MA-500 VS Bluegrass Series : Fun little thing - but needed work

I'm pretty comfortable working on guitars, in fact I enjoy it, so I bought this as a little project.

I'd only messed around with Mandolins and decided that it was about time to get one in the house and as I was going through a Tele phase this seemed like a perfect fit!

It does not sound like a mandolin, but it gets that kind of flavour if you're looking to add textures/layers to a recording.

The amplified sound is a little dull, although this may be down to the original strings, and there is not a huge difference between pick up locations. However, as above, I have found uses for it when needing to add extra layers or textures to recordings.

It was playable out of the box but needed a fair amount of work to make it playable to my liking - so work was done to the neck, frets, nut and 'saddles'. The actual finish of the instrument is great and as a little practice instrument it has been brilliant.

If you are looking for a 'serious' mandolin, look elsewhere. If you're looking for a robust project instrument and want something different this is for you!