I want to preface-- this is my chance to get back on the Café. I am just sharing, having been gone for 7-8 months, only lurking a bit. Promise to read my thoughts as "admissions" and take it all in the spirit of fun and the true enjoyment of playing the mandolin and enjoying their beautiful properties! I would appreciate some advice in selecting my next mandolin and I am going in a different direction than I have in the past. Let me explain.
I have been playing for five years (having started again on an inherited Gibson A plain 1908 or 1909 I have had for over thirty years), and a year into my mandolin playing I joined the MC. I jumped into the mandolin as a lifelong guitarist and singer/songwriter, and eventually got into some entry/mid level mandolins from the top makers, such as Collings MT, Gibson F9, and National M-1. I then ventured back into an emphasis on my guitars and amplifiers.
I have remained true to the mandolin as an instrument, but I have begun to focus more on quality and affordability, than impressing my fellow Café members (a characterization of only myself). This is a natural personality fault I have-- being very social, I developed MAS and enjoyed listing my ever growing mandolin collection, however modest. I realized after eventually purchasing a J Bovier F5 Tradition+ from Jeff Cowherd's custom shop that I had found the mandolin that matched my musical purposes. He voiced it for my use and set up the action for medium heavy strings, comfortably low. This mandolin rings and sustains, with a wonderful bark. When I play and sing with it, it carries in the rec rooms and dining rooms I play without amplification. It freed me to sell a great Gibson mandolin in order to buy a Martin 000 size guitar I needed for these same rest home gigs 4 times per month. I sing and play with my wife, who is an awesome percussionist.
Now, I am beginning to look at an electric guitar and amp or two that are one too many of each. I am going to sell a very nice ax and an amp to put myself in position to purchase a high end Eastman, J Bovier or Kentucky in the $1000 range. I say that because, realistically, I would rather get the best instrument, likely "used" in 9/10 condition, top of the line and made in an Asian factory, rather than a lower end domestic. I enjoy Epiphone guitars because I appreciate the "every man" quality of them and believe blues players like Marquise Knox and Gary Clark, Jr. set an example of getting the most out of a guitar for the money.
I have noticed some really beautiful Eastman 800 and 900 mandolins on the classifieds, and I am open to both A and F style, though since I have an F5, I prefer a highly flamed, great sounding and playing Eastman. I once had an Eastman MD605 that I regret selling-- it was superb in every way.
Am I being realistic, considering I am older now (closing in on 63) and playing and singing is getting harder for me due to Parkinson's? I haven't given up by any means, but I am thinking of thinning out my guitar stuff a bit, and adding an A5 I can enjoy as much as my JB. Thanks for reading my story Café friends!
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