Mando for child

[Perry]

Does anybody have any advice, experience, recommendations on new mandolins priced under $200?

Washburn has one for around that price. Anybody play one?

Thanks
Perry

[cooper4205]

i would look for a kentucky km-150S or 250S i have seen both under $200 new and they have solid tops and backs (the 250 is even radiused)

[arbarnhart]

I would check B stock Kentucky mandolins on ebay and yes, I love my Washburn M1SDL as a cheap solid carved arch top oval A. Mid-Mo made a "Kid Mo" model you might find used.

[Ken Sager]

I've seen a few good Johnson A models for around a hunnerd bucks. Of course they needed setup, but they were surprisingly good sounding once setup properly. I'll second the Kentucky suggestions. If you can find a solid wood mando for that I'd go that route. I've not seen a Washburn in that price range I'd give money for. YMMV.

A question for you: how old is the child and would a uke be a good starter? If older than 5 I'd go with a mandolin. Younger than that I'd look at a uke for $30 or so.

Just a thought.

Love to all,
Ken

[grant_eversoll]

Check out musicians friends, I brought one of their $100. guitar/mandolin sets for my kids and both were 100% better than I thought they would be

[Lee]

The Epiphone MM-30's I've seen have been respectable.

[Tom C]

Perry,
You can use my Martin-Sigma cheapo indefinately and see how you like it. I keep it in "Get Up John" tuning right now. For a child, you may want to remove 4 strings
and use single strings for each of fretting.

[mrmando]

Mando for child: sounds like a fair trade, depending on the mando.

[DryBones]

any used Mid-Mo would fit the bill but not the price. They play super easy and seem smaller in size than your standard mandolin.

[Caleb]

i would look for a kentucky km-150S or 250S i have seen both under $200 new and they have solid tops and backs (the 250 is even radiused)

what exactly is "radiused"?

[cooper4205]

the radiused fretboard has a slight arc, like a guitars, instead of being flat

[Caleb]

the radiused fretboard has a slight arc, like a guitars, instead of being flat

hmmm...I've been playing guitar for almost 15 years and I've never even noticed.

(places bag over head)

[John Flynn]

You could also get a uke and re-string it so it could be tuned like a mando. It would cost a lot less and be a whole lot easier for a kid to learn to play, but the skills would all transfer to the mando later on. I have an instrument I've done this to. It is a lot of fun to play.

What would that be called? A muke? A ukeolin?

[JEStanek]

John makes a good suggestion. Should you want to tune your uke like a mando you can get strings from the Thin Man.

Jamie

[Perry]

Thanks everybody!

I relayed all this great info to my buddy whose looking to buy one for his 14yr old daughter.

Perry

[jk245]

Don't go for the musiciansfriend.com Rogue in the $50-$150 range. If you take a look at the reviews on the http://www.musiciansfriend.com/ site for Rogue there is unanimous opinion that the quality is junk...except it has a nice case!

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/ and http://www.giardinelli.com/
are owned by Guitar Centers retail chain.

They might be connected with http://www.musician.com since they have the mostly the same products and prices and with internet search of whois they seem to be on the same servers.

Tryout each for best price and terms. Also, sign up for their newsletters since they often send out discount coupons.

When I wanted to buy my first low price instrument I tried to find the web site for Rogue. I could not find it.
The only thing that I could find was a Rogue Music Company in New York City which is likely a shop or shipping point.

In any case I opted to go to Washburn which is an old company and offers a lifetime waranttee. Washburn M2S is nicely made. It has a utility case and throw away other stuff. But, with a discount coupon from MF it came in for $140 including shipping. The sound is good enough for a new-bee. It took about an hour for setup. It did not need any adjustments, except, I replaced the stings with $10 D'Addario EXP74 Coated Phosphor Bronze Medium strings which sound great.