KM-150 Standard A-Model Mandolin – Vintage Sunburst – Solid German Spruce Top & Alpine Maple Body

This is my first mandolin and I am very pleased. It arrived professionally packed and in beautiful condition. Set up had been done. Very easy to play. Sounds great. I did my research before hand and I'm very satisfied with my purchase. Highly recommend Kentucky KM-150.

I've had my KM-150 for about six months. Learning the mando was on my bucket list for years, and I did a lot of research before making the purchase for a beginner model. Initially I had a bias against Kentucky as a low end model, but then I started finding a lot of positive reviews from experienced pickers. Add to that the description of "solid" AND "carved", with the latter being the give-away that it was not a laminate, and I started taking a hard look at this one. I paid $210 during a promotion and also bought a soft case, strap, some heavy picks, and several boxes of strings. Yes, I had to fiddle with the bridge to get decent action and intonation, but I didn't have to touch the neck. It must have come with J74's because I was blown away by the sound right out of the box. There is a very wide mid-range where you get that woody Gibson bluegrass sound, especially with the tremolo's. I found the E string range to sound a bit tinny, but that could be my rough playing as well. After a few months of practicing via Youtube lessons (a great resource these days), I changed the strings to bronze Elixers and found them way to metallic sounding - they lasted a week before I put another set of J74's back on. Anyway, I played in public with a guitarist and singer for the first time last week using a basic condenser mic, and received several positive comments about the sound of this little beginner mando. I think it has "opened up" in the last two weeks, and that sweet spot mid-range is even wider now. My plan was to trade up to an F model at several times the cost, but now I'm thinking that may not happen so fast. This is a great sounding instrument and by far the best value out there.

***edited to include valid links to the videos*** A little background: I'm a long time musician. I've been playing 35+ years. I play primarily guitar and bass, with the occasional stint on keys. I grew up in a bluegrass/old time music family. I met my wife one night in 1984 while playing the banjo. She agreed to marry me if I sold the banjo. Recently while listening to some music she suggested I get another banjo. I thought about it but thought a Mandolin might be more fun. I looked at all of the mandolins on the music sites. I read reviews of all of the different brands. I haunted the mandolin discussion boards and came to a conclusion: A lot of folks don't think you can get a worthwhile instrument for less than $2000. I think they are wrong. I have several Fender guitars and considered the Fender mandolins, but everyone I have talked to said that their build quality was sketchy at best. I looked at the washburn mandolins, and the Epiphones. Several people had a discussion going around these instruments at mandolincafe.com and the overwhelming majority agreed that I would be happier with the KM-150 than the others, so I bought one. Several reviewers have given this instrument very low marks, but I think they are missing the bigger picture: 1. The instruments are made in China: Yep, Most of the entry level instruments are made in China, but that's not a deal breaker as much as it used to be. Some very good stuff comes out of China. Doesn't Apple have a manufacturing operation in China? 2. The bridge is not attached: There is a very good reason for this. In order to keep the costs down, manufacturer's mass produce mandolins, and mass produce bridges. The best way to do it would be to hand fit the bridge and saddle to the instrument, but that would drive up the cost to the point many of us would be out of the market. Expect to have the bridge/Saddle setup on any mail order instrument. You can do it yourself in an afternoon, or you can drop $50 and have a local music shop do it. Many of the folks reviewing the instrument are not the end users, and have no commitment to the instrument. If you are interested in playing Mandolin, and are committed enough to spend a little time on your instrument, I think you will like this mandolin. I have included a couple of videos showing what you get out of the box, and what you get after a little adjusting/sanding. How she was out of the box: http://youtu.be/wojn6cyapJs How she is now: http://youtu.be/b_KZzCvuCnw This mandolin is definitely worth a look.

