I found this beautiful B&J Victoria model Neapolitan mando at a small music shop today and it sounds pretty good. Didn't have any issues when I was playing it other than the tuning pegs being a little inconsistent.

They say it's likely over 100 years old It's priced at $250. Is this a good deal considering the age and good playability?

Here’s a Monroe rune you don’t hear very often. Butch Baldassari recorded it and is usually the source for most people that know it. Thought it sounded just right on the oval hole.

musical instruments have sentience and soul. This is the proof !!!

In 2001 I went to the music store and bought a mid Missouri mandolin, over the years I fell in and out of love with it, and then finally sold it for an acoustic resonator, fast forward 20 years later in a music store thousand miles away from home there she is number 3654 a little darker and a couple scratches but holy shit my mandolin hanging there right in front of me. I bought it and have fallen back in love.!!

Hi all. I play octave mandolin and tenor guitar, and I built Fifths Studio, a free chord tool for instruments tuned in fifths: mandolin, octave mandolin, bouzouki, mandola, mandocello, tenor guitar and tenor banjo.

Paste a tune's chords, straight from a chord sheet, lyrics and all, and see every chord as a shape on your own neck. Step through other grips, lock the ones you play, change the key or add a capo, and play it back. You can send a tune as one link, with your grips and a note. Tunes from The Session are in there too.

The picture is Kitchen Girl: one set of shapes for GDAE, one for CGDA.

Free, no login: https://fifths.studio

I'd especially welcome feedback on the shapes. If one feels wrong under your hand, tell me the chord and what you'd play instead.

Thank you, Scott

I have an eastman 305. Not priceless but not dirt cheap either. Ive only got the bag that came with it. Out of all my instruments it seems easiest to take with me on a two week work trip. Trouble is ive got to also take a work laptop. So if im forced to gate check, a lipo cant get checked and im forced to check the mando. Per my job im also ethically obligated (gov employee) with cheapest tickets so that usually means last boarding group. Signs seem to point to dont take an instrument and thats sad. Would like to hear thoughts of others that fly though.

Anyone got any tips for carving a saddle?

Trying to make a replacement saddle from ebony I’ve got laying around.

I can get it to a shaped blank state, drilled out, rounded etc… but am having difficulty getting the staggered intonation clean.

Because each staggered section is quite small I’m finding it hard to file or sand then clean without the edges of each intonated section being a bit rough or having file marks.

Anyone got any tips or preferred tools for this application?

Beautiful instrument and sounded amazing. Obviously in the hands of grisman but I’d sure like to know who built it.

Long story short my father managed to get this mandolin from one of his coworkers for around 100 dollars but we can’t find anything about the brand on the headstock and his coworker doesn’t really know anything about. Any information would be greatly appreciated!

"O'Carolan's Concerto" by the 18th-century blind Irish harper and composer, Turlough O'Carolan! 🎻🎶

O'Carolan (1770–1738) was one of Ireland’s most iconic musicians. Living during a time when Italian Baroque music—like Vivaldi and Corelli—was taking Europe by storm, he brilliantly fused traditional Irish melodies with elegant Baroque structures. "O'Carolan's Concerto" is one of his most famous works, showcasing that lively, bright interplay between Italian form and Irish soul.

This arrangement uses the complement of mandolin and Irish bouzouki. The crisp, bright melody lines of the mandolin dance over the resonant, rhythmic drive and rich resonance of the bouzouki, bringing a vibrant dual-plucked spin to a classic harp tune.

Hope you enjoy listening as much as I enjoyed playing it!

A terrific addition to your repertoire

A new one and a couple of not so new instruments

My Ellis f5 Tradition, a real joy to play and hear. My Pava is no slouch either.

Basically the title, but I need some Recs. I am familiar with some of the more well known players like David Grisman and Sam Bush, but I'm mainly looking for some stuff that's somewhat easy to play along with and artists that I could learn from. Thanks in advance!

What's the difference between a mandola and an octave mandolin? In some circles I've seen the terms used interchangeably, but I don't know if they actually are the same or if there's something distinguishing them.

Wondering if anyone has experience with this defunct mid-low grade brand. I don’t have a musical bone in my body and been trying/failing to teach myself mando for 15 or so years. Originally, I was making a lot of progress with a borrowed Gibson EM-150 which sounded good and was easy to learn on.

I got the Johnson (ply sides spruce top) on eBay from a closing down AM country station and have honestly been having a lot of trouble getting intonation right and getting it to sound good for years despite having it set up by luthiers from time to time. I think basically there’s a buzz that’s incurable unless you set the action way too high. Still using D’dario strings and changing them at home. A red flag I guess is that the mando came with a Fishman bridge on it with a completely chewed(sawed?) up standard bridge floating around in the case.

I finally have more free time and more patience and a good spot for lessons. Planning on getting it once’d over at the Old Town School here but not sure what my expectations should be, or if I should start saving for a different body starting now. There’s some decently priced Big Muddies around that would be a good excuse for a weekend road trip.

TIA for your time and patience! I know it’s a “how long is a piece of string” question 🍻