Do you take your best mandolin everywhere?

[terzinator]

Tried to search for a similar thread, but "do, you, take, your, best, mandolin" are all too common for the search engine!

Anyway, this occasionally gets bandied about on the Martin guitar forum: Do you take your best guitar to the fest/camping/jam/bar gig, etc., or do you take a beater?

Some exceptions, obviously, but the general consensus is that folks say, "I might as well play it!" ... so yeah, they bring their best guitar everywhere. (Or if their best guitar is an 12-fret 000, they might take their best Dread to the fest, or whatever.)

But was thinking about this as I'm saving for an upgrade to my MT. (I love it, but MAS is, um, you know, insidious...) I figure in a year or so I'll get an Ellis/Kimble/BRW/Brentrup A-style or something similar, and I think I'd keep the MT. (It's probably worth about $1700 or so, but I'd rather keep it to have as a backup or if my 9-year-old takes a keener interest, etc...)

And I thought, hmmm, would I bring the [INSERT UPGRADED BRAND HERE] to an outdoor/camping fest? I mean, the MT isn't a "beater" by any stretch, but I would certainly be less worried about that than a $5000 instrument. (To be fair, it's not like an Ellis A is an irreplaceable Loar, or even a $15,000-25,000 Gilchrist/Dudenbostel/Gibson MM, etc...) But still. (I could see the decision being easier if one was a bluegrass mandolin, and another was an old-style oval hole or something, but these would be two similar mandolins.)

Anyway, some folks bring their best everywhere, regardless of whether they're even playing on stage; I see Brentrups and Gibby MM's at group jams around the campsite.

When do you decide NOT to take your best? Or similarly, how do you decide when it's OK to take your best?

[mandolirius]

There has definitely been a lot of talk about this. It never amounts to much. People will make their minds up depending on the situation and their own sensibilities.

[terzinator]

no, I know... It's not like I'm looking for a "right" answer. Just curious how folks decide, that's all.

[AlanN]

There are times when I have said 'Dang, I wish I brought the The Loar when I brought The MK'

[mandroid]

If I had my Mix Mandolin along on my Bike trip 14 years ago, to Eire and Scotland I might have stayed.

well I would need to find a Girlfriend , that would help the immigration too..

[outdoors4me]

After I insured my mandos on a Personal Articles policy, I take them everywhere.

Beck

[terzinator]

After I insured my mandos on a Personal Articles policy, I take them everywhere.

Excellent point.

[Jesse Harmon]

Definitely do with guitar. I was uncertain about mandolin last summer traveling for 3 weeks to Oregon because it somehow seems a bit more fragile that the guitar. I went out and bought a beater for a rip off price at a pawn shop. It promptly started breaking strings so I ended up taking the new (to me) Rigel Q which I dearly love. No problems that I am aware of yet although we had some high temperatures and I worried a bit about having to leave it in the van sometimes. My feeling is that my time is limited and if I have a good mandolin why not play it as much as possible. Obviously there are extreme situations I wouldn't chance and if I have two quality instruments I just take the lesser. Why play a real beater though if you have managed to work up to a fortunate position of having real quality instruments to enjoy.

[Chip Booth]

"I might as well play it!"

The Gil stays home when it is cold and I have to be outside (I live in the mountains of Idaho at a ski resort so it can get dang cold), or when I need to plug in for a gig. Otherwise, it goes where I go.

[Michael Eck]

I got 'em. I take him.

That's why one (Martin 000-18GE) is in the shop right now - gig damage.

[Bill Van Liere]

Yea I take the Brentrup and the BRW out quite a bit, but that is usually for performance.

I have said it many times before: me and my Flatiron Jr. part ways on my dying day. The little guy really comes in handy again and again.

[Paul Merlo]

After I insured my mandos on a Personal Articles policy, I take them everywhere.
Beck

That reminds me to call my agent tomorrow. I took my custom Weber to a gig right before Christmas and sat in w/ my friend's band for a couple songs. I got a real tiny ding on the binding, so I need to be way more careful when I'm out so that doesn't happen again. Plus it was cold out, so I didn't want to leave it in the car and spent half the night terrified my mando was going to walk off from where I left it by the stage.

It made me wonder whether people would really care or notice if I play my Weber w/ a K&K twin or my old Alvarez w/ a Fishman M-200 pick-up? We'll see next time...

[dcoventry]

My Rigel G5 goes where I go, no questions, no problems. Also, it's a good conversation starter. Most of the conversations start with, "What the hell is that?". The obvious answer is, "It's mine and I love it."

