Nomd!

[Red_Label]

Picked up an Eastman 505 octave mando today. Love it! I picked up an MD515 mando on Monday and that got the juices flowing. So when I stopped into the same store today and noticed an octave hanging on the wall, I snatched it up without hesitation. The sales guys said they'd been waiting on this one for months, and that it's only been here for two days. They said that octave mandos and other mando cousins don't usually last long, since they're uncommon. Next up for me will be a mandola. And then probably a mandocello. Though I'm not sure at the moment what the difference between an octave and a cello is. I love the deep, dynamic tones of this thing. I'll post a pic of the two new Eastmans together when I'm back home tomorrow.

[Marty Jacobson]

Congrats! Delete the highest set of strings on your octave, then add another lower set (C) below the lowest strings on your octave. Boom, cello. The Eastman cellos are good, but the necks are too wide (they are really just archtop guitars with a different setup). I've devised a string spacing for them which makes them play really nicely.
https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/t...I-did-about-it

So basically mandola (CGDA), mandolin (GDAE) : mandocello (CGDA), octave mandolin (GDAE)

[kurth83]

Congrats, love my OM, thinking about a mandola myself too.

[darrylicshon]

Congratulations, love octaves. I am expecting a new one any day , but it is a solidbody elictric 5 string

[Red_Label]

Congrats! Delete the highest set of strings on your octave, then add another lower set (C) below the lowest strings on your octave. Boom, cello. The Eastman cellos are good, but the necks are too wide (they are really just archtop guitars with a different setup). I've devised a string spacing for them which makes them play really nicely.
https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/t...I-did-about-it

So basically mandola (CGDA), mandolin (GDAE) : mandocello (CGDA), octave mandolin (GDAE)

Thanks for the info Marty! I'll definitely look into doing that when I get a 'cello.

[Red_Label]

Just ordered an Eastman MDA315 mandola from Mass Street Music. Should be here later in the week if they ship in the next few days. Then I'll just have a cello to go to complete the set. Woot! Now... if I could just get a fraction as comfortable on 4/8 strings tuned in 5ths as I am on 6/12 strings tuned in 4ths! I'll post a pic of the "family" when the mandola gets here.

[David L]

Just ordered an Eastman MDA315 mandola from Mass Street Music. Should be here later in the week if they ship in the next few days. Then I'll just have a cello to go to complete the set. Woot! Now... if I could just get a fraction as comfortable on 4/8 strings tuned in 5ths as I am on 6/12 strings tuned in 4ths! I'll post a pic of the "family" when the mandola gets here.

I played an Eastman mandola at Mass Street Music last Saturday. Might be the same one. You'll be pleased.

[jerrycobbs]

Got really lucky a couple of weeks ago--our local shop got in two Eastman MDO-305's. I never saw the first one as it sold the day it came in, but I managed to snag the second one thanks to my lovely wife, who saw it when she went in for violin lessons and told me about it anyway, knowing full well what would happen next. I love it! Can't keep my hands off of it. To my ear it's somewhere between Celtic-style oval hole OM's and other archtops such as Weber. They had a Weber Bitterroot hanging there and I played them side by side for quite a while. The Weber definitely had a richer sound but at my level of playing it wasn't $3,200 richer. Plus the thick neck on the Weber felt like a shovel handle. I much prefer the thinner neck on the Eastman and the brighter sound suited me just fine.