Re: "Playability"
It may be a matter of semantics, but I think of a difference between setup and playability features.
Originally Posted by
John Soper
The mandolin that you have probably needs a set up. A Rover isn't a "top quality" mandolin, but a set up by a competent luthier or repair person would make it more playable and might help you make decisions about whether to get a new instrument, depending on how much you play it. Or learn a few skills while the Covid keeps us in - learn how to do set up yourself. Rob Meldrum has offered an eBook on mandolin set up for quite some time.
What John is describing here is what I think of as setup. It’s a series of adjustments — to the bridge, the fret ends, the tuners, the truss rod, and especially the nut — that optimizes a mandolin. A Rover likely left a Chinese factory with no setup, and depending on where it was purchased, it most likely still has not received a setup. In the right hands, which might be your own (with Rob’s help), that Rover (or any other healthy mandolin) should be pleasant to interact with you.
Originally Posted by
HonketyHank
But as for the non-adjustable aspects of a particular mandolin's design, playability has more to do with personal preferences. Like the profile of the neck, the nut width, radius of the fretboard.
What Hank is describing here is what I think of as playability features. They’re a series of design choices — nut width, neck profile, fret size — that really can’t be “adjusted” (though they can be modified). For some players, the differences are very important. A Cafe regular named Jeff Hildreth is insistent that anything less than a 1-3/16” nut is unplayable for him, while another named Don Grieser finds that anything over 1-1/16” is not sustainable for him. Some, like Hank here, have owned a variety of mandolins and are able to adapt to these differences comfortably. Others, like me, own a variety of mandolins and can play them all but still notice some that feel more intuitive. For me, the big issue is neck profile. A full neck with lots of meat in the shoulders gets in the way of my playing in a way that a narrow one in a V profile doesn’t. But that kind of observation only comes when you’ve played a bunch of mandolins over a period of time, and hopefully doesn’t come at all.
Once you have that sorted out, there are real upgrades, not only in setup but tone, in the $800-1200 range depending on what you want to do musically. You are towards the high end of the American flattop market (only the Waterloo is above budget), and used options from Flatiron and Big Muddy can be found for far less. You are towards the bottom end of the American archtop market, where new options include the Pacific NW’s own Sonny Morris and used offerings can sometimes be found by Ratliff, Silverangel, Flatiron, and Rigel.
1924 Gibson A Snakehead
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2017 Poe Scout
2014 Smart F-Style Mandola
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