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Applause Electroacoustic mandolin

• Mandolin-guitar = weak sound
• Budget model = even weaker sound
• Synthetics = synthetic sound
• Synthetic and wood = vulnerable to cracking

If you're gonna buy one anyway (and don't tell me I didn't warn you), at least make sure you get one that's in tune. Applause and Ovation are notorious for misfitted bridges causing the notes higher up on the neck to be out of pitch.
  You should also keep in mind that Applause mandolin-guitars require ball-end mandolin strings, so replacement strings can be hard to find.

• Available from: Music123
• Price: USD 339,99 (last checked 04/03/2004)
• Also available from:
  • Musician's Friend: USD 349 (last checked 04/03/2004) (USA only?)
• More info

Ovation MCS148 Mandolin

This is an unusual instrument though, so maybe we'd better take a closer look. First let's look at a few things it is not:

• It is not a mandolin! The mandolin and the mandolin-guitar (aka mandolinetto) are two very different instruments with very constructions and different sounds. Ovation and other mandolin-guitar manufacturers keep trying to present their instruments as mandolins but they're wrong!
• It is not an acoustic instrument! Plywood top, fixed bridge and guitar shaped body - that all adds up to a considerably weaker sound than any true mandolin. If you try to play solos in a reasonably loud bluegrass or Irish band with this one you'll simply be drowned out.

Pity about the price though. You can get a decent solid-wood European flattop mandolin and a K&K Twin Spot pickup at less than half the cost. It'l do the same job just as well and provide a good acoustic sound too.

Standard warning for Ovation/Applause buyers: Ovation and Applause instruments are notorious for having their bridges positioned wrongly causing the instrument to go out of tune as you move up the neck. In this price range you can expect perfect intonation at least up to the 12th fret. If your instrument can't give you that you should go back to the store an demand a new one.
  It might also be worth to keep in mind that Ovation mandolin-guitars require ball-end mandolin strings, so replacement strings can be hard to find.

• Available from: Music123
• Price: USD 479 (last checked 12/04/2004)
• More info

Ovation MM68 Mandolin

The problem is that people keep buying it for the wrong reasons. Some buy it because they think it's a mandolin (it isn't). Some buy it because they want a brighter sound than an A style or F style mandolin (a Celtic style mandolin will do that better, give a much stronger sound and probably cost considerably less). Some buy it because of Ovation's pickup technology (which was state of the art back in the 1970s but is way outdated by now).

There are still quite a few good reasons for buying the Ovation MM68 though: It has a nice little voice of its own, it looks quite cool (and stage appearances are always important), guitarists looking for a second instrument might well like its wider-than-standard fretboard and although Ovation's pickup system can't compete with more modern constructions when it comes to acoustic realism, it's definitely one of the easiest ones to deal with.

Then again it's the price tag. You can get a handmade mandolin from a respected luthier for less - complete with pickup system and all! There's also the Godin A8 mandolin-guitar who's considerably cheaper and still seems to match or beat Ovation on each and every one of it's strong points.

Standard warning for Ovation/Applause buyers: Ovation and Applause instruments are notorious for having their bridges positioned wrongly causing the instrument to go out of tune as you move up the neck. In this price range you can expect perfect intonation at least up to the 12th fret. If your instrument can't give you that you should go back to the store an demand a new one.
  It might also be worth to keep in mind that Ovation mandolin-guitars require ball-end mandolin strings, so replacement strings can be hard to find.

• Available from: Music123
• Price: USD 1049 (last checked 12/04/2004)
• More info