anyone got any reviews of this mandolin? for a first time mandoliner.

I haven't played the 161, but I had a KM172 oval hole that was a great deal for the money. I would think that if you bought one from a company that sets them up (like Elderly) before they sell them, you would have a pretty nice mandolin.

I have the KM-150 and I find myself playing it more than my flatiron festival.  It kicks around work and goes on road trips with me.  

I think set up is the key for these instruments.  Do what I did, pay for lessons and most likely your teacher will set it up for you, then you will learn how to do it yourself!  

--Last edited by mutant_dan on 2009-01-14 22:41:39 --

I have a KM161 and think that it is great.  I have been playing it for about a year now.  I play simply for my personal pleasure so I would have went for a higher priced model like the KM505 if I were to play for an audience.  The 161 has good volume, tone and it holds its tune very well. It is an all solid wood instrument that appears to be well constructed. Probably it will only get better as it ages.

As others have mentioned, you are much better off to buy from someone that sets them up and first checks them for defects and other problems.  Three company that does this is Elderly, The Mandolin Hut and The Folk Musician.  I feel certain that some other companies also set them up.  I do not know who they would be.

The website mandolinhut.com rates the mandolins that they have determined as the better ones.  They of course are not going to put down the others that they sale but they will put a star rating on what they apparently consider there better sounding instruments.  The 161 has a rating with them of 3 stars for tone which I thought to be good for the price.  As they rate them the KM505 has a rating of 4 stars and it can get as high as 5 stars with the higher priced Kentucky F model LM905, KM955 and the KM1000.  That is one place where you can get some idea of ratings.  

One thing different about the Mandolin Hut is that they price their instruments as part of discounted packages that may include a tuner, case and so on.

I like the sound of the A model so I did not even consider an F acoustic.  All that I have previously played is an A model.  Maybe I would like the F acoustic if I tried one of them out..  

I also have a modified F Kentucky KM300E electric that I bought about a year ago.  It has a little better tone that does the 161.  I still prefer to play the 161.

As you probably know the KM160, 161 and 162 are all the same instrument that are of different colors.  From what I have seen the price for all of them is the same.

I am not trying to give any company a plug.  I have purchased two mandolins from the Mandolin Hut and one could not ask for anything better as far as fast service, response to email questions or inquiries, set up and shipping the product out.  Elderly does the same thing as far as service, setup and everything else that I mentioned.

I have also bought some other instruments and accessories from Elderly Instruments and they also do just as good of a job in all of these areas.

Hopefully this information will help you with your buying decision.  

I am agree with techwriter on A vs F.  I have owned some very nice F models and I always return to the A's.   Something about the simple design really speaks to me.  I recently traded a Flatiron Festival F for a Loar Era A-4 and this thing sings.  

That being said, and not trying to hijack this thread, I play the Kentucky more than the Gibson.  It is more practical for an every day instrument..

I have an older KM-160 as my beater.  It plays okay and sounds okay.  Has a lot of punch for a mahogony mando.  It's flat fretboard and smaller frets makes it harder to get clean notes than my Rigel but that's to be expected.

I'm actually in the process of setting it up lefty.  Want to try playing lefty a bit.  Totally masochistic idea for someone who's been playing for years, even if I'm left handed.  It's lot starting over scratchy out twinkle twinkle little star like an 8yo kid taking his first piano lesson.