Rogue RM-100A A-Style Mandolin 

Comments about Rogue RM-100A A-Style Mandolin:

This is a very nice mandolin for the money. I would recommend buying good strings, I opened the box and unpackaged it and started tuning it and two of the strings came unwound at the loop.

Comments about Rogue RM-100A A-Style Mandolin:

I have nothing bad to say about it am just learning and it is a beautiful instrument.Have bought other instruments from this company and have had real good luck with them all

Comments about Rogue RM-100A A-Style Mandolin:

one of the best bargains I have seen
I only tryed one but I'm very satisfied

Comments about Rogue RM-100A A-Style Mandolin:

Totally playable, nice tuners, nice finish, good intonation, decent tone. I may buy a second one and customize it!

Comments about Rogue RM-100A A-Style Mandolin:

This very affordable mandolin came set up nicely right out of the box. I tuned up the strings and was playing immediately. I wanted an inexpensive mandolin to learn folk music on and this was perfect. No issues with mine that others users had posted. Maybe I got a really good one.

Comments about Rogue RM-100A A-Style Mandolin:

My sunburst Rogue mandolin arrived carefully packaged and double-boxed which was greatly appreciated, and three days ahead of a second instrument that I had ordered from a different online store the same day. I really appreciate the free shipping, too! The other store charged me a LOT to ship the same sized item. ... OUCH! :(

Loved the set-up sheet that came with it as it answered some of the questions I had about the instrument and helped me get started with tuning it correctly. Just to play it safe, I looked up an online mandolin tuner so I'd have the actual tones of each note playing for me to tune against, and now it's sounding just about perfect (to me, anyway). It got a little scary for me when I got to the two E strings, as a previous experience with a new instrument didn't go so well while tuning the thinner, higher strings and they snapped and had to be replaced before it ever got played the first time; but with this one, I had no problems getting them to the right tone. Kudos to Rogue for packaging this with not-quite-so-cheap-as-other-instruments-get-packed-with strings! Woo-hoo!

I like the scrollwork imprinted on the tailpiece and tuning machine; gives it a -little- fancier and expensive look to it.

Any blemishing was on the wood, itself, and not with the actual finish. And they were on the back of the instrument, behind the Head. But honestly, with a tone like this, I don't care what it looks like. If you don't like the look of a possible pith or ray showing on your instrument, get the black one. I happen to think the odd knot or wood streak in the design adds a bit of character, myself. And again, if it sounds this good for the money paid, who really cares?!

Lovin' this little lady a lot, MusiciansFriend. Thanks for a great bargain and even better service! :)

Comments about Rogue RM-100A A-Style Mandolin:

I have never held a mandolin until I received this one. Frankly, it was always too cost prohibitive to even think about.

This mandolin allows me to see if I am interested and capable of playing the mandolin. I played guitar (sort of) for a long long time, and played the ukulele for about five years, but wasn't going to make a major investment to evaluate my interest. But for the price? How could you not try it out?

The mandolin FAR exceeded my expectations. Looks good, feels solid, sounds good (with new strings). And it arrived in just three days. Musician's Friend does such a good job at getting orders out.

Go ahead and get good strings. I used D'Addario. And keep the setup instructions - you will need them to adjust the instrument. It isn't intuitive, but it works.

As a non-player (yet) I can't tell you if the tonal quality is wonderful or marginal, but it isn't awful. It's better than I will be for a long time. And if I get better and want to spend more, I bet I can get my money out of this one.

Seriously, this price for this instrument is amazing. Buy it just for the "Oh wow, you have a mandolin?" factor.

I might have to learn about bluegrass. I'm awestruck.

Comments about Rogue RM-100A A-Style Mandolin:

Actually got one of these mandolins with the guitar package but im going to review it seperately here. First off i received the mando in 2 days from MF, awesome shipping time! When i first got it the action was super high and both G strings were "dead" they didnt sound right at all. i thought maybe i had gotten a lemon but i went ahead and changed strings (which i had planned on doing anyways) and the g strings sounded much better. not sure what was wrong with the factory string but if you get this mando the first thing you need to do is toss them in the trash (or save them for emergency spares)

now the action was so high when you would tune the mando open and then fret the first fret it would pull the note way sharp. cant have that so i filed the nut slots to lower the action as well as sanded the saddle and lowered it at the bridge end as well. i had some buzzing so i leveled the frets and recrowned and finished them. now all is perfect. my father in law is a mando player and he says it has the lowest action hes ever seen and it has absolutely no buzzing or dead frets! im not a luthier or guitar tech, i just did some research online to learn how to do the things it needed. lastly i replaced the pick guard with a custom curly maple wooden piece i made. i think it looks pretty cool and sets the mando apart

anyways if you get this mando be prepared to adjust some things before its really playable but at this price point i think its worth it, especially if you can do it yoursself (YOU CAN!). ive seen this same exact mandolin sold under a different name brand for over twice as much money

Comments about Rogue RM-100A A-Style Mandolin:

Ordered one for my violin-playing daughter to give her something to double on. The first one had a fretboard that had been damaged BEFORE assembly and used anyway. (There were two sets of cuts for the frets to be inserted.) How the mangled fretboard managed to get used and not trashed on assembly is a wonder to me. Otherwise, the instrument seemed useful, though, so I sent it back and got another one. The second one had a blemish on the back of the neck, but otherwise looked nice. Once I set it up it was pretty playable. And it is very LOUD for its size and price. Which made it a good learning/practice instrument. The short version is that YOU have to provide the quality control and the setup. Inspect it as soon as it arrives in case there are problems. And don't expect it to last like a professional instrument. But for the cost it's a very good value.

Comments about Rogue RM-100A A-Style Mandolin:

Just a great little guitar for the price.