Real Starter Mandolin recommendations around $400~ range?

[allenhopkins]

The advice I give to my students is to set a hundred dollars a month aside for 2 years and get something in the 2000, $2,500 range...

What are your students playing in the meantime?

The thread's about a "starter mandolin," so I assume J M doesn't have one to play until he buys his preferred oval-hole. If I'd had to save up $2.5K for a starter instrument, I wouldn't have started.

[James Miller]

What are your students playing in the meantime?

The thread's about a "starter mandolin," so I assume J M doesn't have one to play until he buys his preferred oval-hole. If I'd had to save up $2.5K for a starter instrument, I wouldn't have started.

Have a Rover (toy mandolin?), which I thought sounded good until I played or heard other mandolin played.

The local acoustics store, Pickers Paradise in Weiser, Idaho, has limited choices: Gold Tone predominantly, a Ventura, and one $750 Loar which did not impress me. One of the Gold Tones with the flashy stuff & gold plating sounded the best. However the Gold Tones appear to be heavily varnished; really noticeable in the necks which are quite heavy compared to other mandolins.

Greif's in Ontario, OR had one The Loar & a Rover - was not impressed by either. The music instructor said the Rover wasn't a worthy step up from the Rogue. Did look like the Rover had a truss rod cover, Rouges have no truss rod.


Wanted to play in the church acoustics group, to add to the melody - not to stand out just yet. And there is a local group who gets together and we never know who will show up. Since I'm not overly confident playing the Rover I strum with my thumb, but they don't seem to care as long as I'm playing the correct chord by ear. When I go off tune (sigh) I get a look and one starts saying the chord we're on. (grin)
Aside from that I would play solo, and hopefully with the didgeridoo. Have an online friend (Philip Lipsky) who plays an Irish Bouzouki with his didges and he's fantastic!

[CES]

I really like my Flatiron 1N. Loud, great sustain, and exceptional tone. Flat fretboard and smaller trad frets may be offputting to some, and I’m thinking of having someone give me a radiused board and larger frets. But, I really like it. Also have a 1974 Martin spruce/hog. The neck is excellent, and I can adapt to the shorter scale length, but it doesn’t have the tone/volume of the Flatiron...I’ve heard others that were much better sounding than mine. That said, I’m still playing with string choices for it...

Eastman is putting out some really good instruments presently. I have a 315 that I really like, and recently played a 504 that was outstanding, regardless of the price point...good luck, man!

[James Miller]

After MUCH deliberation, debating on to buy used or new, and going over available resources have decided to order a Kentucky 272 from Elderly.com this evening. Looked like they may have gotten their expected shipment early. And thanks to @ colorado_al for giving me a 10% discount.
Did leave a note asking if the Kentucky 272 came with new D'Addario strings or if I should get a set added prior to shipment. Would assume this would come with quality strings.

Saga shows the 3rd fret as being marked, although Elderly does not show this. Will have to wait and see.

Will probably want to get a hard case for the Kentucky 272. Have a formed soft case at home that been using with the Rogue, in which I originally purchased for a ukulele. Will see if this fits for now. Will be looking for a hard case before long.

One question that I canot find is if the Kentucky 272 has a radius fretboard or if it is flat. Probably does not make much difference. Seems from observation that wide nuts often come with radius fretboards. Since the KM-272 comes with a 1 1/8" nut am guessing it is a flat board.

Did want to pull the trigger on the better options, yet I am not ready to take that big of a leap right now. This KM-272 should be LOTS BETTER than a Rogue.

I thank ALL of you for your indulgence and feedback.

[colorado_al]

This KM-272 should be LOTS BETTER than a Rogue.

Good call!
I like the look of the KM-272 better than the KM-270 also.
I think the KM-272 has a radiused fretboard

[Mark Wilson]

After MUCH deliberation have decided to order a Kentucky 272 from Elderly.com this evening.

That's a fine choice for the budget. Good looking mandolin. I started on a KM-171 which is the early model of the KM27x series. Played fine and sounded good to me. The only regret I had was not getting from a place like Elderly that do a good setup. I think that's a flat board too but you state correctly - it won't make much difference. Happy waiting and picking - enjoy!

[Eric Platt]

Nice choice. The KM-272 is a great mandolin. Another person in the weekly old time jam around here has one. The one she has sounds excellent. I think you'll be quite happy with the choice.

[catndahats]

congrats and good choice James Miller!
Now let the fun begin...

[Zach Wilson]

Congrats and happy pickin' 🤓

[James Miller]

Elderly impressed me today. Todd called me up to tell me there was only one KM-272 left in stock, but the neck angle was off so they were sending it back. They asked me if they could back order, as they had more due to arrive first week of January. Said I could wait until then.

[James Miller]

BTW, what case(s) do Kentucky 272 owners use?

[colorado_al]

BTW, what case(s) do Kentucky 272 owners use?

