Stagg M50E Acoustic-Electric Bluegrass Mandolin with Nato Top - Redburst

With so many negative reviews of the low-end mandolins on Amazon and the posts on mandolin forums suggesting that most low-end mandolins be avoided, I gambled on Stagg providing a good quality instrument. I've got 15 years experience as a musician, 8 of which are specifically with guitars.Let me tell you, I'm glad I took a chance on this. As long as you go into this purchase expecting a decent instrument that is sufficient for learning on and potentially recording in a home studio, you won't be disappointed.I was lucky and my mandolin arrived with the bridge properly set up and the strings properly loosened for transit. The mandolin stays in tune and sounds great. No damage or problems at all!

Whoa, this baby is gorgeous! We were planning to polish it up when we got it. It looks kind of lax luster in the pics. Not so, the pics don't do it any justice because it is extremely high gloss. Seriously this baby is very pretty. I would venture to say it's one of the cleanest looking and sounding Mandolins out there. To us, it's the best! Now, what's she sound like, superb! Hooked to an Amp or not. Easy to tune and then play away. There's nothing to knock on this Stagg Mandolin. Strings are great for now. Will upscale later on though. Oh, thank you folks for getting her to us in such a jiffy. Much appreciated indeed. Two days to our door, that's service with a bang! We call her Ruby. All of our instruments have names. We have a Washburn guitar we named Geronimo, just saying, lol. Happy trails to you.

I got this as an "open box" for like 60% off. I paid 65 bucks. At that price I am absolutely happy.Came with a little nick on the headstock. No biggy.It sounds pretty nice out of the box. Like ANY archtop instrument, you need to set the bridge to the proper intonation and your action preference. Takes 5 minutes. Stop whining.There is actually quite a bit of fret sprout/sharp frets.... but you don't feel that when you play mandolin. I play guitar... I feel like on a mandolin, the neck is too small to even contact your hands. If it matter to you, file the down.Honestly, for the price I paid, I am super pleased. If I paid full price, maybe I'd expect a little better fretwork.The fretboard came covered in light mold, which I took off with some steel wool. This came as a returned item from Amazon Warehouse. I will blame it on the conditions it was stored in, and not blame the factory.Also... the finish on the gold burst is actually really nice. It seems pretty loud and harsh in the pictures. In hand it is a sunburst.I want to say that the tuners totally suck... BUT... as u have tuned and u tuned and returned and played down-tunings... I think what I'm fighting is the factory string windings. The strings slip and stretch bc they have so many windings around the peg post. I am really feeling, that's the issue, a d not actually rhe tuners themselves

I have several musical instruments and always try to buy the lower end in cost ones, 100-200 range. You can tell a wide difference between this mandolin and other instruments i've gotten in the same general price, much more care and fancier gear went into it. My only complaint is it should have come with some kind of strap and the special picks it needs, since both are needed to play it properly, but i was able to repurpose a banjo strap and use guitar picks for it temporarily.

I understand that with this new, or any new stringed wooden instrument-playing it daily- you need to tune the strings. The strings need time to stretch. It gets better each day. I’m beginning to feel this instrument, it’s quirks.Maybe it’s learning mine. But I can’t say how much I’m enjoying this mandolin. I bought a violin several months ago but felt frustrated learning it. So I decided to get this mandolin because the open strings are the same as a violin. I’ve learned some pick songs on mandolin - and wow! I can play the same songs on the violin! Nice! I say get this mandolin. Learn a few scales. Learn a few songs. Let your finger tips build up a callous through daily playing. But if you just want to sound good right out of the box and have some fun-tune the open mandolin strings to AEAE. Normal open strings are GDAE. I really like this mandolin!

Good: cheap and a good practice mandolin you can travel with.Bad: Tuners are sloppy, Horrible pickup needing a LOT of gain to get any sound with constant loud buzzing and noisy knobs.If you need a cheap mandolin, save some money and get the acoustic only version.

You'll have to lower the saddle. Apart of that, nice sound and nice cost-benefit.

Very good sound, good action, good quality! Very good price! Completely satisfied! I got it for my birthday. Perfect gift!