I am thinking about buying a mandolin while in Taipei and was wondering if anybody knew where to buy one? I have seen guitar and ukulele shops, but never mandolins.
Have you tried the usual big guitar shops like galaxy music (éčč»ļ¼or Tonyās music ļ¼éæéä¼Æļ¼?
I did a neck reset on a mandolin so Iām sure they exist.
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I checked their websites and didnāt see anything but I havenāt gone into the stores yet. Iāll give them a try, thank you.
Taiwanese companies are notorious for not listing everything on their website. You have to go to their store and see if they have them.
What is your budget? If you are looking for a high end mandolin you may have to order it from the states. Though you will have to play some tricks to avoid taxes because it seems in Taiwan they tax luthier stuff (parts and such) differently than complete instruments (hint: instruments are taxed higher).
Maybe get it sent to your family, then remove parts like tuners, tailpiece, etc. and call it guitar parts (and remove all evidence that it was purchased new).
I never seen anyone play mandolins however and the person I fixed it for heās an expat too.
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Thanks for the advice. I was looking for something on the cheaper side because I donāt have much experience, so I donāt think ordering from the states is necessary luckily.
yea, that could be a little hard because like I said, mandolins arenāt that popular in the states itās even less popular here too.
They have a lot of traditional Chinese instruments that look like guitars (like pipa) howeverā¦
There is this guy: https://goods.ruten.com.tw/item/show?21307291676048
However I will warn you, DO NOT buy any of their solid (non plywood) instruments because they are literally made in a sweatshop in Vietnam and they have ZERO concept of humidity control, meaning the wood they use are basically green (as in not dried and seasoned at all) and will have all kinds of nasty things happen to it once it is taken into a dry climate (as in humidity less than 50%). Even though their prices are pretty much ātoo good to be trueā, because it is.
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@Taiwan_Luthiers I play 5 string banjo. I imported mine. Do you know how to put in railroad spikes etc? I wonāt try anywhere local with my 5 stringed one. I might get a capo too although I donāt sing so I tend to stay in the key of G.
To the original poster there are mandolins here , Iāve occasionally met locals who play them. You could just import one from EBay though.
Pretty sure Tonyās has a mandolin or two.
I just looked up railroad spikes. It looks like a stud of some kind between the frets on the high G string. And from the pictures it looks like it acts as some kind of a ācapoā for only that one string. If thatās the case I can install it pretty easily. Itās a nonstandard modification job because I have never seen a banjo in my shop. Iāll need a small (as in tiny) drill bit, and a dremel type tool. I will get an air pencil grinder because I like those better than a Dremel and the shop next to me is willing to let me use his air source (he has a 7HP silent compressor for his CNC machines). It may be a few weeks before he gets his equipment in however.
Do you have the railroad spikes? If so I will do it for the cost of a setup plus 500nt. If not I can order it for you.
I have a one ton Bridgeport type milling machine. It allows me to, among other things to make a hole VERY precisely with the right accessories. How precise? About 5 microns. Thatās about 1/20th the width of your hairā¦ However it doesnāt seem like railroad spikes have to be precisely locatedā¦
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Thank you. There is no rush as I canāt come over for a month anyway , but yeah Iāll bring it over. It is just as you described and Iām not fool hardy enough to try this myself. Iād almost cry if I messed that up and I know I would probably damage it. It is not a really expensive Banjo but it is made in USA and was an effort to get it here. I just originally presumed there would be places to get this done but there isnāt. I even have to import strings which is fine as luckily they are light. Iāll be in touch after about a month. Thank you. Are you in Taipei ?
Iām located in New Taipei City, Xingjhuan district.
website is www.typhoon-guitars.com (itās still kinda under construction)
The concern is a normal Taiwanese would just hammer it in, which I guess could be done if the wood were say maple. But ebony is quite brittle and if you just hammer it in you may crack itā¦ A lot of Taiwanese (outside of idol carvers) never worked with ebony type woods and so they donāt really take care.
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