buying a mandolin

[mwade79]

I'm working on learning guitar right now b/c I already have one but I'm just curious as to how much a decent mandolin would cost. Now, I'd be a baby beginner so I wouldn't want to spend tons but I wouldn't want a shoddy mandolin that I wouldn't want after 6 months. About how much to they cost and where would you get one?

[sarah]

uhhh depends if you want a or f style

[mwade79]

I hate to be stupid-but as I said I'm just looking into all this-what's the difference?

[robbmiller]

The 'A' style is a tear-drop shape and the 'F' style possesses scrolling reminiscent of fiddles. The ‘F’ is seems more popular to the bluegrass set and the ‘A’ to the Celtic/world folks.

You will find plenty of both priced for all levels at Elderly Instruments www.elderly.com.

[sarah]

I noticed a lot of country stars use the a style. f is more for bluegrass like you said. i think f styles have way better sound and feel but they are also more exspensive than a style.

[Fiddlechic Erin]

the f style is great, and I personally would love to have one, but as mentioned before they seem to be much more expensive. I have an A style mandolin that didn't cost nearly as much as a f style would have, and it plays fine.

[robbmiller]

The 'F' style is more expensive because it is more ornate. The scrolls are difficult and time consuming to carve.

The 'A' is less expensive because it is simpler.

The sound quality and ease of play of both designs is dependent on the materials used and the skill/experience of the craftsman creating the instrument. One style does not sound better than the other -- it's a matter of preference.

[sarah]

ok i just figured all f styles played better because i've played a TON of different a styles of different brands and they all sounded crappy. all the f styles i've played sound sweet.

[robbmiller]

I've tried some pretty poor sounding F styles too. Rouge, Kentucky and Fender come to mind.

Try the Breedlove or Weber A styles. Very well made and sweet sounding.

[sarah]

ok i get what you are saying. yeah i know kentucky, fender, and rouge aren't too great and i heard a brand called knoxville isn't too good either.

[gcord]

Now wait a second, I've got one of those new Fender model 62 w/ the pickup in the bridge. I think its great. I put Elixir 10's on it and I think for under a thousand bucks its a heck of a mando. I've recorded both acoustically and w/ the pickup as well as performed with it and have had no complaints on volume or tone. I believe the person behind the instrument makes it come to life (that is if its set up properly,intonation. action,etc.).

[robbmiller]

I've heard there are good Fenders, just never ran into one. The only Fenders I have experienced are those $250 things at the local mu$ic $tore.

[Thilefan]

In my experience, the mando you get is the mando you pay for. Exceptions to this are the Cepak mandolin ($3500)...excellent mando. Also...a shamless plug for Schnieder mandolins. $1500 and they are the best mandolins around!! A STEAL!! If you are interested getting a mando, email me, and I will hook you up with this guy. (I get mine in December).

Robin

[Luthier]

Many players and luthiers agree that a well-built A-style can be every bit as good (if not better) than an F-style. Granted, most people want an F-style, much easier on the eyes and it's the traditional bluegrass style mando. I've also heard that many pros perform on F-style but record with A-style mandos. I recently played an A-style and an F-style by the same modern maker and preferred his A-style. It seemed to have better tone and more volume, but that was my opinion. Plate thicknessing, f-hole tuning, and bass-bar tuning really have a lot to do with the quality of sound one gets in an instrument. If you're looking for more bang for your buck, try a Taterbug!

Regards,

Luthier

[fidlmaker]

Well said Luthier!

My experience has been that an A-style and F-style have no intrinsic differences acoustically, assuming they were each made of the exact same wood (not likely) and made to the same exact dimensions (excluding the scrollwork on the F-model). The sound cavities and free portions of the top and back can be identical. Most of the differences that people hear between A's and F's are the same differences that are encountered between examples of either style due to all the variables between builders, materials, tuning methods, etc. In the words of another luthier who makes excellent A's and F's, The difference between an A-model and F-model is about $1,000.00 in labor making those pesky scrolls!

If you can find an old Kalamazoo A-style (made by Gibson) in good playable condition, you can get a pretty good sounding mando for between $600.00 and $900.00. They are not as pretty as some of the more recent budget models, but the few that I've tried and the one that I own and play sound great.

best regards,
Fidlmaker (Martin)