How many mandolins ?

[CF5]

I've been wondering for a while now just how many mandolins are sold each year in North America. I know that Gibson, Collings Weber etc. hold their production numbers pretty close to the vest, and then there's all the small makers from Gilchrest and Dudenbostel through Kimball and Baird, not to mention Eastman, Michael Kelly and the rest of the Pac rim. My brain starts to hurt when I try to even guess at a total. I'm hoping that greater minds than mine have been able to get a handle on this.

[jefflester]

I really have no idea, but if you include all the cheap Fenders, Rogues, Kentuckys, Johnsons etc... low 10s of thousands? More than 10,000, less than 50,000, would be my guess.

I found this page as a possible answer (not sure if the data presented is real) for how guitar sales have gone in recent years:
http://www.musictrades.com/census.html
Another page I found said just under 2 million guitars in 2002.