Hank-

Good luck- Since I am primarily a mando player, I think you are making an excellent choice. Key thing is don't give up. It takes a while to become good at anything. I agree with trying out several different mandos. Epiphone and Montanna make cheap, good sounding mandolins with adjustable bridges. I am also impressed with the Tacoma mando that's out now. Don't let the chording scare you off. You can play alot of songs with 2-3 finger chords and sound not too bad. The nice thing about the mando, is it's easy to transpose. If you want to play in a different key, just go up or down 1 set of strings and you're there.

Again, good luck Snookums