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Thread: Summer camping trips with the mandolin...

  1. #1

    Default Summer camping trips with the mandolin...

    I'm planning a few camping trips this summer in Washington and Oregon. I only own a Kentucky KM-150 and am considering bringing it with me.

    Assuming I can avoid major spills, will I be doing damage bringing it? Temperature ranges likely to stay well above freezing and well below boiling. I know to avoid bugspray, moisture, car trunks etc.

    Any other tips or words of caution? I've considered buying a rogue for camping but I'm a lefty so there is a fair amount of work to get it into playable shape.

  2. #2
    Registered User Tomando's Avatar
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    Default Re: Summer camping trips with the mandolin...

    freezing, boiling, and major spills would be a doing a merciful favor to a Rogue... take the Kentucky, dude!

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  4. #3
    Registered User Roger Moss's Avatar
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    Default Re: Summer camping trips with the mandolin...

    Quote Originally Posted by Tomando View Post
    freezing, boiling, and major spills would be a doing a merciful favor to a Rogue... take the Kentucky, dude!
    You could knock a small bear unconscious with a Rogue without breaking it. Sounds like shiite but built like a tank.
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    And we are the dreamers of dreams

  5. #4
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    Default Re: Summer camping trips with the mandolin...

    Take the 150! Took my Eastman 315 camping in NC a couple of summers ago when temps reached 102-103 with 80-90% humidity, and it did fine. Kept it in its whimpy gig bag in the shade/tent. Had to re-tune the first night, then it stayed surprisingly stable the rest of the weekend. Also take it to Charleston, SC, to the beach every year (Sullivan’s Isle shout out!), and have had no major issues. That’s usually temps in the 90s and 90-95% humidity. I actually wipe it down with a towel if I take it out to the porch to play in the evenings because of the condensation that forms...Don’t leave it a car in direct sunlight, avoid getting it rained upon, and you should be ok, especially in that climate...
    Chuck

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  7. #5

    Default Re: Summer camping trips with the mandolin...

    All this discussion makes a Mix/MAD carbon fiber mandolin sound very much worth the price. I hope to have one someday just to avoid worrying about a crappy sounding mandolin getting messed up in hot,humid environments.

  8. #6

    Default Re: Summer camping trips with the mandolin...

    Quote Originally Posted by V70416 View Post
    All this discussion makes a Mix/MAD carbon fiber mandolin sound very much worth the price. I hope to have one someday just to avoid worrying about a crappy sounding mandolin getting messed up in hot,humid environments.
    While I think the MAD/Mix mandolins are a great idea and very successfully executed, you could buy 10 Kentucky KM-150's for the price of 1 MAD A style. A KM-150 is not a crappy sounding mandolin imho but I wouldn't worry about it if you take reasonably good care of it while camping. Some refer to them as "beaters" but I wish they were available when I first started playing mandolin.

    Len B.
    Clearwater, FL

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  10. #7
    Registered User Steve Lavelle's Avatar
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    Default Re: Summer camping trips with the mandolin...

    I only have my Flatiron Performer F5 which I bring camping along with a Martin Shenandoah and an Epiphone MB250. I have good cases for all and wiping them down after use is advised. Higher altitudes are drier, as are campfires, so I bring some small sponges to keep the cases humidified. I like to keep them in their cases when they aren't being played.
    Steve Lavelle
    '93 Flatiron Performer F
    Customized Eastwood Mandocaster (8str)

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  12. #8

    Default Re: Summer camping trips with the mandolin...

    Take the Kentucky, I've been at campouts with a Monteleone...
    Northfield F5M #268, AT02 #7

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  14. #9

    Default Re: Summer camping trips with the mandolin...

    The real problem here is you need a beater. So you need to go buy a Collings so you can consider your KM 150 your beater. That way you can take your KM 150 without worrying. After all, it's your beater.
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  16. #10

    Default Re: Summer camping trips with the mandolin...

    Quote Originally Posted by lenf12 View Post
    While I think the MAD/Mix mandolins are a great idea and very successfully executed, you could buy 10 Kentucky KM-150's for the price of 1 MAD A style. A KM-150 is not a crappy sounding mandolin imho but I wouldn't worry about it if you take reasonably good care of it while camping. Some refer to them as "beaters" but I wish they were available when I first started playing mandolin.

    Len B.
    Clearwater, FL
    My Kentucky keeps sounding better and better as I improve. When it becomes the limiting factor in improving my tone, I'll upgrade

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  18. #11
    fishing with my mando darrylicshon's Avatar
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    Default Re: Summer camping trips with the mandolin...

    Take the Kentucky just make sure you take care of it, which you seem to know that already I have taken my J Bovier F5T many times camping, but sometimes when I'm just going fishing and it has a big chance of bad weather, I always take one of my lesser ones , which luckily I have plenty of
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  19. #12
    Registered User LastMohican's Avatar
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    Default Re: Summer camping trips with the mandolin...

    I just posted, a couple of weeks ago, a "beater - no beater" post and this same idea was discussed. Bottom line...I leave next week for ROMP and I'm not taking my Northfield...I'm taking my Loar 600. Between temperature concerns, hotel theft and drunken hippies and hillbillies, I would be nervous as a long tailed cat the whole time I'm there. Don't get me wrong...I have the same concerns for the Loar as well but not to the point that I'll be nuts about it. The other thing I did...I rolled both Mando's up under a personal property insurance policy with USAA...no deductible...and the doggone premiums are about $3.00 a month. Whether you decide on the the Rogue or the Kentucky, have fun on the camping trip.
    "I actually wanted to be a drummer, but I didn't have any drums." - Stevie Ray Vaughn

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  21. #13
    Quietly Making Noise Dave Greenspoon's Avatar
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    Default Re: Summer camping trips with the mandolin...

    You didn't indicate if your were attending any festivals while you're out camping. IMO, there is less to worry about taking an instrument camping than there is at a festival. One fest I say my best friend's kid stepping on top of the case holding my Rigel; it was time for a Festival/beach mando. My Washburn Jethro eventually became an Eastman 515. I've also picked up a Crafter a/e with the composite back a la an Ovation. That is now my general travel mandolin. You can find any number of them used online for just over $200 before the lefty conversion.
    Axes: Eastman MD-515 & El Rey; Eastwood S Mandola
    Amps: Fishman Loudbox 100; Rivera Clubster Royale Recording Head & R212 cab; Laney Cub 10

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