Has COVID affected your MAS?

[DaveGinNJ]

For me the lock-down has led to more instrument purchases than I otherwise would have made. Since the plague started, I have bought a Mandocaster,a Northfield FS5, an upright bass, a Ukulele bass, and an electric bass. If this thing doesn't end soon I am going have to build an addition to house all this stuff

[catmandu2]

That's not MAS, it's GAS - I know it well

It has - there's little being offered these days. Although I'm in discussions to get this -



What kind of DB did you get?

[Zach Wilson]

Since the start of the pendamic and the shut downs began here in my area I have made 2 instrument purchases. One was needed (a guitar) as I started leading Worship again at church and the other (a mandolin) was not... just something I wanted.

[journeybear]

Directly or indirectly, yes. With all this free time on my hands, I've kept my eye on what's out there more often than usual. A bit of severance pay from retiring helped push things along as well. Somehow, almost too quickly to notice, I acquired three mandolins this past year that I may not have really needed, but I sure wanted. And I just couldn't talk myself out of buying any of them. Compare that to the two I bought during the span from 2007 - 2020. And I needed both of those for work. I have to chuckle a bit, since I've never understood why some people build up a collection when all you really need is one, and all you can play at a time is one. I seem to have changed my mind a bit about that, and have come to appreciate each one for its different characteristics. I don't see myself going as all-out as someone like Steve Howe, who has dozens of guitars, and I like to think I'm done with this. I still wouldn't mind a good resonator or steel mandolin, though ...

[Kenny]

Has COVID affected my MAS? Definitely! After playing electric bass for most of 55 years I got my first mandolin, an octave, a year and a half into that-thing-that’s-been-going-around and my second, an F-style, about a month later. Being retired I’m likely to offload several instruments before even thinking about tending to any further attacks of MAS.

[Louise NM]

Yes, MAS flared. When the lockdown started (remember, we were all going to stay home for a couple weeks and "flatten the curve"?) all my orchestral commitments cratered and I decided to use the newly free practice time to work on some specific mandolin techniques. That same week some money I wasn't expecting came in the mail, and I noticed an ad in the MC classifieds for the most beautiful piece of figured maple imaginable—with a lovely mandolin attached to it. If I was confined to quarters for a bit, it seemed like a shiny new Pava would be a good companion. (It has been!) That summer I picked up a cheap and cheerful 1970s Japanese bowl back through the local Craigslist. A year ago today a Lyon & Healy Style B showed up on my doorstep.

All were excellent purchases: the Pava and L&H are absolutely keepers, and the bowl back is fun to have. The Kentucky 272 I had went to one of my kids when the Pava arrived, and my luthier and I seem to have entered into a joint-custody arrangement for my first mandolin. I'm no longer looking to buy and I'm not looking to sell.

[Jcdraayer]

The start of the lockdowns and being stuck around the house with a newborn kicked off my desire to finally learn the mandolin. Four mandolins in less than 2 years, I’d say it didn’t affect my MAS as much as ensure I was immediately afflicted by it

[Jill McAuley]

I haven't had MAS since the Girouard arrived in Dec '18, so all good there. I did add a tenor guitar to the household last year. I guess it was COVID related as it was a bit of retail therapy following the death of my mum from COVID.

[Mandobart]

No new mandolins (I already have an F5, hybrid F4, A4 10 string mandola, 2 octave mandolins, a 10 string mandocello, old resonator mandolin, old banjolin and Mandobird VIII). I did end up buying 3 pandemic guitars though.

I'd been wanting a bluegrass dread for a while and found a great deal on a gently used Martin HD-28 back in March of 2020. Later that year I bought a round neck wood bodied spider bridge resonator guitar. Then last October I found another great used guitar - an Eastman E2OM-CD.

So I still have way too many instruments but there's nothing else I'm looking for now.

[Ray(T)]

I’ve not bought anything since the plague started. Whether this is because my MAS has waned or that mandolin family instruments of any quality have been largely absent from the UK market is difficult to say.

[Zach Wilson]

I should have included this to my post above as it may be important information to why mas didn't hit hard for me during this time.

Being in food manufacturing and considered as 'essential worker' I was still working (plus a lot of overtime in 2020 to keep up demands) and didn't really have time for mas. It wasn't until recently (this years bonus) that I got a small case of it.

[Martin Beer]

I have a very modest income, so I don't buy instruments often. But as someone playing a few different instruments, having more time at home and my bands less active has definitely shifted my focus away from spending more time on bass (which I play out most often) and towards melodic instruments that are fun to pick up on the sofa like mandolin, cittern and chromatic harmonica.

[Eric Platt]

Have really gone through instruments the last two years. Both buying and selling. Have a history of doing this, so can't say it's just pandemic related.

It has resulted in less instruments at home. But it doesn't mean MAS is gone. However, GAS is pretty much done. Have 2 acoustics now and no interest in adding/changing things there.

