Talk me out of a...
- Thread starter JohnW63
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Charlie Bernstein
Senior Member
A looker, fer sher! Congrats! Welcome to the wacky world of eight-string chaos!
Love A's. Can't go wrong with an A5. That one should last you for quite a while.
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We tried our hardest to talk you out of buying one. 
Midnight Toker
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Congrats on the new purchase!
Just a tip for anyone else who may be interested in a quality mando...or banjo...or fiddle...or any instrument from the folk/country/bluegrass family.
In the past few decades, with population growth and new developments spreading into previously rural areas of Maryland, Virginia, NC, SC, GA, etc....a LOT of the kids of parents owning older rural homes are simply leaving all their parent's possessions for estate auctions to sell at auction. During Covid, most of these auction houses have gone to having online auctions and most have no intention of ever reverting back to holding in person auctions...as their potential buyer market is much bigger and they are making much more $$ because of it. Their only downside is they now have to package and ship items out where before it was pickup only.
In the past years, I've purchased a $1500 mandolin for $110, a pre WWII National tube amp for $70 (w/ a Jensen 15" field coil speaker (the schematic predecessor of the Supro Super)), countless boxes of vinyl records for less than $1 per record, perfect condition walnut cab Bose 901 speakers w/ Bose EQ unit all for $50.
I run across fiddles, mandos and banjos all the time! If you're persistent and simply bid low and walk away...in time, you might just have a truly vintage instrument fall in your lap for nickels on the dollar. Just check the net for online estate auctions in states that were steeped in these music genres that have experienced lots of population growth/development over the last 20 years. All these instrument gems have been hidden in their houses for generations and today's kids seem to have little to no interest in them.
Just a tip for anyone else who may be interested in a quality mando...or banjo...or fiddle...or any instrument from the folk/country/bluegrass family.
In the past few decades, with population growth and new developments spreading into previously rural areas of Maryland, Virginia, NC, SC, GA, etc....a LOT of the kids of parents owning older rural homes are simply leaving all their parent's possessions for estate auctions to sell at auction. During Covid, most of these auction houses have gone to having online auctions and most have no intention of ever reverting back to holding in person auctions...as their potential buyer market is much bigger and they are making much more $$ because of it. Their only downside is they now have to package and ship items out where before it was pickup only.
In the past years, I've purchased a $1500 mandolin for $110, a pre WWII National tube amp for $70 (w/ a Jensen 15" field coil speaker (the schematic predecessor of the Supro Super)), countless boxes of vinyl records for less than $1 per record, perfect condition walnut cab Bose 901 speakers w/ Bose EQ unit all for $50.
I run across fiddles, mandos and banjos all the time! If you're persistent and simply bid low and walk away...in time, you might just have a truly vintage instrument fall in your lap for nickels on the dollar. Just check the net for online estate auctions in states that were steeped in these music genres that have experienced lots of population growth/development over the last 20 years. All these instrument gems have been hidden in their houses for generations and today's kids seem to have little to no interest in them.
- Joined
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Thanks for that tip! I have that mandolin-banjo I bought almost dialed in, and I only put $200 worth of parts into it! I kid, but after putting some work into it, it's turning out to be serious fun. I can only imagine what picking up a good one for cheap would be like.
Midnight Toker
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^ I'm currently looking at bidding on this little 100 yr old gem sitting in a rural area estate auction house (4 days left, currently no bids, only a $400 reserve.)
JohnW63
Enlightened Member
Interesting tactic.
JohnW63
Enlightened Member
The mandolin arrived today and had to box or packaging issues. I even found a dime tucked into a corner of the padding in the case. SCORE! I tuned it up and tried to make my fingers get the feel of it. More frets per sting before you move to the next one in a scale. A nice bight enough sound without being wincing. I have 1.5mm pick I tried out and that seemed to not have too much pick sound. Itty bity fretting space! Kind a makes statements about guitars with 1-11/16th necks being too narrow laughable.
It has a built in pickup so it got plugged in my pedal board and some delay added. Because I could. Learing chord shapes and scale patterns will be the next thing. I was going to see how hard figuring out " All of me " the jazz standard, would be.
It has a built in pickup so it got plugged in my pedal board and some delay added. Because I could. Learing chord shapes and scale patterns will be the next thing. I was going to see how hard figuring out " All of me " the jazz standard, would be.
Charlie Bernstein
Senior Member
Yup, mando necks are a whole nother world. And — picks! Never met a guitar player who paid a dollar for a pick, but mandomaniacs pay big bucks, like for these, for instance: Blue Chip
Most players go for heavies. Most guitar picks, as you've already noticed, are too flimsy. I had one of these for a whle: Dawg Don't know what happened to it, but it really fattened up the tone. Heaviest pick I've ever held.
About chords: You probably know by now that it's tuned like an upside-down bass guitar. That's no help for playing on the fly, but it's a great shortcut for figuring out chords.
About scales: Unlike guitar, the patterns are the same all over the fretboard. Beyond that, you're on your own!