Hi gang,
Hope this isn’t too OT for this forum but I need some advice.
My niece would like a mandolin for Christmas and I’m clueless as to which of the inexpensive brands are any good. I play a 1920 Gibson ( a little out of her price range) Anyway, We were looking on ebay and there are a gazillion new makers I’ve never even heard of. Have any of you recently purchased a not-too-expensive mando lately which they thought was prety good? (nothing “el Stinko” please)
Thanks,
Doc
Doc;
I play mandolin, and I work in a music store that sells quite a few mandolins. I’ve worked on hundreds of them, including quite a few cheap ones. “Inexpensive” is a relative term; it would help if you had a ballpark figure you’re working with. However, in my experience, the best inexpensive mandolins are Johnsons, which are distributed by Music Link. (http://www.themusiclink.net). In particular, their MA120 model is a very good mandolin for the price. List retail price is $199, which is incredible for a solid wood mandolin. Johnson does have cheaper, laminated-wood models that aren’t bad, but it’s worth it to get the solid wood model. Here’s a link to the mandolin: http://www.themusiclink.net/fretted/mandolin_1.html. Good luck.
You don’t say whether you want a bluegrass mandolin or a ‘celtic’ mandolin. The makes you mention sound ‘bluegrassy’. (The ‘celtic’ mandolins are a bit quieter.)
Let me mention some celtic models. I play a Fylde mandolin which is nice and reasonably affordable. Sobell mandolins are probably the most popular amongst celtic musicians but are more expensive. (Both are English made.) There are makers in Australia and a Scot living in New Zealand who will make you a top-class instrument to order very cheaply because of the exchange rate. (I’ll say who they are if you’re interested.) The problem here, though, is that you would have to go on a waiting list.
IMHO Mid-Missouri mandolins give you the best bang/buck ratio in a solid-wood, American-made flattop mando. They look pretty plain, but the workmanship, sound, and playability are first-rate. Their website is at http://www.midmomandolin.com/.
I’m a partner in a mandolin company (http://www.rigelmandolin.com) and it’s tough to get much for less than $1k in a carved top, carved back, solid wood instrument.
However, for beginners, the best bet I’ve seen are the mid-missouris. They aren’t fancy, but they are very well made, set up to play easily and give enough feedback to the player that you can tell when you’re doing right and doing wrong.
There is a school in Alabama that has the only school mandolin orchestra in the US. They use mid-mos, which tells you they’re also tough.
Rough street price is $300.
Not to hijack Doc’s thread here, but years ago when I was first married my wife bought me a Franciscan mandolin (used). This thread led me to dig it up, tune it, and spend some time realizing just how much I’ve forgotten (chords, notes…all forgotten!).
Anyway, where exactly in the ranks of the mandolin world does a Franciscan fit? I did a web search but came up with basically nothing…I’m just curious since I had thought of selling it until I heard again how nice a mandolin sounds.
If you can find one used, Aria (a Japanese company) used to make nice flatback mandos. I used to sell em four jobs ago.
Japanese mandolins don’t have very good reputation, but that was the only one I could afford when I bought my mandolin. I have a new Samick, and of course it doesn’t have the same tone as an old well-picked mandolin with better wood, but my Samick is actually very good, it has a good sound and suits both Irish (for me at least, maybe for an experienced Irish trad mando picker it is much different) and bluegrass music. So if you want something really cheap but still acceptable quality, a Japanese is a good choice. But I guess, if you live in America, there should be lots of different unexpensive used American brands around. Just try to play them before you buy one to check out that it is ok!
There are some excellent Japanese mandolins, but most are bowlback, since that’s what’s popoular in Japan. The cheap flat top/back and carved top/back are for export to the US.
Mandolin orchestras are still active in Japan, Germany and Italy and tend to prefer bowlbacks.
What on earth is a Franciscan mandolin? Does it wear a brown habit, and is it very kind to animals?
Roger - You’re right on - it’s a mandolin shaped like a Franciscan monk…
Seriously though, it IS the mandolin sitting at my feet right now, bought used by my wife in 1988, and that I can find no information on the internet about. I can find the rare reference to either a Franciscan mandolin or the occaisonal guitar, but nothing beyond “I have a Franciscan mandolin/guitar”.
I don’t have any pictures of it (and you’ll have to forgive me for being a flute player and not knowledgable about stringed terminology), but it is a flat back mandolin, standard size, with 2 f shaped tone holes in the body. It really looks like solid wood on the body, and it has no marking other than Franciscan at the end of the tuning part and a number on back.
My guess is it’s a fairly cheap instrument, but I’m just surprised I can’t find any information about the company at all on the web (you can usually find something out there!).
I’ll second RO3b’s input on the Mid Missouri Mandolin.
I have a “Mid-Mo”, their basic “M-0” model, and it is very good for the price.
Several pros here locally in Denver have played it, critiqued it and had some very good things to say about it – and that was before they heard the price.