New Kentucky KM-505 Mandolin delivered today...

GF60

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Here is my new mandolin...I suppose I will have to learn to play it now! :culpability:




 

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That's purty! I've been getting a hankering to try one, but I'm not ready to act on that impulse. :)
 

ladytexan

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Margaret, the KM505's are very nice. Interestingly enough, I just sold mine to an Austin musician last week. Small world, huh? I just couldn't move to such a small width nut.....dang it! :wink-new:

Enjoy your new mandolin!

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GF60

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Toni,
Interesting that you just sold yours. It is much different than playing guitar. Truth be told, I have been playing for awhile and have started to get a bit more series. So I figured I "needed" a better instrument. :smile-new:
 

dapmdave

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I just sold off a mandolin, also. I gave it a good try, but the whole thing was just too small. Too cramped. Easy to play a few two-finger chords, but beyond that it was too different.

But I'm sure you'll have better luck with that pretty new one.
 
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Many years ago when I was in HS, I tried to learn to play my mom's bowl-back mando ... it just didn't make sense to me, the budding guitar player ... about 3 yeas ago, I was given a mando, and all those years of picking and grinning must have re-organized my brain ... i could "see" waht was going on on that tiny little board ... anyhoo, i found an octave mandolin, a Trinity College ... almost like a guitar fingerboard ... might be worth a try for those who want to get into 8 strings
 

gilded

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Wider mando necks are available. Usually the modern nut width is 1 2/32nds, 1 3/32nds, something like that.

A lot of mando builders will make them in 1 3/16th size, too, the original Gibson mando neck size on the earlier instruments.
 

Chaz

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I think we all must have a mandolin somewhere; I myself just bought another one to mess around with! I thought 1-1/8" was kind of the standard nut width? The inexpensive ($124 shipped!) Rover RM-50 I just bought was made for an 1-3/16" wide nut (generic 1-1/8" nut came in it) FWIW.
 

Bill Ashton

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I am also thinking very seriously of an octave-mandolin...but sadly my "taste" is more dear...gotta have one of those archtop, sunburst babies...sorta like Sarah Jarosz's.

At Kaufman Kamp last year, one of the jam leaders received a new slope-shoulder-J45-like octave-mando. OH! Love at first bite...
 
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Brad Little

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I just sold off a mandolin, also. I gave it a good try, but the whole thing was just too small. Too cramped. Easy to play a few two-finger chords, but beyond that it was too different.

But I'm sure you'll have better luck with that pretty new one.
Yeah, I bought a The Loar a few years ago, just can't get my hand to wrap into those little frets and small neck. I thought it would be easier, considering I played fiddle for a few years and it's strung the same. In hindsight, should have bought a fiddle.
Brad
 

smellygoatboy

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If you think you can't get around the Mandolin fretboard !! check out Dennis Caplingers Ultimate Beginners Series Blue Grass Mandolin Basics@ Beyond DVD Tuition @ AMAZON for $18. There is a companion book which is a separate item.David plays a Kentucky Mandolin same as thread pic. After the tuition his band plays the songs in standard form and go for it with some classy playing. Well worth the $18 for the band section alone. J
 
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smellygoatboy

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Dragon Mandolin from Vietnam. 100 year old blue-grass fiddle and a mandolin I made at a folk week-end work shop.
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SouthernSounds

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Holy moly, smelly: is that your mando? How old is it?

Wow, between your instruments (guitars, mandos, fiddles and... am I missing something else?), and your cars and bikes, I guess, you never get bored!

All the best,
B.
 

smellygoatboy

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Thanks Bruno, a friend of mine holidays in Vietnam every couple of years and brought back two mandolins and let me have the,, dragon one, it stays in tune and has a nice low action and sounds as good as any $1000 F-style for half the price. Don't know how old it is, I hope you have a good telescope for the darks nights in Chile. Cheers J
 

smellygoatboy

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A couple of pics to show the string spacing and bridge radius of a blue-grass fiddle and a violin.
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smellygoatboy

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The fiddle bridge is a flatter radius for double stops and two string playing.
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smellygoatboy

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Violin bridge, smaller dia-radius for single note playing.You can still play blue-grass on a violin but it's a little harder with thinner string spacing and too much differential with string heights.
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ladytexan

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Beautiful stringed instruments! The inlay work done in the mid-Asia Pacific region is amazing! I luv that it's a dragon...for good luck!
 
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