Suzy and I have just returned from breakfast with the parental units. Mom and Dad were in good spirits as we exit the last 12 daze of being locked in our houses because of the historic snow and road closures. Our favorite waitresses were at the Village Square Cafe and we were for a long time one of two tables occupied so we got a lot of attention. My coffee cup was never empty.  :o)

When we got home I continued my administrations on a Rogue Mandolin that I bought myself for Christmas. The $49 mandolin got me thinking about the purchase and then I saw the Rogue online. As I have a Rogue bass guitar, I felt I knew the quality of the manufacturer and thus the instrument. I talked to my brother the Luther about tuning the instrument. The various web sites were not clear enough.

So he sent me a rather nice article about buying cheap mandolins and what to look for. I did all the tests and so far I have no uneven or loose fret wires, warped neckage, etc. This was as I expected with a Rogue instrument. I tuned it slowly over two days, but I’m thinking about replacing the strings with some better ones.

My favorite tuning site for any string instrument is GetTuned.com. One of the more common things for a rookie to do is to tune a stringed instrument too tightly thus almost ensuring damage to the neck if not by breaking strings. I started tuning to the piano and then decided I needed a little more of an idea where the range of the G-D-A-E was to be. I don’t expect to progress too far with this instrument as I spend so much time with my woodwinds, but even then, it is a beautiful wall-mounted piece of art. And Suzy is making me a wall hanger so that I can display the instrument.

We are *supposed* to be putting the sound proofing in the music studio. We’ve four boxes of the stuff that we bought when music 123 cut the price in half in October. Surely we’ll get around to it this weekend.  ;o)

Stardate -315987.72: (Yes Martha, there is a converter.) The Rogue electronics don’t work. One of the knobs is funky and on three different Amp setups with three different cords nothing, nadda… I’m returning it and trading up to an Epiphone MM-30E acoustical/electrical mando. I’ve very disappointed and will have to wait up to two weeks for the replacement. But they have thrown in a shipping upgrade. Still… disappointing to say the least.