Tacoma mandolins

**Evan Mahoney** · Jul-30-2007, 5:01pm

Are there any really great mandolin players out there that dont play bluegrass first? there seems to be a bias when it comes to mandolin that the best isntruments are the loar and the music you have to learn is bluegrass if you want to make an impression in the music world on the mandolin.
I bring this up because i like the Tacoma due to the fact it doesn't denote a style of music by the look of it. F style for bluegrass, A's are found in celtic and sometimes grass and then the folk for, well, folk. the Tacoma just says Mandolin.

**mandomaggiano** · Jul-06-2014, 9:47am

ah yes... the Tacoma M3 I own is a wonderful mandolin. Deep and throaty on the wound strings, full and mellow tones on the plain strings. When the Tacoma guitars came out I avoided them due to the unusal sound hole location. Here now, all this time later, in 2014 I purchased the M3 on line from GC Tacoma Washington. I was ready to not like it before it got here but I was immediately captured by its quality construction, finish, design and hardware. Honestly, I must of got a good one and if anyone here didn't, thats a shame. I started playing the mando in the army overseas back in the mid 70's. When I got back I took it to another level with my sisters bluegrass and country rock band Deadeye. I went through alot of inexpensive mandolins back then like gas in a car. The only american instrument I had then was a hand made Bob Canavan A model which was of a very high quality. That being said, I've never owned a Gibson or even played one. They were never in my small circle of musicians. I have a Michael Kelly, 2 Washburns, a Fender mandocaster, an old Peavey, an Am breedlove OO and now the Tacoma M3. They all have their own individual tone, depth, sound and feel to them. The Wasburns are better for the high pitch wailing of the bluegrass sound. The Breedlove and Tacoma have a fatter fuller tone that sounds great from REM to Vivaldi. The little things that seem negative at first like the tail piece having only 4 hooks for 8 strings, really isn't a problem for me. At first glance I thought it was BS. After a quick and easy restring I saw no problem. If your a string breaker, which I am not, at least not since the 70'S, then this might be a problem for you. The fret board is comparable to my Breedlove. Nice and beefy with a thick fat ebony slab and jumbo style frets that don't hang over the edge. The nut is cut correctly for first fret activity. The non-adjustable bridge seems to meet the required criteria for a very playable and fretable experience. It looks real good to me and it makes an excellent addition to my collection. Please note that I am player of all styles of music and am not a slave to bluegrass, which I play the least. I give this instrument a high five and ten gold stars! My apologies for arriving so many years late to this discussion...

**spufman** · Jul-06-2014, 10:54am

My M1 is a lot of fun to play, very very comfortable. I did swap out the tailpiece for a Weber, mostly because four hooks was slightly annoying. The Tacoma doesn't have the rich sweetness or bark of my F, but is extremely satisfying in its own way. Nice on a hot muggy day, too.

**Cal** · Oct-26-2014, 4:14pm

I remember the days when Phil Keaggy endorsed the Tacoma Papoose, one of their first 2 models. Have not tried their mandos but Phil's endorsement, as seen in Guitar Player mag ads in the day, was a factor with my trying their guitars. The ones that I have tried were well built pieces and seemed great for the money. That northwestern "vib". The Papoose was at the forefront of the modern mini guitar market. (Seems like several prominent manufacturers are in that game now.)

They certainly are unconventional and I can see how conventional bluegrass players / fans might not like them on looks alone. And there are a lot more products out there that don't look like Gibson A5 or F5s But for folks who are looking to stand out as different in growing their careers, unconventional can be a good look and used possibly as an advantage. Mandolin use outside of bluegrass, conventional country and jazz seems to be growing. All good! MC forum tends to back up my perception of this growth.

A photo of a Tacoma mandolin is linked here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacoma_Guitars