Bought a recording king for kid. Really impressed

[drewgrass]

I bought this recording king for my daughter about a year back. and it’s really impressive. Although not primarily a mandolin player Ive owned a a couple Collings and a derrington master model and a weber. Even my wife when I played it at the music store against others worth more than 4 times as much instantly said buy it. For $200.00 We got real lucky. It has a little wood in the tone a balanced chop but is really loud

The girl has moved on to piano and is starting a year long program this fall with a very good teacher so this thing has been setting. Im think about doing some upgrades maybe just all i should do is a tone guard it’s already really loud. But im a tinker I know its still only $200 mandolin and tuners a nut and new bridge and tail piece would be more than its worth. Maybe some random hippie sanding. But I also know it would take $2k to beat it. I would like to see how far i could take this thing.

[dhergert]

ToneGards are great and I have them on both of my mandos, but my playing posture and medial thoracic anterior expansion is such that I always have the back of the mandolin leaning against myself when playing, so the ToneGard is an obvious winner for me. If you or your daughter do not share that playing experience -- meaning the back of the mandolin in question does not come in contact with a medial anterior thoracic expansion of any kind -- you may not need a ToneGard. I'd suggest a good look at you and your daughter's playing posture before you purchase to determine if you really need a ToneGard to remediate this kind of situation.

There is also some thought that the added mass of a ToneGard may by itself improve an instrument's sound. In that regard, ToneGards don't cost a huge amount of money, so if you are curious, it may be worth the purchase just to see what it does; if you decide that it doesn't help you could always offer it for sale here in the Mandolin Cafe Classifieds.

Other than a ToneGard, probably a new bridge is the first real sound-making enhancement to try on a mandolin, but given how good this particular mandolin is reported to sound, it may not be necessary and may not improve things. There are also a number of very nice 3rd party solid and/or cast tailpieces you could try; these will undoubted change the tone, but how much and whether you like the change is hard to determine in advance. If you and your daughter can tolerate slight changes to your picking approach, an armrest might be a good thing to try -- keeping your arm off of the soundboard is always a good idea. Similar idea with a pickguard, again if you can tolerate the change to the picking approach.

Other than making some of the above changes for the sake of playability or for the sake of protecting the instrument, knowing in advance whether any changes will improve the sound this instrument delivers is going to be guesswork. The human ear is said in the best circumstances to not recognize less than a 10% change in sound, and even above that, the mind and ear work together very subjectively. With that in mind, if the mandolin really sounds this good, you might just want to leave it unchanged and instead just spend more time playing it.

[Jim Garber]

I am just curious: what model Recording King mandolin did you buy. You just said "this recording king." I played one of those copies of century mandolins and it was terrible. Sounded like cardboard.

I bought an RK parlor guitar for my daughter to fool around with and the guitar was fine, pretty playable even, thought could use some set up.

[Mandoplumb]

If the instrument sounds good and plays good about all the upgrade will do for you is help you get rid of some money. If that is the case buy one of everything and you'll soon have the four times the price invested in it, just don't expect get that out of it.

[MikeZito]

Like Jim, I too bought a 'beginners' Recording King guitar a while back and found it to be a good value at a very low price, but did need some simple set-up.

My son works at a music store and says that most of the RK stuff is nice, for the price . . . .

[Roda]

I have an RK Bakersfield. Its a really fine instrument for the money.

[Jim Garber]

I have an RK Bakersfield. Its a really fine instrument for the money.

Yes, but that is a guitar correct? I was asking about the Mandolin’s. The only one I played I thought it was terrible.

[LynnB]

I just picked up a Recording King RAM-3-BK at a Pawn Shop for $40. It needed some TLC. All in all it is in very good condition with very minor blemishes that I buffed out. The mandolin was missing the string cover, end pin and strings. I ordered a tailpiece on Amazon for $6. All I needed to do was tweak the sides of the cover and it fit perfectly. I had a set of medium mandolin strings on have for other projects I build and make will make an end pin on my wood lathe. This is the first mandolin I ever had. I’m 68 and just started learning how to play the guitar this past January 2023.

[dcuttler]

I purchased a Recording King Dirty 30's Mandolin, but it played horribly when I received it, but after doing a complete setup, and changing the strings, it was very easy to play.

This instrument has good bones, and if setup correctly, it's a great value, however it can be a crap shoot depending on where you buy it.

[Alfons]

Played one of these RAM-3-TS before the pandemic and it was surprisingly good sounding and playing. Definitely the best of the cheap mandos in the shop. The same shop just got two of the same model, and the setup was terrible on both, and they were not set up anything like the same. (These were just out of the box - they hadn't had any setup except by the manufacturer) The neck on one was really wonky - basically needed a neck set right out of the box. The action was low and buzzing even though the bridge was cranked all the way up. The other one actually turned out to be pretty good after tweaking the truss rod and the bridge a bit, and the bridge was at a decent mid-height.

These can be a very pleasant surprise for the money, but are not very consistent. Play before buying, or make sure it can be returned.

If you get a good one, as dcuttler said, with a proper setup it can be a great value. LynnB - that's a great deal if you can get it setup well - good luck! Have fun!

[dcuttler]

LynnB,

Based on my experience, once it's set up properly you will end up with an instrument that will play as well as many expensive instruments, but the sound/tone is already baked in by the selection of woods, and attention to detail or lack thereof in assembly.

I wouldn't expect it to have the richness of sound that you might find in more expensive instruments, but the playability is essentially a function of strings choice and geometry, so the Recording King shouldn't hold you back.

Good luck and enjoy your mandolin.