[Kip Carter]

Most of the conversations start with, "What the hell is that?".

ooooooooh be sooooo glad my verbal (typing) clutch kicked in.... that is so ripe for some off colored comments it isn't funny!
Kip...

[Mike Romkey]

I take a mandolin everywhere. If security is iffy - like a resort in Jamaica - I don't bring my main go. But the rest of the time, yeah.

[dcoventry]

ooooooooh be sooooo glad my verbal (typing) clutch kicked in.... that is so ripe for some off colored comments it isn't funny!
Kip...

Let'er rip, i like'em!

[Dagger Gordon]

I have two mandolins.

A Sobell - which is pretty much irreplaceable - and a Collings MT which is quite easily replaced.

They are both insured, so it is not the price value that bothers me but rather that replacement issue. So I basically take my Sobell instruments to my gigs (I always use the mandolin and octave mandolin on stage) but I'm not worried about taking the MT anywhere really.

[John Flynn]

None of my mandolins are irreplaceable, so I would take any of them anywhere. My situation is atypical, I think, in that my "beater" mandolin, a Parsons flat-top, actually has my favorite tone of the three, very mellow and even. But it doesn't have a lot of volume. I choose it for small situations, like just playing with one other person and situations where it might be exposed to the elements. I would not give a thought to it getting another ding or crack. I take the Rigel when I need to plug in and/or I am going to be playing mostly melody. Also, it seems to be pretty indestructable, and I have a Colorado double-insulated case cover for it, so I don't worry about it a lot. I take the Old Wave oval when I am going to be playing more rhythm and I don't need to plug in. It is probably the one I "baby" the most in terms of keeping it out of harm's way.

[Bertram Henze]

I am taking my best instrument (OM) wherever I want to play.
IMHO the only thing that is really irreplacable is the stretch of lifetime you could have enjoyed with your best instrument and wasted with a lesser one.

I have an electric tenor uke tuned GDAE that I use for silent practise environments such as hotel rooms, but that is a different story.

[Dagger Gordon]

Bertram,

I agree with you that the time with a great instrument can never be replaced, which is actually why I prefer not to have my Sobell instruments in certain situations in case they get broken or stolen.
The difficulty and time involved in not being able to have them for my stage appearances would be completely hopeless for me. Sobell instruments really can't be easily replaced. I know because I had one stolen once. The insurance paid for another, but I still had to wait a long time to actually get it. I think the wait would be much longer now.

However, I'm perfectly happy to play my Collings in lots of situations, plus a Gold Tone octave which I sometimes take along.
I have only ever had one tenor banjo, which I use for gigs and sessions all the time and I don't worry about it much. If it gets bust I would just have to get something else.

[Bertram Henze]

Yes Dagger, risk and joy must be balanced. Maybe that's why I don't have a Sobell: the fear of losing it would be to much of a load for me. I take every possible precaution with my instrument as it is, but sometimes unforeseen things happen... (just kidding - the real reason is my implanted 80/20 rule telling me that paying ten times the price for an instrument that's only twice as good as my Fylde is more than I can satisfactorily explain to myself).

So my personal balance is reached by playing an instrument good enough to enjoy and affordable/available enough to play everywhere. That's close enough for me to the dream of a hyperquantum Sobell replicator in my closet.

P.S. Hey, it just occurred to me that's also the exact reason why I don't drive a Rolls Royce!

[Lukas J]

Sometimes, (especially when you're a college student), you know you're in for a rough night of playing. I was once asked to play a birthday party in a trailer park outdoors on a covered patio in eastern Washington at 8 at night. IN JANUARY. there was a woodstove going and I shamelessly planted myself right next to it. It was 36 and pouring and there were 6 muddy labs running around the yard, their tails kicking up mud on everyone. Me and a friend were paid only in beverages- plenty of them. I knew these were the conditions I agreed to, and at the time my only mandolin was an Epiphone A-style. since upgrading, I've yet to encounter any conditions like that, but I plan on using my Epiphone only in really rough conditions like that. I treat my best mandolin with care, but it's going to be played everywhere, barring conditions where few people would play at all.

Other than that, the Epiphone is waiting in the wings for a kid's first mandolin someday.

[terzinator]

IMHO the only thing that is really irreplacable is the stretch of lifetime you could have enjoyed with your best instrument and wasted with a lesser one.

Great sentiment.

[JeffD]

P.S. Hey, it just occurred to me that's also the exact reason why I don't drive a Rolls Royce!

Hey me too. I was wondering why I don't drive one, now I know.

[JeffD]

Right now I am too much in love with my latest baby to take it out camping. But I am sure that I will get used to it and it will become just another option, at which time I will take it out whenever.