I like the Musicians Gear case that I posted earlier in the thread
https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/s...=1#post1620744

[Br1ck]

You know I'm no expert, but all my mandolins have a radiused fretboard, and when I play a flat board, I really don't notice. Those old Gibsons, or for that matter the new ones, play just fine.

Good for you for buying from a quality shop.

[James Miller]

Deciding factors:

Comparing Kentucky to Eastman, at the $400 to $500 range, the Kentucky had better tuners and such, and the finish was not mention as being good or bad. On the contrary on Eastman the tuners were "economy" and the finish has noticeable issues.
People have stated the Eastman sounds better, but for a $125 price difference one would expect decent finish and having quality tuners. Then some have mentioned the Eastman's neck not being comfortable.

Have a Rogue, no-name tuners, and the tuners back out quite a bit on the G D strings the most, A seems to loose a tad, E usually holds very well. Am assuming people have to check their tuning each time, and there is that 5 to 10 minute ritual of tuning the strings before one can start practicing.
A younger man that plays in the local clubhouse group has a Rogue that he's been playing for a year. He also put D'Addario strings on his which made the Rogue really loud, and the bark is more pronounced. Yet he says his looses tune while playing and he's had to adjust while playing.

In the end, the decision process was on quality over-all. Don't want to have Rogue-like tuners on a near $500 mandolin. Really, economy tuners of a $480 mandolin?!? I could see that on a sub-$100 mandolin...

To get past the cosmetic & tuner issues one would have to pay nearly $700 to get Nickel Schaller tuners - not sure how those rate as am rather new, though read Grover tuners are the most desired. Weber uses Grover tuners too.

For the $400 range the Kentucky seemed to have more going for it. Then there was a used Eastman that I almost lept on.

Hoping the Kentucky will help chip away the idle time during these winter months and I can learn an instrument that I've wanted to play for many years, and hopefully will last me for some time. Don't ever see me paying $1200++ for a mandolin unless I suddenly become wealthy. And if I did would probably get a Weber Bridger - luv its looks and sound.

[James Miller]

Will need to get Elderly to cancel the backorder, even though have already been billed ... as I (cannot believe I did this) bought a used Weber Y2K6 mandolin instead.

[OneChordTrick]

So you couldn’t resist?

I’m in a similar position myself, looking to upgrade my Romanian “rogue a-like”, looking at some new ones next week and scouring for second hand bargains.

Interesting your comments on Kentucky vs. Eastman. Over here the Eastman is about $50 more expensive, at close to $800. Hopefully will play them both next week.

[James Miller]

Higher end Eastmans are better than lower end, from the hardware and such. Many have said the Eastman has the superior sound, but at the lower end of the line they don't have the best finish or hardware compared to the Kentucky. Todd, at Elderly, said Kentucky has been in business making mandolins forty years earlier than Eastman - think is what he said.

I was meandering at the lower end though. The Eastman 500 series seemed to had drastically improved with radius fingerboard and graduated hand-carved tops. Read somewhere about what each top meant, although the lower end Eastman has something called a "bound top" in which I could not find a reference to what it meant.


One of the Mandolin Cafe members tossed me a bone about the Y2K being the Weber beginner mandolins. They used mahogany instead of maples sides & back, but I can trust the Weber name. Also found that most Y2K models at the $500 range only last hours or a few days before they are bought-up. Have found a few in the $700 to $1,000 range, in fact there's a Y2K for sale in the classified from back in November that looks REALLY good for $700. Looks rather exquisite in terms of shape,

Would rather have a Weber Bridger but those are waaay beyond my reach.


Figured that if I did not leap on this deal it may be some time fore something else came along, and I figured this one would of sold before I woke up. Am surprised it lasted this long.


Now I have to find out how to humidify a mandolin. The owner said to keep it in the case during winter and humidify it. So have a new topic to search for. The owner said he got a fancier mandolin and thus why he was selling this one, and he's glad it is going to someone who can appreciate it. ~~ It took me like 15 minutes to press the Confirmation button to buy it.

[Folkmusician.com]

Higher end Eastmans are better than lower end, from the hardware and such. Many have said the Eastman has the superior sound, but at the lower end of the line they don't have the best finish or hardware compared to the Kentucky.

Eastman 300 series hardware is right there with any Kentucky until you get up to the Master Models. The Master Model hardware is still not quite as nice as Eastman's higher end hardware.

Todd, at Elderly, said Kentucky has been in business making mandolins forty years earlier than Eastman - think is what he said.

This is true on the surface as far as the brand goes (under 30 I believe), but Kentucky's have been made in three separate countries and maybe 10+ factories, the latest of which only has about 5 years experience making mandolins (though they are doing a good job). Their latest F-style mandolins (other than the master models), have only been in production about 1 year.

Eastman is made by Eastman and always has been. They have many years of experience in violin making. 25 years to be exact. They have made mandolins for 12 years.

[Br1ck]

I'd jump on the Eastman 305 just listed in the classifieds.