Cumbus Mandolin With Soft Case, 23"

by Mid-East

Product Features

• Beautiful instrument imported from craftspeople around the world!
• Perfect for aspiring world musicians!
• Made with authentic materials!

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 12 x 12 x 24 inches ; 10 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 10 pounds
• ASIN: B0009VCKA8
• Item model number: CMBB
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #74,141 in Musical Instruments (See Top 100 in Musical Instruments)

Product Description

Cumbus Mandolin with Soft Case, 23 inches in length. It has metal frets and 4 courses of the 2 strings each. The Cumbus is a relatively young instrument. It was developed in Istanbul in the early 1900's. The inventor, Zeynel became known as Zeynel Abidin Bey. The famous Ataturk Mustafa Kemal, Turkey's first president, dubbed it Cumbus, pronounced joom-bush. Cumbus is Turkish for revelry, just the mood this instrument inspires. Our Cumbus are imported from the Family shop of Zeynel Abidin on Ataturk Bulvar in Istanbul. The Banjo Cumbus also be tuned like a banjo, DGBD, or mandolin, GDAE. SPECIAL NOTE: No Warranty on Strings: Manufacturers recommend that you change the strings on your instrument as soon as you receive it. Your instrument has completed a long journey before it ever begins the final leg to your home. During this time the elements affect the strings and may shorten their lifespan. It occasionally happens that a string will fail during that final leg of the journey. Therefore, it is recommended that you purchase a replacement set of strings and consider changing your strings soon after it arrives. If you are a student you may want to change your strings every 3-4 months. If you are a rock star you may need to change your strings every week. If you store your instrument, you should consider changing the strings when you pick it up again.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Acceptable, April 19, 2008

By 

Anthony T. Casey - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cumbus Mandolin With Soft Case, 23"

When I saw the price, I knew that something must be wrong.. The problem turned out to be the frets.. It honestly looks like someone just eyeballed the spacing and slapped them on any old way.. However upon removing the frets, I found it to be a perfectly playable bundle of joy. I have really fallen in love with the banjo-y sort of sound, as well as the fact that it is really audible over the large group I use it in. I may fill in the fret slots and have someone cut me proper ones, but right now I am happy to play it fretless. Apart from the frets, the only other negative I can think of is the absolutely aweful plastic nut that snapped in half when I put new strings on it.. Just goes to show that you do get what you pay for but and with a little work, some pliers and a little patience as well as a new nut, you can have quite a distincitive, serviceable and tiny fretless mandolin..

2.0 out of 5 stars a major disappointment, December 20, 2010

By 

GypsyJazzKat "GypsyJazzKat" (Longmont, CO United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cumbus Mandolin With Soft Case, 23"

For starters, 'banjo cumbus' is a misnomer. The packing slip said, 'mandolin cumbus', and a mandolin it is. However, given the modest price and the fact that I do play the mandolin, I decided to keep it. The instrument arrived in one piece, but with the bridge misaligned. A luthier corrected the bridge position so that the open strings would tune. However, a second visit to the luthier was required to adjust the neck (easily done) and cut down the slots in the bridge before the instrument was at all playable. After all that work was done, the instrument is still nearly impossible to tune, or to keep in tune.

That said, the instrument is loud enough that one should probably wear earplugs when playing it. Its voice is ill suited to Western music, though it is fretted for conventional Western music scales. If it could be tuned it would be suitable for Turkish, Greek, Arabic, or klezmer music, but little else. If you're looking for a banjolin, look elsewhere.