This mandolin looks beautiful, the sound is loud and crisp and it stays in tune well. Frets could use a bit of sanding, but are acceptable. The wood looks and feels like laminated balsa wood, but sounds great. However, it is clearly built down to a (slightly too low) price. I guess it is OK for someone who just needs a mandolin once in a while, though.
There are some problems. The internal wiring is messy. The metal cover is held in place by friction and will eventually drop off. Some of the tuners are smooth, some are difficult to turn.
My main gripe, however, is the electronics. The pots have been scratchy from the day I received it, and the output level from the pickup is terribly noisy, and terribly low. Inserting the audio cable, feels "cheap", but so far has worked OK.
My estimate is the output level is at least -12 dB lower than the output of an electric guitar pickup. At first I thought it was faulty! Upping the gain on the amplifier also amplifies the noise, which then becomes horrendously loud. To try to eliminate the noise, I ripped out all the electronics, changed the pots and the output plug, and shielded everything, but it is still way too noisy.
I guess you could record the output in a DAW, and apply a really steep 50/60Hz low-pass/notch filter to it, but I have not tried that. Alternatively you could mic it up normally, which is what I have decided to do!
Again. An OK mandolin for the occasional player, but if I had known how noisy the electronics is, I would have gone for a more expensive mandolin, or the model without the pick-up.
