epiphone mandobird?

[slapinandpopin78]

i wanna try to start learning mandolin, would the epiphone mandobird be good as a starting off instrument? its electric so its not loud with out an amp which is god for quite practice. anything that is much different about it than a traditional mandolin?, in terms of playing. besides the pickup. also, has anyone recorded with one?

any other recomendations for starter mandolins would be helpful.
thanks,
andy

[DogpitStudios]

I don't think anybody has any idea. Sorry dude.

Ben

[guitar junkie]

well they only have 4 strings i think... where an acoustic has 8 so its not the same thing... it will not sound the same either...

[Matt]

I wouldn't fool with one of those electric things. I'd check out some of the 'flat top' mandolins as a beginner. They're an ass load less expensive than their carved top cousins and actually sound decent.

I have a mid-80's Flatiron A-5. The tag inside is signed by Bruce Weber (then master builder and now Weber Mandolins owner).

Mine is similar to this one...but the body is a darker finish.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Flatiron-A5-1-ma...QQcmdZViewItem

[slapinandpopin78]

they have/had 8 string mandobirds at MF not to long ago

[diagft32]

MF sells a Rouge Mandolin for 50 bucks. I bought one, expecting it to be crap, but just wanted to see if I would like to play. Surprisingly, it was not too bad. No buzzing, solidly built, etc. Worth looking in to.

[guitar junkie]

if you have the budget for a mandobird....

I would go with a nice Kentucky mandolin, not worry a whole lot about the volume.... mandolins can be soft and low but then again when you really want you can wail on one too..... myself I can seem to get the of any solid body instrument really.... I got feel the vibe of an acoustic. Also from what they talk like on the mando cafe forums... the mandobirds really are a shrill tiny sounding mess, don't have near the guts of a true mandolin.

[Charlie_M]

The mandobird is kind of an oddity. You have many good options in the price range of a mandobird that would be better.

Do a search on MF and see what you come up with. I saw something like a half dozen acoustics in the same price range. None of those are going to win any awards for tone but they are all decent brands and plenty good enough to learn on. In fact you'll be a ways into your playing before you fundamentally need to upgrade. If you stick with it, you'll probably get the "itch" to upgrade long before you actually need to. And if you decide mando isn't for you - at least you haven't invested a LOT of cash.

Better yet, if you have a good shop close by, swing by an see what they have. I'm a big fan of playing something for real before you buy it. I'm not sure I could buy an instrument without trying it first. Even if you never played mando before you could explain that to the sales guy and he'll probably play it for you so you can get a sense of the sound of different ones, and also make sure there's no fret buzz or other problems.

Good luck.
Charlie