The Best Mandolins

The F-style's scroll and curled points are a visual signature borrowed from early-1900s designs, and they add cost and fragility without changing the tone in any way a player can hear. A-style bodies are simpler to carve or press, which makes them cheaper and, for a first mandolin, arguably the more sensible choice. Reach for F-style once you know you want the classic bluegrass look, or if resale value in that scene matters to you — not because it will sound different from a comparable A-style instrument.

A carved top is shaped from a solid block of wood, hand- or machine-graduated to a specific thickness that lets it resonate and improve with playing time — the same principle as a solid-top guitar or ukulele. A pressed top is stamped into shape under heat and pressure, which is faster and cheaper to produce and holds up well to temperature and humidity changes, but doesn't develop the same complexity over years of play. Budget A-style mandolins are almost always pressed; carved tops start appearing once you're spending $300-plus.

The oval sound hole is the older design, used on mandolins built before around 1922, and it produces a sweeter, more contained tone that suits old-time, Celtic, and classical playing. F-holes — two curved cutouts flanking the top — came later and project more volume with a slightly brighter, more cutting edge, which is why they dominate modern bluegrass, where a mandolin needs to be heard over a full string band. Neither is an upgrade over the other; they're suited to different music.

Mandolin forums are consistent on one point: instruments under roughly $150–200 frequently arrive with the action (string height) set too high to play comfortably, sometimes described as strings sitting far off the fingerboard. That's a fixable problem — a shop can lower the action and check intonation for $30–60 — but it's worth budgeting for rather than assuming a new mandolin is ready to play the moment it's unboxed. Instruments from Kentucky, Eastman, and The Loar are more consistently reported as arriving properly set up than rock-bottom generic brands.

Start with the Donner DML-100B only to test whether you'll stick with mandolin at all. Move to The Loar LM-110 Honey Creek for a hand-carved top at a modest price, or the Kentucky KM-150 if you want all-solid wood without carved-top pricing. Choose the Kentucky KM-272 for a hand-carved, sweeter oval-hole tone suited to old-time and Celtic playing. And choose the Eastman MD305 if you already know you're committed and would rather buy the instrument you'll still be playing in years.