When I first tried playing the mandolin, I tried tuning it like a guitar. The old studio pro Tommy Tedesco used to tune everything like a guitar, and it worked for him.

That said, it severely limited my development on the instrument. It's actually much harder to play in that tuning, and doesn't ...

Three questions, three answers (though not necessarily in order):

The best mandolin tune book is actually a fiddle book: David Brody's The Fiddler's Fakebook. There's a mandolin version written in tablature, but tab is for pussies.

The tunes in there will give you a good foundation on the ...

For what it's worth, Westerberg played the mandolin on 'I Will Dare'. Peter Buck played the guitar solo.

There actually aren't a lot of overdubs on 'Unsatisfied'. I hear two 12-string tracks and a lap steel track in addition to the standard electric guitar tracks.

Sadly, as much as I love that ...

There is a third option: you can send the pedal back to Ernie Ball and have them replace the pot and send it back. I did that with mine, and it worked well. Turnaround time was fast, and the pedal was as good as new.

It'll cost you around 45 bucks, depending on the model. More info is on the ...