Michael Kelly

[Wolfmanbob]

You get what you pay for. It costs a bit more money to make a mandolin worth playing. I'm a bit of a snob, but I hate seeing the market flooded with crappy instruments like these.

[Tobin]

That's interesting, because the first one I bought new in 2003 and it was made in China, according to the label. The second one I bought used and actually emailed pictures of it to Michael Kelly to determine what year is was made. They said it was one of the very first models they produced (can't remember what year), but the label on that one also said it was made in China.

I suppose it's possible that they had two different facilities, make the lower-grade models in China and the upper-grade models in South Korea. I don't know for sure.

My first mandolin was a Michael Kelly 'Legacy - solid' (solid wood,NOT ply) & it was a good mandolin for it's price. It was easily playable & was certainly good enough for me to discover that i had the talent to play mandolin. I bought it in 2005,so where the idea came from that they were out of business for 15 years,i don't know,but they were in business big time back then. As with other,even more expensive mandolins,depending on where you buy one from,it could be well set up or not.

My MK Legacy FS-E was my first mandolin as well (solid wood, not laminate). I bought it from folkmusician.com, with a setup, and it was a decently playable instrument. Like you said, it was certainly good enough to let me develop my skills to the point where I knew I wanted to stick with it. So for that purpose it wasn't a bad starter instrument. Most of my complaints about it revolve around the lack of tone and volume. It just wasn't capable of cutting through in a jam, or even playing with a friend on a guitar. I still keep it as a 'beater' and loan it out to friends who want to experiment with the mandolin. But I just can't go back to playing it, now that I've been spoiled on better mandolins.

You get what you pay for. It costs a bit more money to make a mandolin worth playing. I'm a bit of a snob, but I hate seeing the market flooded with crappy instruments like these.

It's easy to be a snob when you can afford a nice mandolin. But for folks who want to play the mandolin, and for whom a $500 investment is a BIG DEAL, they serve their purpose.

[mgap]

You haven't told us what price range you looking at. We could offer some better suggestions if we had a price limit. However, you may notice that MK is not so popular around here.

Some great information here and I do appreciate all of it. I would like to spend about $500.00 for a nice used one. I am finding that Eastman, Kentucky and The Loar are available in that price range. Are they good mandolins, I don't know. I do have my eye on a few by those brands. I am just waiting to hear back from forum members on them. Mandolins are a lot like guitars. You can spend a little or a whole lot. I would bet that like guitars there are some out there that have surprisingly good tone in a reasonable price range(I hope). One thing I am 100% sure of is that members like yourselves have a pretty good handle on what is and what is not a good value.

Thanks,
Mike(the newbe)

[Michael Bridges]

Mike,
If you can stretch an extra $50, Folkmusician.com has The Loar LM-520 http://www.mandolincafe.com/ads/73305
By all accounts it's a very decent player, with good tone. FM.com is also a good Cafe sponsor, and they do 1st class setup on their instruments (very important)
Good luck with your search!

[ccravens]

Mike,
If you can stretch an extra $50, Folkmusician.com has The Loar LM-520 http://www.mandolincafe.com/ads/73305
By all accounts it's a very decent player, with good tone. FM.com is also a good Cafe sponsor, and they do 1st class setup on their instruments (very important)
Good luck with your search!

What Mike said.

Or the Eastman at Fiddler's Green at $479, which anyone would be proud to own, based on it's tone.

[allenhopkins]

...I would like to spend about $500.00 for a nice used one. I am finding that Eastman, Kentucky and The Loar are available in that price range. Are they good mandolins, I don't know[?]…

Consensus is that they're a cut above the Michael Kelly mandolins. Just make sure you get all solid woods, and a hand-carved top in a used mandolin in that price range.

Also, let me repeat the Cafe´mantra: you get more mandolin for your $500 if you buy an A-model, without the ornamental carvings around its rim, than if you buy an F-model. Those carvings -- scroll and points -- add expense, but add nothing (most people say) to the sound of the instrument.

Of course, F-models look 'way cool, and that's worth something. How much? That's up to you.

[mandolirius]

I'll just cut right to the chase. My favourites in that price range are the Kentucky 350S or the 380S.

