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The chord shapes could be quite different. Try to find one locally to send what you think.
Even more than a guitar a mandolin needs a good setup to make it playable. As a rule of thumb you need to spend twice as much as you would on a guitar to get something of the same quality; so a £100 mandolin will be as “good” as a £50 guitar.
I like the sound too but the easiest and best way to get a mandolin sound is to hire a mandolin player.
just because you do, doesn't mean you should.
Which isn’t to say they aren’t fun to play.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson
There is banjo-wise. Try a Deering Goodtime entry level. It's perfectly playable but tone-wise, against an Ome North Star, you'll soon see what I mean.
Saying that, you can have a lot of fun with entry level. We've all been there.
Took a punt on my first mandolin a Samick SM-30, 15 years ago. It was about £50 on eBay & was a very reasonable sounding instrument.
I later gave it to my Dad (he still has it) after I bought the mandolin that I currently have, about 12 years ago.
Photos below.
It looks like it was designed as a comedy stage prop by a drag queen for maximum tacky effect, but sounds sweet & lovely. It cost me £105 inc. a hard case.
As tone is my main priority in an instrument, I can overlook the visuals.
* Still haven't managed this with a flame top PRS with bird inlays yet though...
It was apparently handmade in Singapore, according to the previous owner who worked a musician on cruise ships & seems to be solid woods, underneath the masses of inlaid shell & abalone.
It is a very nice mandolin. I had no real means of comparison until a few years ago when I found out there was a mandolin player in the university music department where I used to work. So I took mine in for an evaluation & opinion.
He had a gorgeous 1940's Gibson F-type & when he saw mine he laughed & was rather flippant, rude & disdainful.
I knew he was an arrogant twat already, but he did know his stuff so I didn't immediately deck him...
Taking it out he played it for a while, fiddling with the tuning, adjusting the bridge & frowning a lot.
Eventually I was handed it back with a very grudging comment that it was ' quite good, a lot better than I had expected".
When he asked how much I'd paid for it, his face became a lovely contorted picture of avarice & disbelief
Anyway, my convoluted point, is that it is possible to find great sounding instruments for well below the sums that have been mentioned here. £'s do not always make the difference, although if you want quality & consistency, it is definitely a big factor.
It easily manages The Battle of Evermore, Losing my Religion & even Copperhead Road but my increasingly arthritic hands don't anymore
Get thee to a luthier, get a good setup and a K&K Twin Spot (+ Orchid DI).
Every dog’s a*** plays guitar these days, no glory skulking in the herd.
Losing My Religion will sound fine on the cheapest (well set up) mandolin. If it doesn’t sound like a Gibson - nobody will care. Mine cost £40 in a charity shop. It’s about 50yrs old, looks basic, sounds great.
I'd possibly look into an octave mandolin, mandola or a tenor guitar. I just find the mandolin really shrill sounding.
Also, as others have said, a cheap mandolin will not be as good as a cheap guitar.
Ian
Lowering my expectations has succeeded beyond my wildest dreams.
Seriously. This sort of short cut doesn't work. This is why those guitar-banjo hybrid things suck. There are tones and note combinations which fall to hand as the "natural sound" of any instrument and if you go screwing around setting up a piano to be played like a saxophone or a saxophone to be played like a piano you mostly end up with something that sounds dreadful.