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Good playing, Tucson!
And that mando ended up with a very sweet singing voice, didn't it?
"This young wine may have a lot of tannins now, but in 5 or 10 years it is going to be spectacular, despite the fact that right now it tastes like crude oil. You know this is how it is supposed to taste at this stage of development." ~ Itzhak Perlman
Will have to check it out from home Tucs...
My iphone is rebelling.
Oh Susanna... how fun. I was teaching that song to my little grand daughter this past Sunday. Ha ha.. She kept say... "O You Nana, don't you cry for ... " so cute.
Will check this out when I get home. Cheers.. Glad you are able to post.
Vibrato Desperato.... Desperately seeking vibrato
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Hey Pierre ,
That's great news that yer expanding yer line of instruments ...mandolin is great fer fiddlers in that mandolin chords are great fer fiddlein and any tune ya know to play on the violin ya can pic on a mandolin easy ...lots of fun ...in addition , memorizing a new tune fer violin , ya can pick it on the mandolin until ya have it memorized and then play it on yer violin ....bowing becomes easy when ya all ready have the tune memorized ...
Love ta see what instruments you get in ...Korea and Japan may be able to compete with China ...also some of the Euro country's have started to compete as well ...
King
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Hey Pierre ,
Welp , I should start by saying that mandolin sales are far less in quantity than guitar or violin locally , as here in Tucson ...depends alot on clientele and advertising ...brick and mortar shops sales can be more limited than internet sales ...
Locally , SW Strings informs me they are dropping their line of mandolins , Delta Ridge , due to lack of sales , but then again most of their clientele is not folk or bluegrass ..
Delta Ridge list prices there are M25 @$150 , M55 @ $300 and M65 @ $400 ...to give you an idea of price ranges and I took all three into their practice room and played them
The M55 was the winner fer playability and tone but all were ok fer the price ...
I was not able to find Flint Hill or J. Renolds locally or anyone with firsthand knowledge of them .
On speaking with a couple of local set up luthiers here at well known shops they seemed to have one thing in agreement ...it seems Ovation tops their sales of all others followed closely by Fender ...Ovation does have a plastic back which might be a turn off to more experienced players but doesn't seem to bother the first time buyer as the Ovation playing action rivals the more expensive mandolins ...
My favs are Gretch , L'oar , Washburn , Mitchelle , Ibeneze and of course The Gibson . but cost is a whole 'nother story ...
All in all , it may be a matter of which supplier will be willing to give you the best combination of price , quality and service ...
I did not make an internet search for opinions , relying on those with hands on experience locally and my own testing ...
Best of luck ...
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I have had a Washburn mandolin for over 25 years. I love it and think it sounds a lot better than some of the new Gibsons I've played. I don't know what current prices are though. Mine is all solid wood. I think you have the right idea about only carrying good instruments. Junk can be bought really cheap on the internet.
I hope you do well with the mandolins. I'd say your biggest clientele will be bluegrass musicians. When I used to play for a living we got very few shows in Florida. Is there much of a bluegrass presence down there now?
King
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