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The biggest thing is that I prefer the nickel finish on the tuners and tailpiece to the gold plated parts on the Kentucky. That said, I like the overall look of the Eastman better.
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The top has fairly even, wide grain, but the lines are quite a bit darker and the stripes stand out due to the lighter top finish.Ģ. Most noticable is the fact that the two halves of the back are not matched - the left side has a lot of landscaping and what looks like a knot and the right side has a nice horizontal flame pattern. The wood on the Eastman (particularly the back) is not as pretty looking, at least to me. I like the look of the wood on the Kentucky better - nice flame in the maple on the back and the top has very even grain. I received the Eastman yesterday and compared them last night after dinner. And I know you'll have some great days ahead of you with either mandolin. I don't think you'll go wrong whichever one your choose. Even if you are a total beginner, there may be things about the instrument that please or displease you, and you'll only know that if you try them yourself. Having said that, I would also of course recommend you play them both yourself and see how they feel and sound to you. Good instruments respond to able playing more than poor instruments, but it's hard to tell that difference unless there is an "able player" behind the wheel. Two, you won't be able to coax the best tone out of either instrument until you get a little further into your development. One, you can't hear what a mandolin truly sounds like when you're behind it (unless you record it, of course) so it helps to listen to someone else play it. Plenty good enough to last a budding player many years (if you don't get the bug like so many of us for more and better instruments).Īs you are a beginner, I would highly recommend you take both of these mandolins to a good acoustic store or mandolin teacher and have them play them for you while you listen. I find the Eastmans to be the easiest playing mandolins around and they have reasonably good sound quality as well. I have owned four Eastmans, including an MD605 which is almost identical to the MD505 you ordered. He said he thought they would play and sound very similar, but that I should judge for myself.ĭo you all have any advice for me as I make the comparison between the two? This is my first ever mandolin. It's an interesting "accident," because these were the two I was actually comparing against each other when I called to place my order the salesman ultimately recommended the Eastman over the Kentucky based on better overall fit 'n' finish and a lifetime warranty. If I keep the Kentucky, he'll refund me the difference in price ($599 vs. He said he'd ship me an Eastman 505 (I asked him to play through the ones he had in stock and pick out the best one for me) and a return shipping label and suggested that I play both and send back the one I didn't want.
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I called the store and told them what had happened and he said there must have been a a mistake on their end. It arrived today - only inside the box was not an Eastman MD-505 but a Kentucky KM-505. So late last week, after a lot of research, I ordered myself an Eastman MD-505 from The Mandolin Store in Wickenburg, AZ. I could play along with her as she works through the books, and when she's older, she should have an easy time picking up the mandolin and playing along with me on guitar if she wants to. When I realized that the tuning and fingerings were the same as violin, I decided that this might be a fun instrument to have around the house, as my younger daughter is learning violin. I met a guy at an event at the Podium and he told me he'd been bitten by the mandolin bug, too. I realized that I really like the high, pure sound of a mandolin. Not too long ago, I noticed how much new music I'd purchased that featured the mandolin (the album "Tone Poems" with David Grisman and Tony Rice got me started down this path). I am mainly a guitar player (my wife would say guitar nut).