I went shopping in September last year and I picked a Vintage mandolin for £89. I find the neck is a little chunky on this one so maybe it's not the easiest one to learn on but it has got fantastic volume and tone - I can cut through in a session with pipes, fiddles etc. on it - sound wise, I think it would give many much higher priced instruments a good run for thier money!

The one I picked is a Vintage (a JHS brand) model shown here. I'm not sure whether it is a MD1 or and MD2 - the label in mine says MD1 but the JHS website calls mine the MD2 (mine is the larger bodied one).

Anyway, that was my recent experience. Bill Sables advice is very good, certainly take it if you can.

Oh and is the £69 mandolin on the web page I gave the same as the one you are looking at but with a different name?

Jon

I've long been a fan of the mandolin, but have never attempted to (seriously) learn this beautiful instrument. I'm taking a shot at it now, and struggling, but I'll get there... Hopefully with the help of some of the 'Catters -

I'm trying to tune my mandolin to concert pitch. I don't have the aid of an electronic tuner, nor the middle C of a piano for reference. I've tried using my guitar to no avail - (I tune the guitar to concert pitch by using a C key harp).

My question (finally) is: For standard mandolin tuning (E-A-D-G, hi to lo), which guitar string/fret should I use as a starting point to bring the mandolin 'into the ballpark' of concert pitch. (i.e. - E /1st guitar string, 7th fret = E /1st mandolin string, Open) ?

I've purchased a number of beginner's books, and none seem to offer the option I'm looking for here. I've asked the question on line at a couple of Mandolin web sites, but still no response... I pored over a number of Mandolin threads here, and, though filled with some great tips, didn't provide an answer. Can anyone help ?

I acknowledge that much of my problem comes from my ignorance of music theory (can't read), but there must be a solution for an old dog trying to learn some new licks... er, Tricks !

Many thanks, Murph

Thank you.

M.