Open Thread: Mandolin

Hosted by a mandolin
 

A friend of mine is learning to play the mandolin.  Cool kids learn to play guitar; nerds learn fun instruments like the mandolin and end up playing minstrel by a bonfire, strumming it like a lute and singing a song that could have come straight from the 1500's while passing around a bottle of mead.

It's got a decent enough sound - I'll be honest, I am a sucker for the rich tones of a good acoustic guitar, and compared to that a mandolin sounds a little tinny.  But it fits the music it's meant for, and the tone is just different enough from what you're used to that it helps build the illusion of being elsewhere and elsewhen.

Open thread!  Does anyone play an instrument?  Does anyone play a relatively unusual instrument?  Let's talk about music, about instruments, about folk songs and every other type of song, or about anything else for that matter, it's an open thread!
  ~ Kristycat