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.

Plays nice, looks beautiful. The only criticisms that I have are that the bridge does not fully sit down on the face of the mandolin like it should and that the tail plate has had problems staying on.

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!

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.

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.

Beautiful instrument for the price. Downside, can't get it to tune, even bought the little auto tuner but it isn't working either. I really didn't want to have to find someone to tune it professionally and have to pay that money. I also read on reviews that the strings that come with this are not that great and hard to or do not hold tune long. I will probably be out $$ to have it restrung and tuned. It should already have the "good" strings on when you buy it!

Finition impeccable, facile à accorder. Joli son et amplifiable par jack fourni ! livré avec 6 jours d'avance ! Bravo au livreur et merci Amazon !

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.

Ho acquistato questo mandolino elettrico in Amazon Warehouse Deals, e devo dire che per il prezzo sono ampiamente soddisfatta. Di certo non è uno strumento di fascia alta, dunque ha qualche normale pecca tecnico/armonica, ma nel complesso è innanzitutto esteticamente sufficientemente rifinito ed è fornito di cavo per essere attaccato all'ampli. La Stagg è una casa produttrice di strumenti di un certo rispetto dunque speravo in un minimo di qualità anche se si tratta di un mandolino economico per principianti, e sono soddisfatta della scelta, tutto considerato. Le corde sono un pochino ossidate, ma facilmente reperibili per un cambio, nel complesso però lo strumento non ha un graffio ed è arrivato puntuale, dunque ne consiglio l'acquisto comunque. Sul sito del produttore/venditore ufficiale sono reperibili tutti i ricambi e su youtube si possono vedere interessanti tutorial di professionisti che lo suonano e recensiscono, per cui ci si può documentare bene anche se non esperti.

Ich muss vorausschicken, dass ich ein Laie bin und auch noch keine andere Mandoline gespielt habe. Die Mandoline wurde extrem schnell geliefert und kam in tadellosem Zustand an. Die Verarbeitung ist sauber und schnörkellos. Positiv überraschte mich ausserdem, dass die Stimmung nach zwei-dreimal nachjustieren über Tage hält, obwohl die Saitenspannung doch relativ hoch ist – gute Mechanik also! Der akustische Klang ist angenehm und etwa so, wie ich mir das von einer Mandoline erhofft habe. verstärkt habe ich's noch gar nicht probiert. Alles in allem eigentlich unglaublich, dass man für diesen Preis ein solches Instrument bekommt

I have owned the mandolin for about a week or so. I think like a great number of people that have left reviews concerning this mandolin, they are guitar players, who have wanted to try a reasonably priced instrument so that if it doesn't suit them then they haven't lost much. I bought the mandolin, the gig bag and the tuner, for a real rock bottom price of approximately £110.00 - £115.00. So after unpacking, which in itself was impressive, I tried tuning the strings which the first time was a bit daunting! However, like all things, the more you do this, the easier it becomes. After it was in tune, 'and quickly out of tune', I tried a few 2 finger chords. The truth was, although the sound was good, the action was high. However, by sanding down part of the bridge, I have improved the action a lot. So at the moment, I am trying to work thru, 'losing my religion', it plays well, certainly for a so called budget buy. Would I recommend it? Most definately. It is solid, has a lovely tone and with a bit of sanding on the bridge, it will improve the experience. That said, I haven't tried it through the amp, but so long as it is what I could expect from reading the other reviews, 'which I am sure it will be', it should be fine. If you've ever wondered what it would be like to play a mandolin, but am not keen on spending loads of money to find out, go for this instrument, as it is a good place to start. Hope my review helps you.