Introduce myself....

[grant_eversoll]

Any plane wreck you can walk away from is a good landing. Sorry I could not pass up the chance of poking fun at a terrible trade question. I have no room to talk I own a Morgan Monroe MM3 a cheap mand by some standards but a fine instrument in my eyes...and pocket.

"they work backwards to the way normal tuners turn," Every instrument I own...which is several, has turners that turn both ways...you lost me on that one.

[mandolooter]

Well trading a tenor banjo for a mandolin ain't a bad trade at all...especially if a mandolin is what ya want to play! It's true ya don't read a lot about Washburns around here but a local lady near me has one similar to the pic you posted and it's a fine sounding mandolin. I think the most important thing is to enjoy the thing and all the pleasures locked inside it.

[Coy Wylie]

Welcome. We all have to start somewhere. Don't worry about your Washburn. It will probably be fine for a few weeks until MAS sets in.

[grsnovi]

Hi Reid,

Relax, I was able to resist upgrading my Washburn for about 12 years - mine is possibly exactly the same as yours: traditional burst and the guy who had it before me put a Fishman bridge on it.

I just moved to a Collings MF F

G

[Bob DeVellis]

treidm:

A "Virzi" is a Virzi tone-producer, an oval-shaped wooden plate attached to the underside of the mandolin top on some instruments built while Lloyd Loar was running the show (well, more or less) at Gibson. It was originally used on violins to enhance the sweetness and complexity of their tone. Loar licensed the concept from the inventors, the Virzi brothers. Top binding vs side binding refers to how binding is applied to an instrument's edge. Binding has a wider edge and a narrower edge. Whichever facet of the instrument edge shows the wider side of the binding lends its name to it. So, in top binding, the binding is placed with the wide surface on the top and the narower edge exposed on the side. With side binding, it's the opposite -- wide edge on side and narrow edge on top. With multi-stripe laminated binding, usually only one of the stripes is visible on one facet of the edge and both are visible on the other facet. The facet with both visible, again, lends its name to the type of binding. Hope that's not too confusing. Although it's hard to tell from the small picture, it looks like your Washburn has side binding, i.e., wider on side than top.

[mandoryan]

The counterclockwise turning Schallers are standard vintage reissue tuners. They are built that way to replicate the vintage tuners of bygone days. The all turned counterclockwise back then, and until the guitar tuners that turned clockwise came out, no one would have known any different. Anywhoo, thought I would answer that little issue there. Mandoryan

[grant_eversoll]

I am the same as you. I have played guitar for 28 years, I brought my first mando last year...and my second...and my third well I really brought the 3rd for my son but you get the picture...I was just razzing you about the turners turning backwards

[neo mandolin]

Im a newbie as well, hence the name. I've played guitar for nearly 15 years and since last summer I have had that same burning desire to learn to play the mandolin. I just finally purchased my first which I am expecting delivered on Wednesday(mail order which I hated to do but it was on sale w/ hardshell case for $140 and I'm not rich either so...), a ROGUE RM-100A A MODEL MANDOLIN. It's something to start out on, and if I get good and stick w/ it I'll eventually pick up another better quality.

Good Luck!

[jasona]

What is important isn't WHAT you are playing, its THAT you are playing! Welcome to mando madness!

[mandodude]

Hey Reid!

Mandos... addictive li'l things, ain't they??

About your "backward" tuners...
As you hold the mando upright and look at the back of the headstock, most of today's Pacific Rim mandos (as is your Washburn)will have their tuning machine gears oriented with the worm gear on TOP if the ring gear at each string post. "Vintage" mandos and today's upper-end mandos usually had the worm gear located BELOW the ring gear. Most quality replacement tuning machines that you buy today are of the vintage variety... my guess is that the machines you took off had the worm gears on TOP and the ones yoy put back on had 'em on the BOTTOM. The way the gears are usually cut, this would have the effect of reversing the tuning action you've been used to.

BTW - about your trade - I once traded a tenor banjo for a six-pack of Schlitz and a bag of pork rinds... even THAT was a good deal on my part! You did well, my friend!

;-)

[ShaneJ]

BTW - about your trade - I once traded a tenor banjo for a six-pack of Schlitz and a bag of pork rinds... even THAT was a good deal on my part! #

Only a banjo player....

I love it!

[PCypert]

Hey all,
Don't know why I've never shared this story. When I was in college a guy was packing up his car to leave for the summer. He was running out of room. Came down to a plant a broom and a banjo. Couldn't fit them all in his car so he hands me the banjo and drove off. I pulled the same thing at the end of the summer and cursed another guy with it. You think it'll be fun at first and then all your friends quit coming by.
Paul