Re: Well set up beater mandolin??
What's your budget? If it's <$100 I think you may be outta luck. Cheapest one I could find with a reliable shop set-up was a Rover RM-50B at Elderly Instruments, and that was $255.
Lots of stores selling the low-end Rogues, but none of them offer set-up. I checked folkmusician.com, where a variety of entry-level (and below, IMHO) mandolins are listed, but not sold or set up through the store. All have the caveat, "Only buy one if you're comfortable doing your own set-up."
Set-ups don't require a Ph.D. in Mandolin Astronomy, and Cafe member Rob Meldrum offers a mandolin set-up e-book free to all fellow members. As Honkety Hank stated in a recent thread:
Just send an email to rob.meldrum@gmail.com with "mandolin setup" in the subject line and he will email you a copy of his ebook for free (free to all mandolincafe members).
And after all, how wrong can one go monkeying with a $79 mandolin? And, of course, your alternative is to keep your mandolin(s) cased and closeted when not playing it(them). Second alternative is to invest in serious, punitive dog training...
Allen Hopkins
Gibsn: '54 F5 3pt F2 A-N Custm K1 m'cello
Natl Triolian Dobro mando
Victoria b-back Merrill alumnm b-back
H-O mandolinetto
Stradolin Vega banjolin
Sobell'dola Washburn b-back'dola
Eastmn: 615'dola 805 m'cello
Flatiron 3K OM
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