Stagg 25012996 Bluegrass Mandolin

I think most of the reviews on this little baby are about right. It's a good starter instrument and excellent value for money. The playing action is adjustable at the bridge and anyway is pretty good but you do need reasonable finger strength for some first fret chords. The intonation is pretty good too. Finish-wise it looks reasonably good, although on mine there is a slight defect in the varnish on the headstock, only noticeable up close. I'm not fussed as I expect it to pick up a few more battle scars along the way. I agree the pickup is a bit basic but it works fine and adds a nice ability to go toe to toe with the banjos and violins if you want. I may well change out the strings as suggested by others, not least as one of the D strings rings a little bit deader than the other, and if anything I'd like a little more robustness to the tone of the lower strings. I assume the nut is not high quality too, looks like it's plastic, so maybe I'll swop that out one day too, which is normally a simple 5 minute job and can transform the sound.As always with new strings, they go flat as they stretch out but the usual trick of over-tuning by a semitone and leaving it for a while sorted that out. The tuners feel a teeny bit loose but seem to be doing the job well and I expect no trouble there.Above all this instrument makes playing the mandolin fun from the first go. It's the second Stagg instrument I have bought, the other being a child's guitar, and so far I have to say I would recommend them for anyone looking for something on a budget but which is reasonably playable and sounds in tune.Update: I corrected myself in that the bridge is indeed adjustable, apologies for my earlier error which I have taken out of the review. I can also confirm that the tuning has settled down well, as expected. Still happy with it.

This review is what could best be described as an early initial impression of the instrument as it only arrived less than an hour ago at the time of writing. Obviously, straight from the box it was somewhat out of tune and I was expecting some fun getting it stably tuned. Much to my surprise, I had it in tune within about 5 minutes of unpacking using the original strings and so far it has held the tuning well, indeed better than some more expensive guitars I have owned over the years. This is even more remarkable as it has come from a cold delivery van and spent the last hour in a warm bedroom/office. The sound quality is delightful in acoustic mode and an initial trial using the 3m (10ft) mono phono to phono lead thoughtfully included suggests that it sounds reasonable in electronic mode as far as I could gather using the sound card on my computer and a home hifi amplifier.As to looks and manufacturing quality it looks fantastic and appears to be well built. The bridge is wooden with two adjustable screw fittings which will allow adjustment of the hight of the strings - as supplied there is a gap of about 2mm available to lower the sting height if needed although I haven't checked how much higher it can go as yet. As this is my first mandolin, I am uncertain as to the best setting for this although my gut feeling is that the setting as supplied is a little on the high side and I expect to have to lower the bridge sometime in the near future to get the strings nearer to the fretboard. A quick visual check suggests that there will be no problems with buzzing if I do this - the neck of the instrument is true and well attached. The tuning heads look quite robust as well.Overall, for what can only be described as a "budget" instrument from the price, I feel that I have acquired not only a beautiful and well made mandolin but had a decided bargin as well. So far - Highly Recommended.Swansea, S. Wales06/02/2012 20:00hrs

(Written by Kay C's husband) This mandolin was half price as a damaged Amazon warehouse deal, so above all else it was a bargain. There was actually no damage to the instrument at all - the box had a hole in it and somehow a couple of wall-size screws were rattling around in there, which made it sound like a write-off- hence the low price.I am primarily a guitar and bass player and I have built and repaired a few over the years, but never touched a mandolin before I bought this. The mandolin had a very high action out of the box (i.e. the strings were a mile high) and as such was unplayable- but every cheap guitar I have ever seen in a shop was just about the same. The mandolin in particular with it's high tension strings is like a cheese cutter in this state. I had to level, dress and polish the frets, then re-cut the nut and adjust the bridge to bring it up to good playing standard. Also the fretboard was very dry and dirty, so a scrub and polish with lemon oil was required. Now the action was really low without buzzing, in fact it plays "like butter " The original strings were very poor, they looked like soft copper windings with a tin plating and were only useful in setting up the instrument- they didn't last much longer than that. I replaced them initially with D'addario EJ73. I bought Simon Mayer's book and learned some technique, then learned a couple of fiddle songs (quite easy on the mandolin compared to a guitar). I thought that the mandolin was very nice to play, but I didn't really like the tone too much - it sounded a bit like a plywood box (which it is) on certain notes. I took it to a folk music session to jam a little and show the mandolin to my friends - an experienced guitarist and an accordion player. They were both very enthusiastic about the sound, which surprised me a little - it must sound better a couple of feet away rather than next my head. This encouraged me to learn mandolin playing even more. When I wore the D'addario strings out I changed over to GHS LS250 Silk and Steel which were recommended to me. Wow what an improvement- the intonation is a whole lot better and it is sweeter and louder. I also find that differing thicknesses and materials of plectrum have a great effect on the tone - it is worth experimenting. I am now quite delighted with this mandolin,especially at the price!I confess I have hardly played a guitar since I bought it. Overall it suits my particular situation well, BUT I couldn't recommend it to someone who can't set up a stringed instrument, or can't afford to have it done. The catch is that you may have to pay a lot more for something that is ready to play out of the box.