Just getting back into mandolin, so I bought a new Eastman MD515 less than two weeks ago. Liked it so much, I drove the 140 miles back to the same store (shout-out to Paul and the guys at Music Villa in Bozeman, MT) and picked-up an MDO-305 octave mando over the weekend. They told me that it had just come in two days before that and had been on order for months. They always have about a dozen mandos hanging in there, but evidently people snatch-up the "oddball" cousins in a hurry. So then I got to thinking that I really needed a mandola in there somewhere, so I ordered an MDA315 mandola from Mass Street Music (because they seemed to be one of the only places that had one in stock... they actually had three). It came in yesterday. Haven't really spent any time with it because I had a big gig to play last night and was focused on that. But I intend to spend most of the weekend getting familiar with the mandola. I think it'll be the sweet spot for me, because the Eastman mandolins have such tiny necks that It's really hard for me to cram my fingers in there. The octave mandolin sounds wonderful, but things are a bit of a stretch down low on the fretboard. I think the mandola will be "mamma bear" and be juuuuust right. Time will tell. Now I need a mandocello to complete the full set! I've got my eye on a few. They're multiplying like rabbits!!!
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