Howdy yall! I'm new here! Few questions for you.

[Samurai19]

Greetings! Call me Samurai. At the moment I don't have a mando, but I will in a few weeks cause I'm building one! It's all carved and put together, just needs a finish. It's an a-style mandolin with a spruce top, and flamed maple back and sides. Anyway, I was also wondering whether or not you could recommend me some good bluegrass tunes to get started on, and which tuners would be the best for my new mando. Thanks guys, I hope to frequent these forums alot in the near future!

[Bernie Daniel]

Hello & welcome. Have you have ever played mandolin before?

If not and if you are not already familiar with say a guitar or other fretted instrument I would start at the beginning. By that I mean start on some of the basic old time tunes that were part of the development of bluegrass in the early 1940's.

These tune are catchy and easy to play and all have some elements of feel of bluegrass in them. Probably some good starter tune (arranged easiest to hardest) would be:

Bile Them Cabbages Down
Old Joe Clark
Soldier's Joy
Cripple Creek
Whiskey before breakfast
Arkansas Traveler
Blackberry Blossom

This question about tunes might get more attention over in the "general section" or "looking for help with tunes section" of the forum. You could get a lot of comments on your build if you posted some pictures on this builders section of the forums.

[Samurai19]

Hey Bernie! Thanks for the reply. I haven't played mandolin before, but I'm very fluent in guitar and bass. I recognize a couple of those tunes from the bluegrass jams at my local music store. Sorry about posting to the wrong forum as I'm still trying to figure this out, I'll take a few pictures of my mando tomorrow and post them here.

[JEStanek]

Welcome to the Cafe!

Do you mean tuning machines or tuners to let you know your strings are in tune?

I'll move this thread to the General Section.

Jamie

[Samurai19]

Thanks for moving it Jamie, I meant tuning machines, I tried some but they didn't fit the holes in the headstock. Btw it's built from a saga a style kit but with lots of modifications.

[JEStanek]

Well, the "best tuning machines" may be Waverlies or Alessi but they'll cost several times what the kit cost you. I can't offer other advice on machines as I don't build. Also, be sure to measure the spacing and see what you can find that fits. Stew Mac sells several across various price points.

Jamie

[Pete Jenner]

Based on my own experience and what others have said, I recommend Grover 309s.

[Samurai19]

Ok, thanks guys, I actually spent nothing on the kit, so I don't mind spending some money on it. I'm just hoping it doesn't sound like a brick, I really took time to get it to the proper thickness and size though so I don't think it will.