Let me be frank that the only reason that I'm leaving a 4/5 star is because of the complaints about the pick guard. As a company with product quality control it is important to listen to the customers. Many have mentioned that the pick guard falls off right out of the box. Mine did as well. This is a bad sign for any customer. HOWEVER. That is the only problem with this instrument (for me so far anyway). Everything else is spot on. Solid wood, great sound, and quality craftsmanship. Kudos to the folks at the factory in China. They don't get enough credit building everyone's stuff. BEGINNERS PLEASE READ: For those that are new to the mandolin, here is what you do right out of the box. (take off the pick guard if it is loose, all it takes is the removal of a screw with a Philips head screwdriver) Set up your bridge by taking a ruler and measuring the nut down to the 12th fret (the one with two dots). Then measure from the 12th fret to the bridge. Make sure to slide the bridge to match equal distance from the nut to the 12th fret above. That way the notes will be in tune if the distance from the nut to the 12th fret is equal from the 12th fret to the bridge. There have been many complaints about the instrument not being ready to play out of the box. I can understand if you are new. As for the pick guard falling right off, I don't know what to say. Not sure that it's anyone's fault. Everything else was perfect. My advice would be to let the customer attach the pick guard themselves. But seeing as how that even the setup could be an issue, I can understand why they just left it like it is. I've been playing the mandolin for many years. I've heard very good things about this mandolin in particular. I was not disappointed.

I am just beginning to play the mandolin and my first instrument was an acoustic/electric that I was not happy with. A lot of buzzing and overly shrill sounds. I'm a violin player so the high pitched E is familiar to me, but this was crazy shrill and I broke two E strings trying to make adjustments. I could not get the bridge to a height that made it easy to play or got rid of the buzzing. So I returned it and got this one. My first impression was that the sound was so much mellower, easier to listen to, and it's easier to play. I actually didn't have to do much with the bridge, it was almost perfect on delivery. Tuning was easy and no broken strings. I am not sure of the quality of the strings, they sound good to me for now. But also, how easy it is to play! I thought I should be able to pluck out a handful of tunes and on the other instrument I could not. With this one, it's so much easier to play that I could just pluck out tunes by ear (with my violin knowledge helping). I am very, very happy with this. It was well packaged, came when expected. Now it's just waiting for the strings to settle in (they go flat at first, just like violin strings) before I can play to my heart's content.

The instrument is great. only problem was it wasn't set up and we had to pay another $100 to do it

I've been a guitar player since my early teens. Around the time I started playing guitar, my dad bought me a fender mandolin. I loved it and learned the basics chords but all of my buddy's played guitar so I focused in learning the guitar and sold it. Last year in my birthday my wife surprised me with an ibanez mandolin and I couldn't put it down. It was great but I wanted a nicer model since. I shopped around and after hearing so much good things about the km150, I bit the bullet and ordered it. It came set up, all I did was tune it up. I couldn't recommend it enough. Unless your buying above 1000, your bot gonna find a better mandolin than this one. As soon as I picked it up and played it, the difference i felt in the construction of it leaps above my ibanez. And it sounds incredible. It's the nicest mandolin I've ever played. I've bought quite a few now, but I'm not buying anymore until I'm ready to get one for a few thousand or so, because I'm not gonna find another one better then this one for anywhere near the price.

I was looking forward to getting this mandolin and was so disappointed when the string broke. Cost me another $70 to get it fixed. On top of the over $570 cost.

Great sound. Plays great. Love it love it!!!

It came flat packed, I had a bit of a a panic but after adjusting the bridge drastically this is an amazing mandolin. I have upgraded the strings which is standard part of setting up a mandolin. It is loud, extremely playable and has beautiful tones for the money. Highly recommended for beginners and intermediate players.

Great value, and once set up pretty good sounding too - a great improvement on my old Ozark. The money you save on buying from Amazon is the cost of the set up - so unless you're confident you can shape and fit the bridge, you're not going to make any saving.

Great Sound

It sounds good for a mandolin in this price range. I think you would have to spend a lot more money to get a better sounding instrument.