one response that I found particularly poignant...the poster reminded me that he was hoping for the day that a $600 mandolin like the Loar could become his number 1 mandolin. My friend, thanks for the perspective and this reminder. And, I get it. I've been there and it wasn't that long ago. Let me just say that when I sold the Breedlove, it was out of necessity. And, the unvarnished truth...the NF purchase doggone sure could have waited. As I've stated in some other post...and not to get maudlin...I advanced the NF purchase considerably in that I'm dealing with some serious health stuff that impacts my "shelf life". I went ahead and pulled the trigger as kind of a gift to myself (just typing that feels both a little selfish and kind of corny!!), but...I won't lie...I took it with me to a mandolin clinic last night and I'm in that giddy "new love" stage that I haven't felt since my ex-wife and I were dating! I'm hoping and expecting a better outcome!

[darrylicshon]

Yes it's great to have a beater. Now most of my mandolins didn't cost much. My most expensive is my J Bovier which I love taking places to play , but sometimes it isn't my choice, like today I'm going to the dead and company and always jam in the parking lot, which I won't be taking my J Bovier, mostly because after a day of jamming everyone puts their instruments in their trucks , cars and goes into the show, I just think of coming out after the concert and finding the window broken and all our instruments are gone. For me it would be very hard to replace my J Bovier F5T having that much spare cash and my old lady letting me spend that much on another mandolin might be hard to do.

So today I pick my Ibanez 522 got it for under$100 and it actually sounds loud and good. I'm a big Ibanez fan and have many vintage Ibanez mandolins that I love the sound of, but I wouldn't want to lose one either.

I have a few ones I like to take out when it could be dangerous or wet , etc. Plus as said above it's great to have an extra one in case someone drops by. I have also loaned out many and sold many to friends that started at my house learning mandolin usually it's the one they have been playing that they ask to buy.

So yes always good to have a beater or two

[Br1ck]

Yesterday I got a call from a friend telling me he had just bought a SCGC cocobolo OM guitar.Sent me pictures. Abalone inlay like a D 45. I had to talk to him for an hour over the anxiety. He bought it online from a dealer. He was already worrying about it, told me it wasn't ever leaving the house, could he ever sell it, etc. just the whole gamut of buyers remorse. Now I know he sold two Collngs and a Taylor to fund this purchase, was a two income no kids household and sold his house in the Bay Area, so it's not the money, it's the brand new shiny. But he's also a cancer survivor, so he sure knows firsthand that life is short.

I finally asked him how much it cost, to cause so much angst. 10.5k. I told him to go buy a Martin OM and have a custom display case made for Santa Cruz. I was only half joking. I've seen this with nice over/under shotguns that will never see a hunt. I don't get it, but then again, I don't have anything that valuable. What good is an instrument you are afraid to play?

I guess I won't worry over that which will never be my problem. I'd spend a chunk on a mandolin for sure, but I'd find one that had been loved by not being left at home. I'm the kind of guy who would rather have a 55 Ford pickup than a new Corvette. Just how I roll.

[Darren Bailey]

I have a KM150 which always accompanies me to festivals. Love to play it, but I know I wouldn't enjoy myself (or drink as much) if I had one of my better instruments to care for and protect. If the neck got broken on the 150 I'd be unhappy, but if it happened to my 630 or 505 I'd be devastated.
If you're a clean living guy then you've got no problems, but out-door fires always give me an urge to imbibe.

[Timbofood]

Once when I was pretty young, I was in Greektown in Chicago and had heard a lot of bouzouki music, my dad and I walked onto a very interesting shop and I asked if he had a bouzouki for sale?
The deep Grecian tone of his voice simply asked “Bouzouki to play or, Bouzouki to look at?”
Which really opened my eyes to the difference between musical instruments and decorations.
If I’ve got one, I play it! Maybe not as much as I should but, enough to enjoy what it is.
My point is, use them for whatever pleases you! No one can make those decisions for you. Enjoy them nd revel in their differences.

[JonZ]

Personal decision.
Remember that musical instrument insurance exists.

[dhergert]

I have a KM150 which always accompanies me to festivals. Love to play it, but I know I wouldn't enjoy myself (or drink as much) if I had one of my better instruments to care for and protect. If the neck got broken on the 150 I'd be unhappy, but if it happened to my 630 or 505 I'd be devastated.
If you're a clean living guy then you've got no problems, but out-door fires always give me an urge to imbibe.

Yup... Perhaps having too much fun at festivals is a hazard for instruments.

I have a dear friend who fell on his HD-28 at a festival a few years ago, put a hole in one of the sides; this was due to alcohol. Then a few years later he had another festival accident, this one broke the neck on his banjo -- from what I hear this was due to someone bumping the gig bag this instrument was in, I don't know if alcohol was involved. I've also seen another dear friend so drunk on extraordinarily strong "shine" that was given to him at a festival that he passed out and fell on his banjo. Remarkably and luckily, neither he or his banjo were hurt.

Festivals often are held in the wilds somewhere, with uneven ground, etc. While I don't drink or otherwise imbibe, as someone with compromised mobility I worry about loosing balance, taking a fall and landing on a prized instrument. I do have backups for my main playing instruments: banjo and mandolin. I don't have a backup for my Dobro or my bass, but I don't gig with them very often.

In a jazz class that my wife and I took at a local college about 10 years ago -- one which we eventually helped teach -- our very respected professor told us over and over that if we're doing gigs to always have a backup instrument and backup strings and backup picks and backup batteries and a backup of any required accessory because if something bad can happen, it will. Almost as a living example, one year at the year-end jazz performance one of the sax players was setting up on stage and dropped his reed and it fell down, into a nickle-width space between the platforms of the stage -- it just fell right in, forever lost. He didn't have a backup reed, but one of the clarinet players did and with a pocket knife they got it working for the sax.

So yea, I do think backups are worth having. I can see the other side of this, my aging MINI Cooper has run-flats which have been a major help for me once, but I had to replace the tire after driving it flat for about 40 miles; all that was left was the heavy rubber sidewalls by the time I got home. In general though, having a spare tire for your car is the smart thing to do.

[Cochiti Don]

Any chance of cigar smoke, falling into a river, extremes of temperature, or around little kids, I'd use a beater.

Totally agree. I wouldn’t want a Northfield smelling like a cigar. But.... some like it.

[LastMohican]

For now, keeping the Loar. And I rolled both mando's up under a "Personal Property Policy" that cost me, through USAA, 3 bucks a month!

[Jim Garber]

I am in the camp here of those who don't believe in beaters. Of course, I certainly have quite a few mandolins that could serve that purpose but I take my main playing instrument in a decent case (TKL or equivalent). I brought my Brentrup to Lake Genero gathering last year and had my '83 Flatiron A5-2 at Black Creek. Camping with both of them and played them some but they were never left out anywhere in the elements or a hot car and always in their cases when not being played. And I always bring my main fiddles with me to all musical gatherings.

I suppose if I were on a bike trip or even traveling extensively outside the US, especailly by plane, maybe I might reconsider, but, for the most part, life is too short to play a lower grade instrument IMHO.