christMAS time... a new beater

[Ben Milne]

Succumbed to en ebay find and got myself a beater. It is a cheap semi-hollow body mandolin and my first flowerpot. Made by Legend it looks to be based somewhat on a slimline body style the headstock is a pointed snakehead shape.
I can't find much info on Legend mandolins, though i doubt there is much reason to... I'd say it's an asian something-something judging by fit, finish etc. The seller said it was an unwanted birthday present, and judging by the colour of the 7 old strings and how hard the TP was to remove it hadn't been picked in quite a few years.

So far i have only had time to restring it, and can see that it will need a fair bit more setup work to come good. the adjustable bridge has run out of height and the action is still very high. i should be able to shave some material out of the saddle and lower bridge sections to reduce the height, though I suspect I'll soon be installing a completely different bridge the stock one is really not great at all. it might even need a shim in the neck joint. I've plugged it in only for a minute or two, and the pickup seems very bass heavy (makes me wonder if it is balanced to suit PB strings, not nickel). accoustically it sounds somewhat plunky, a kind of a plasticy almost slight banjish sound.

for what i paid (really not much) it will be perfect for throwing in a gigbag and taking to work for practising and boredom busting those long shifts on standby, and the ability to cram it into an overhead bin without too much stress will be great too.

Must now be time to cull and get rid of the solidbody mandocaster.