Customer Reviews

Musician's Friend Sunburst Mandolin Starter Kit

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have bought several instruments from Musician's Friend and several Rogue instruments, as well. All of these Rogue instruments are of excellent quality. We have an acoustic dreadnought, a 12 string dreadnought, and a concert size acoustic electric.

When I saw the price of this mandolin, I decided that I would learn to play this. I received it fairly quickly (they had a warehouse move, so shipping was slower than usual, but they try as hard as they can to be helpful), and I received my instruction books from Amazon, and I've been learning to play with those books and youtube!

People either love or hate the sound of the mandolin. If you like the sound of the mandolin, you will not be disappointed with this one. The action is low, the sound is great, the tuners STAY IN TUNE. The guitars come strung with Martin strings, but not so with the mandolin. However, I haven't changed the strings yet, and I think they sound fine. Additionally, the finish and workmanship is beautiful and of pretty high quality.

For those of you looking for a beginning instrument or a second instrument, definitely look at Rogues-- for the mandolin and for the high quality guitars, too. We are so impressed with everything we've received from both Musician's Friend, and its "house brand", Rogue.

I wanted to add something. When my son wanted to learn guitar, we were going to just give him one of my husband's, but it was really too big. So, we decided to get him a concert size cutaway guitar. We looked at a lot of instruments and decided to go with the Rogue. Rogue instruments do not have a wide varying price range. The highest priced instrument doesn't go over a couple of hundred dollars. So, when you spend only $100 on something, they aren't cutting a lot of corners from their highest-end models. Conversely, if you buy a starter Gibson package or some other well-respected starter pack, they cut a lot of corners from their highest-end guitars/stringed instruments. If a company makes a guitar that retails over a few thousand dollars, or even if the average selling price is $500, they are going to cut a lot of corners to make a guitar (or mandolin) priced at under $100.

With the Rogue instruments, this just isn't an issue. Want a twelve string? Only a bit over a hundred and sounds great! Want a mandolin? Nothing is stopping you at under $50. And, you really won't be disappointed, either. Even if you have to lower the action or pay for a professional setup, you still come way out ahead.

We have very expensive instruments in our house and we have these Rogues. The Rogues feel and sound as if they are $400 instruments. No comparison to the starter guitars I looked at. And, I can't even FIND a mandolin at this price.

I play guitar, and was wanting to transition to mandolin (I have this thing where I learn one instrument, then before I get real good at it, I move on to another). I figured this kit would be a good deal. And, not surprisingly, it is. It comes with a handy instruction book, as well as a booklet containing all the chords you could possibly want to know. The mandolin itself is of good quality; stays in tune relatively well, although I'm thinking about changing the strings. For some reason, the bag didn't ship with it; took another few days to get the bag. Also, the box containing the mandolin was open when it got to me, though the mandolin itself was in good shape. Odd. Still, speedy shipping (got it days before I expected), and a good quality beginner instrument. I might suggest spending a bit more money on a mandolin, and buying the books used for less; however, it's your call. I don't regret this purchase one bit, and am looking forward to learning this beautiful instrument.

I received great customer care, speedy shipping and the mandolin starter set was exactly as advertised. I would gladly do business with this company again.