Ibanez M510 Mandolin - Dark Violin Sunburst High Gloss Reviews
From its beginnings in Europe in the seventeenth century, the mandolin has been used as an accompanying instrument in various string ensembles. The mandolin shot to the forefront of the American musical landscape as a lead instrument in the 1940's via Bill Monroe, the father of bluegrass. Now Ibanez offers beginning to intermediate mandolin players an affordable, great-sounding mandolin with the M510. An A-style mandolin, the M510 features a gorgeous spruce top and mahogany back and sides, mahogany neck, and rosewood fretboard. These classic tonewoods coupled with the solid hardware that finishes out this M510 produce a warm tone when chording and a higher to midrange voice for soloing. Whatever level you're at, give the Ibanez M510 a play, and discover why it is a favorite here at Sweetwater.
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Highest Rated Reviews
Awesome price awesome piece!
Fast shipping and absolutely love this instrument!
Ibanez M510 Mandolin
I bought this for my Grandson. He told me that he loves it. Good enough for me!!!
Sweet mandolin
I bought this as my first mandolin for a few reasons. I didn't want some random brand off Amazon or something (Ibanez seemed like a good choice) and I loved the violin burst color. The reviews here said it was good except for playability out of the box. I wasn't afraid of restringing and doing a little adjusting and tweaking. I restrung it and set the action lower (it was really high out of box). I put a little super thin, no slip foam under the bridge to help get the bridge set up without it shifting around while stringing. Now I am extremely happy about this purchase. It really is a beautiful little instrument. I don't have a frame of reference for a high priced one, but it sure seems to sound good. So I gave it 5 stars with the caveat that you have to work on it a little. And if you've never had a mandolin before be aware that the bridge is not attached once you pull strings off so you'll have to figure out where to place it (not that hard). Tuning needs a little more patience over a guitar too if you've never done it before.
I don't know what I am doing...but the mandolin makes the right noises.
I blame the Dropkick Murphy's for this purchase.
Stoopid 'Rose Tattoo' gets stuck in my head and next thing I know I own a mandolin.
It needed some setup work, which, as an engineer, I actually like better than practicing.
Had to detune it to get the silly foam out from under the saddle...annoying to do rather than go straight to a baseline tune for measurements. While I had the strings loose I went ahead and dressed the fret edges, polished the frets, and oiled the fretboard.
Tuned it back up and took measurements. Per online specs I checked neck relief and string height and intonation.
-needed no change in neck relief
-needed the saddle dropped and rotated about the bottom to get intonation on the top strings
-3 of the nut slots needed to be cut a bit more to get height to first fret proper
I have a set of piezo pads and a volume and tone knob as well as a bone saddle I got separately I'll put on it next time I change strings.
Oh, I added a graphic to the pickguard because...well...this is the way.
There's a lot of good hidden under a little bad!
OK so the bad... this is clearly shipped from the manufacturer to you with no middle man touching or inspecting it. Keep that in mind. It is not playable right out of the box and if you rely on that you will be very disappointed. Needed a total set up. bridge was WAY off of center so intonation was impossible and the bridge comes factory set at the highest setting so play-ability was trash. But those are easily corrected!
The only real bad thing is that the strings supplied are such garbage plan on replacing them right away when you go through the initial set up. Toss a set of fresh ones in the cart!
Now onto the good... Once I sanded the bridge to fit the mandolin, dropped the action so it was playable (which in my case did not require filing the nut down). Put some new strings on it and actually intonated it properly... it plays very well, as in you will not find a better sounding or playing mandolin in this price range. This was for my 9 year old son, he LOVES it. Its easy for his little fingers to play and i get to feel good knowing he has something very good to learn on that sounds great and wont discourage him.
So, if you know a little about setting up a instrument you'll be very happy. If you want a play out of the box mandolin you will struggle. its pretty much that simple.
If you are thinking about diving in, just do it and do the work. a $50 starter mandolin will only turn you away.
Loved it, then it committed suicide.
This mandolin plays great for a couple of years, but eventually, the body will split at the f-holes and the neck will tilt into the collapsing cavity rendering the mandolin unplayable. This is a result of a lack of proper reinforcements, it's fatal design flaw.
Plays out of the box when tuned..
Right out the box, it needed a good setup, intonation, bridge assembly shaped to the body, a piece of felt under the plate so the strings won't rattle against the cover, etc. strings were a bit corroded and needed replaced. I was fairly surprised that the bridge wasn't removed prior to packaging, shipping for this could damage the soundboard.. there are a plethora of how to videos to help you do all of this but if your uncomfortable in doing so a good luthier would do it and have it chiming like it should.. but, be prepared to pay… to do it for you.. overall, It's solid for the money.. good for beginners not wanting to spend too much..