[Greg Connor]

Yes, I think sitting around the house more has lead to looking for instruments more. I have purchased a few guitar pedals, a Fender Professional Stratocaster, a Deluxe Reverb amp, two hand made mandolins, an Ome Tenor banjo, and several harmonicas. Oh ….. and a Thumb Piano.

[James Vwaal]

The pandemic hasn't affected my MAS or GAS, but experiencing a "bandemic" certainly has.

Once one is part of a band (trio and quartet, occasionally), there are the mic and mic stand purchases, contact mic and 48V power supply buys, iPad and iPad holder to replace sheet music, cords and cables, amps and PAs and stands to put them on. I was looking to buy a linear array PA in the Fall, but glad I held off as the gigs are not yet picking up too quickly. We had one in November, and now one next week, and then after that it is a drought until the summer farmers market season.

People around here have decided just to live with the Thing just like we live with flu season. We got an invite to play in a congregate housing location which cancelled everything a year ago. I asked if they were still concerned about the Thing, but the activities director stated they were more concerned with death from boredom instead.

[James Vwaal]

PM sent.

[keith.rogers]

I wasn't even playing mandolin before 2021, so while I seem to have avoided catching the pandemic, I did catch a case of MAS... I now have 2 mandolins and probably a dozen mando-focused albums, a small stack of books, and an ArtistWorks subscription that I didn't have before!

[vonbiber]

During Covid I got my first mandolin (Eastman 305) then a tenor guitar (HB) and an Irish banjo tenor (Gold Tone 12").
But I'm mostly playing the (6-string) guitar and the tenor guitar.
Trying to pick the mandolin now and then (learning 'Foggy Dew', 'Tarantella Napoletana', 'Chicken Reel')
but I am more comfortable with the guitars.

[Mandobart]

Where are you picking up these items: online or store? I ask, because I am moving to the Twin Cities in a couple of weeks and need to offload some guitars and guitar paraphernalia to a consignment shop.

Be wary. I don't know the Twin City (or your current location's) music store scene, but if I listened to the music stores when I lived in San Diego and Seattle, I would have been ripped off to the tune of a few thousand dollars.

I had an 80's Ibanez Musician electric guitar that I just wasn't playing. I took it to shops in those cities when I lived there and was repeatedly told "no one is looking for these guitars, I can give you $150." It was worth it to hang on to for that small amount.

A few years later on a classic Ibanez forum I was offered $3000 for it just based on pictures I posted there.

It's more convenient to sell to a store but they're looking to move their own inventory and have no reason or incentive to be fair to you.

[Em Tee]

COVID has hit my family hard and I've been forced to sell all my quality mandolins. I'm left with a the loar 310 with a partially sunken top. So has it affected my desire for a better mandolin? No. But it's greatly reduced my ability to afford one, especially with the astronomical rise in prices. You used to be able to pick up a decent beginner to intermediate for 300 not too long ago (two or three years ago). Now an Eastman 305 is literally double the price at 600. Something's gotta give.

[J Mangio]

It sure is! I have on order a 2021 The Loar LM 700, been waiting two months, prolly on a ship in Long Beach.

[DaveGinNJ]

Be wary. I don't know the Twin City (or your current location's) music store scene, but if I listened to the music stores when I lived in San Diego and Seattle, I would have been ripped off to the tune of a few thousand dollars.

I had an 80's Ibanez Musician electric guitar that I just wasn't playing. I took it to shops in those cities when I lived there and was repeatedly told "no one is looking for these guitars, I can give you $150." It was worth it to hang on to for that small amount.

A few years later on a classic Ibanez forum I was offered $3000 for it just based on pictures I posted there.

It's more convenient to sell to a store but they're looking to move their own inventory and have no reason or incentive to be fair to you.

If its a consignment with a percentage fee then they do have incentive to get a good price. For James V I would do some research on what your stuff is worth first

[CES]

Regarding MAS, I upgraded my mandos to the Kelley A5 and Rigel CT-110 before things locked down, so I’ve been pretty satiated there. But I did buy an OO sized Martin and a McPherson Touring. I also got a Blues Jr amp and something double humbucker will likely make an appearance sometime this year…

That said, my awesome wife got me a very nice leather strap for an F style mandolin, so now
I “need” a nice scroll on which to hang it

[CES]

I’d also like to throw out there that while I’ve been able to keep working and am fortunate to have added the instruments I did over the last year, my heart goes out to those who haven’t been so fortunate. It’s been tough to see so many great instruments for sale by pros who had to move them because they couldn’t gig, especially during the initial lock down. Like everyone, I’m ready to be able to move past this, and I’m very grateful that I haven’t HAD to sell any of my instruments (at least to this point). Peace and better times ahead for those who had unwanted partings with their instruments…

[Eric C.]

I'm in the same boat.
Purchased a 91' Flatiron, 5 string Gold Tone E-Mando, Northfield octave, a Recording King parlour guitar, and a ukelele bass.

edit to add the guitar.