Re: New to Mandolin Cafe
Welcome to the Cafe. I've had 2 Eastman instruments, they're great to learn on, top notch quality control (I've had 8 mandolins altogether and some interesting problems with other brands). That looks like a recent model with ebony bridge. My only real beef is the small frets showing wear pretty quickly, which kind of eats into resale value (but the small frets are what you see on most mandolins, so not Eastman specific). Also i use blue painters tape and/or a capo to make changing strings easier.
Besides the armrest, you might want to look at threads about pickguards and toneGards, which might help your ergonomics and sound. I like both but pickguards are tricky to mount at exactly the right height so I don't have any mounted right now. Also lots of threads about picks and strings (you can try GHS silk/bronze, EXP's, nanoWebs, Monel strings by Mangan, Thomastik flats, the new d'addario nickel bronze etc)
For learning resources, there's lots of great books, DVD's, online skype lessons, festival workshops, Artistworks, and of course live teachers depending on where you live. I think if you google anything mandolin related, google will show Cafe threads as the top hits, they've decided the Cafe is THE mandolin authority
Last edited by gtani7; Jan-22-2017 at 2:00pm.
Kentucky km900
Yamaha piano, clarinet, violin; generic cello;
a pedal steel (highly recommended); banjo, dobro don't get played much cause i'm considerate ;}
Shopping/monitoring prices: vibraphone/marimbas, rhodes, synths, Yamaha brass and double reeds
Bookmarks