Buy from one of the Cafe sponsors. Folk Musician is a good choice - reasonable prices and a good setup. The 350 is just under your budget, the 380 just over. I had a repairguy/bandmate/friend who went through a bunch of these inexpensive asian brands and this model was consistently good, sometimes surprisingly so.

[CeeCee_C]

I'm a big fan of Eastman. Their 300 series instruments are solid wood, well made, sound good, and within your price range.

[Michael Bridges]

If you're not totally in for an F style, there's a J Bovier A in the classifieds at a really good price. I've never heard anything but good about their mandos. Seem to be one of the best bang-for-the-buck deals out there. If I had the coin to spare, I'd probably grab it myself.
http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/sh...ghlight=Bovier

[Stephen Perry]

Michael Kelly, Kentucky, The Loar, and Eastman are "about" the same quality level when comparing similarly prices instruments. Kentucky may have a slightly better quality control culling. That said, all are manufactured instruments and as such there is a variance in the tone and quality from instrument to instrument. Some of each are excellent some of each are less so. They all have their adherents. So play as many mandolins as you can and then decide on the one that you like. As what you want to hear in tone and experience in feel are a personal choice. Luck... R/

I will have to disagree. I've been through a few hundred of these and have seen a very few broken up. I look inside, outside, examine the acoustic characteristics, and I simply cannot put these in the same quality level, even with the qualifier "about" added.

Without going into specifics, the range goes from cheap fast to crisp and elegant.

One of these brands proves generally difficult to get working well, one of them generally proves to want to work wonderfully. That's a fairly consistent pattern with them.

[Alex Orr]

I will have to disagree. I've been through a few hundred of these and have seen a very few broken up. I look inside, outside, examine the acoustic characteristics, and I simply cannot put these in the same quality level, even with the qualifier "about" added.

Without going into specifics, the range goes from cheap fast to crisp and elegant.

One of these brands proves generally difficult to get working well, one of them generally proves to want to work wonderfully. That's a fairly consistent pattern with them.

Trust Stephen on this. I'll also add I've played a number of these since I love to swap instruments with folks at jams. The Michael Kelly's are just...worthless. You can pull some nice tone out of an Eastman or Kentucky and they have noticeably more volume. I've only played a couple of The Loars and honestly, I wasn't impressed at all. Eastman and Kentucky really do put out superior low end mandos IMO.

While we're at it, does MK still do that vine of life inlay garbage on their fretboards? I remember a few years back a local store had a bunch of MK's on the wall and a lot of them had that tacky garbage running from nut to heel.

[Tobin]

While we're at it, does MK still do that vine of life inlay garbage on their fretboards? I remember a few years back a local store had a bunch of MK's on the wall and a lot of them had that tacky garbage running from nut to heel.

As far as I know, that was only done on their Dragonfly models, which I think they still do make.

[lottarope]

I have a MK Dragonfly II. The sticker inside says "Carefully Crafted in Korea". I have played an Eastman I liked better. The "The Loars" I have played don't hold up to it, either have the Kentucky's with the exception of one old A style. I have only gotten to play one other MK and it was a dog like the cafe members are saying. Probably because of their super thick impervious to sandpaper finish. Mine had a satin finish and that and its age maybe part of why it sounded better than most. I say had because i stepped on the cat and managed to scratch the finish and now have it chipped/scraped/sanded down to bare wood. I am really surpised I managed to damage it at all that finish was dang near bulletproof. Mine at least was made from solid woods maybe the newer ones have plywood i dont know. I did have trouble with the tailpiece pins like others have had. It also had(now past tense I took a file to it) a really crappy C shaped neck that made my thumb hurt. Please note I ws playing 3-4 hours a day at that time. My MK had an OK tone without great volume but was better than any $550 instument I have played except one old ugly Kentucky A shaped mando. That being said I sure would want to hear recordings or try any MK out before I bought one. Or better yet I would skip the scroll and buy a used american made A. I haven't heard any of the imports that have even sounded close to my american made Arches.

[bigskygirl]

Hi Mike, I love my Eastman and get plenty of compliments on it. At some point I will add a spendy mandolin to my inventory of guitars and ukuleles but for now I'll stick with the Eastman.

It's what's been keeping me away from the UTGF.....welcome to the Cafe.