Perhaps this thread is more about the importance of demoing before you buy regardless of the item, if you possibly can. Be it bikes, skis, cars or musical instruments. My flute and sax were both demoed before purchase and they have been perfect for me since day one. Buying blind works sometimes as it turned out with my present set of skis, but not so much with my first mandolin.
Sometimes you have to buy blind. The nearest real mandolin store is a three hour drive from my house. City traffic for the last hour of the drive. Or I could drive to Reno four hours with light traffic and pleasant scenery. Anyway, based on what I read online I settled on a The Loar 520 from that Reno store. The instrument was of good quality and had good set up. Service was top notch and the owner was very helpful. It arrived at my house quickly. But after a few months I realized the neck was too thick for my hand and I personally did not care for its tone.
Moving forward to last August we were visiting my brother in law in Arizona. He lives about an hour away from The Mandolin Store. So I took a drive and demoed a number of Mandolins. Mrs5150 said I could demo, but not buy until Christmas. Made sense. The 520 was only 9 months old at the time and I needed to be sure what I bought was the right instrument. I settled on an Eastman 515, 815 and a Kentucky 1050 as my top choices. By the time Christmas approached, I realized that while the 815 and the 1050 were nicer than the 515, but not $700 nicer considering what I could afford. Placed my order with The Mandolin Store.
So a month later and having adapted to the new instrument I am very happy. Even Mrs5150 is pleased with the tone of the 515 and no longer sends into a closed room when I practice. The smaller neck works well for me. Chording is cleaner and easier and my left hand does not hurt after a half hour. I can pick without looking at my hand with 95% accuracy-was not the case with the 520. YMMV.
But yes, not everyone can demo due to distance.
Bookmarks