Kentucky KM1500

[Bradley]

I had the pleasure of playing with a older gentleman this past weekend who has a mint Kentucky KN1500. It kinda brought back some memories as Kentucky was the first mandolin I had.

Anyways, what are the current value of these instruments, were some made in differentr locations ( parts of Asia).He was trying to sell it for around $1400 and that seemed perhaps a few hundred short of what I thought??

[nobleheart]

Sounds like a good price if it is truly in good condition. Elderly has a KM1000 for $1300. Seemed like they had another a week or so ago and it was around the same price and condition.

[kudzugypsy]

if its a japanese 1500 (serial number with first digits as 84-90), BUY IT! those are real 'sleepers'. you'd be hard pressed to get anything made today of that quality for less than $3000.
the early 90's were good too, but they had moved production to korea by then....cheaper labor.
how did it sound?

[Mike McCoy]

Hey Bradley,
KM1500's have been going for $2500 lately at least thats been the asking price. The KM1000 at Elderly is a newer mando not one of the Japanese era. Elderly did have a Japanese KM800 for $1000 they may still have it. I dont know if the KM1500 was ever made in Korea, DesertRose might know.

[Bradley]

It sounded a little thin...BUT, it had some old mono strings on it and needed some setup work.Actually he is a Bass player and has it setting around,and he asked me what it was worth.I felt it was at least $2K as it is a nice piece.It was in mint condition with the original case.

I need another mandolin like I need a hole in the head. He is a good old boy so I might list it for him on the classifieds.

[Desert Rose]

The Kentucky 1500 were made in Japan until late 1992 or the first couple of months of 1993.

Japanese making stopped when it no longer became possible for Sumi to make them and eat http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

The retail prices were climbing and the wholesale prices to Sumi were attempting to be pushed down?

At the same time the Japanese economy went into the nose dive called the bursting of the bubble economy. The factory that made the production Kentucky models, low numbers below KM 1000, the Kasuga factory went out of business and there was no one in Japan to do the work anymore.

It was not an attempt to save money at all it was an attempt to keep the brand alive and Korea was the only option.

The move to China a couple years ago was an attempt to cut production costs and improve quality. It took a huge nose dive at first but has paid off now

Scott