MA-500 VS Bluegrass Series : Fantastic instrument

When I bought this I thought it would be a base for upgrading all the hardware to make a decent instrument. I couldn't have been more wrong. The finish is flawless. The bolt on neck joint is perfect as is its shape for my hands anyway. The tuners are silky smooth and have no play or stickiness which is often found on low cost instruments. The strings sound fine. Pickups work as they should and there is no hum that I've found through an amplifier. Mine arrived with the improved bridge allowing intonation to be set independently for each courts of strings as well as individual height adjustment. No complaints there. It has strap buttons fitted and even came with a guitar lead albeit a thin short one. It's more than other makers provide! Does it sound like a mandolin? Yes in the same way that an electric guitar sounds like an acoustic one. It's different but great fun and it depends what you want it for. I love it. The nut was cut about right. I may shave a tad of it but not yet. The bridge action needed lowering but that's a couple of minutes of a job using the supplied Allen key. If you fancy one don't hesitate. I really don't know how they can be made for this price. Only minor gripe is that it has a flat fingerboard. Radiused would be better but for this price no complaints.