Hi folks, long time lurker but newly registered here.
I'm a former grade school strings player (violin/viola) who accidentally discovered that mandolins are tuned like violins, and just couldn't get it out of her head. So, I bought a $100 cheapo-plywood model off of Amazon along with the Dummies book, figuring that if I liked it I could get a better quality instrument, but that if I didn't, I wasn't out several hundred or even a thousand dollars.
Turns out the instrument had a surprisingly good tone and holds its tuning much better than I expected for the cost. And I like playing it! It took me a bit to learn how to think in chords and I'm still figuring out the right hand, but not as much as I thought it would. But there's one problem....
I remember being sore as my left hand toughened up on violin/viola, but this time there are cuts and bruises that take 2-3 days to heal. That didn't happen before and I suspect the culprit is my mandolin's A and E courses, which appear to be made of nylon and not steel. I looked to see if I'm just pressing down too hard but pressing down lighter doesn't get the string properly stopped -- and I already have the bridge as low as I can get it.
In other words, I suspect that the problem isn't my fingers or mandolins in general, but rather that this is where the instrument makers cheaped out in order to produce a $100 model -- a ridiculously high action and super thin nylon strings. (Even the G strings, which are metal, are not wrapped.)
I'm thinking about going ahead and upgrading to a better quality instrument, but then again, this could also be early MAS especially since I'm also eyeing octave mandolins. Any feedback or thoughts?
Thanks!
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