Used Collings MF-5V Varnish!

[louisiana]

November 16, 2005

Hi folks,

Check out the used Collings MF-5V mandolin (serial number 494) for sale at Elderly Instruments www.elderly.com .

I am in the process of building a new house and had to consign this wonderful instrument in order to help furnish my new home.

It is an awesome instrument, purchased from Acoustic Music Works in Pittsburgh a few months ago, that is in great shape.

The sound ... amazing!

Original price paid: $9,000

[Jasper]

So you paid $9K for it and Elderly is asking over $12K! Hmmm, now I know where the profit is in mandolins and it ain't with us one or two types. What does a new one go for?

[jjboone101]

i thought Elderly had it listed for around $6500, which is a heck of a deal...

[patlouis]

Jasper looked up the wrong MF5, it is at Elderly under used, and is selling for $6,500.00. I just traded my Collings MF with MF5 curly maple for a Gibson F5-G deluxe. I got it yesterday, played it for 10 minutes, boxed it up and sent it back today. A $5,695.00 Gibson couldn't touch my Collings MF. If I ever get dumb again and try to trade my MF, I will only trade it up for another Collings. Gibson seems to lack solid workmanship and attention to detail. I even ditched my 2004 Weber Fern. It couldn't hang with the lesser Collings either. Good luck with the consignment.

[sgarrity]

Awesome deal. I wish I had the spare change for that one.

[Rick Schmidlin]

Bill Collings does make the best production mando.

John Reishman played mine (MF5) said "Great Mandolin" and made that above statement.

[PatrickH]

Just went to look and it is gone. Wonder what the final price was? If it went for $6500 or less (if that is possible), someone got an awesome deal.

[mandopete]

Yes, judging by these prices from the classifieds, I'd say $6,500 was a steal!

Collings F MF-5 (S/N 358, Varnished) $11,610.00
Collings F 2005 MF-5 Deluxe V (S/N 443) $10,500.00
Collings F MF-5 Varnished $11,000.00
Collings F MF-5 Varnished $10,000.00

[kyblue]

>>>Bill Collings does make the best production mando.

If I had said that, I wouldn't have meant it as much of a compliment.

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[Rick Schmidlin]

>>>Bill Collings does make the best production mando.

If I had said that, I wouldn't have meant it as much of a compliment.

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Please try and explain that coment.

[kyblue]

Rick,

If someone served me a Stouffer's frozen dinner, I might say Stouffer's makes the best frozen dinners. What I wouldn't be saying is that I don't eat them. I prefer my food prepared fresh, not processed, not overcooked, seasoned to my liking. But, if I were going to choose a frozen dinner, I might likely choose Stouffer's over another brand. I'd have to be awfully hungry to choose it over a peanut butter sandwich though, and certainly would never choose one over a home cooked meal by someone who knows how to prepare one. And, it would be awfully hard to pay more for a frozen dinner than a good homecooked meal or cherf's special.

I feel sort of the same way about mandolins. The production mandolins seem overhyped, overpriced, the equivalent of buying designer jeans for the label when something else might fit better. I've not seen or heard a production mandolin that is better than a Brock, Duff, Kimble, or Hamlett. In fact, have seen and heard quite a few that aren't as good.

I realize that some people never see anything but the production mandolins because that's all they have access to locally, and for that reason there will always be a place for them. But, I hope there will always be the small builders turning out something special.

Paula

[JAK]

I personally heard Bill Collings say that he carves the tops and backs of ALL Collings Mandolins. To me, that is almost like having a one-man shop regarding the sound of the mandolin....

[cgwilsonjr]

kyblue: you have a right to your opinion but I think your frozen dinner analogy is a major over-simplification. I have a Brentrup and a Collings and when I switch between the two I don't feel I'm going from Grandmother's fried chicken to a frozen dinner. I think they are both fabulous instruments, albiet different. Just my thoughts, Chuck

[bones12]

My Brentrup, Collings ,Rose and Gibsons are all great and present a rich variety of sounds. They all are great and fit different moods and different music. If all mandolins sounded the same, music might be bland and what would we talk about?I love my 1958 GMC and my Toyota for different reasons and both serve different purposes. I recently played a dance with a wonderful A4 snakehead that did everything right and came home to the Brentrup F4 that raised the hair on the back of my neck. Almost every mandolin has some virtue. Doug

[J. Mark Lane]

kyblue: you have a right to your opinion but I think your frozen dinner analogy is a major over-simplification.
That's one way of putting it.

It is, of course, a great thing to support the small shops, and anyone who knows me knows I do that. But that is not because the big shops can't produce great instruments. There are a lot of good reasons to support the small builders, but let's not do the cause harm by making unsupportable statements that no one with any experience will believe.

In my opinion (as a better analogy), Martin makes the best production guitars these days. The low end ones can be pretty lousy, but the *good* Martins are truly amazing. I own a couple of custom, small shop guitars that cost more than a really good Martin. I love them, but they are really not better guitars than a really good Martin.

Collings makes great mandolins. And back to the topic, that was a tremendous deal on the one at Elderly.

[PatrickH]

I have to say that I went to Mandolin Brothers on Saturday and played quite a few instruments. Some independent builders (one considered in the top 3 or 4 today) and some high end "production shop" mando's. Many in the 4 - 7k range, a few in the 10k range and two in the 20k neighborhood.

To my eye, ear and feel, the Collings MF-5V in the high end room was easily the best instrument in the store. The blonde MF-5 was not far behind. There was a new MT with a glossy top in the mandolin room that was exquisite. Played and sounded like instruments 2 - 3 times the price. You simply cannot buy an instrument of this quality for 2k new.

Production shop or not, Bill Collings is seriously doing something right.

[Rick Schmidlin]

Production shop or not, Bill Collings is seriously doing something right.
Consitant and great qulity is the word for Collings.There are many fine small builders and some great production builders also. My point is that mandolin after mandolin being built by Bill Collings they are constant in all aspects.This also goes for thier guitars which I prefer over new Martins.On a price point in regard to mandolins a MT for $1,600.00 is a great price and for the price MF5V is worth considering when compareing the Gibson Master Model. If I had lay out big bucks and I was far away from a mandolin shop that had many models, a Collings would be a wise (but not only choice) for me.


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[kyblue]

I'm not sure how anyone took my frozen dinner analogy to apply to Collings mandolins. I meant it as an explanation as to how someone can say one thing, but not be giving the whole story. Obviously, I got a bit carried away and the wordiness evidently confused everyone.

I said my piece about mandolins in the next paragraph. I've played some good production mandolins, but none better than the small builders I've mentioned. I've played some production mandolins that weren't very good. I played a Collings MT at Gruhn in February that was awesome. Went to First Quality the next week and the ones they had didn't impress. In fact, comparing them to a Gibson A9 they had I chose the Gibson as a backup mandolin, even though I had gone to buy the Collings. That said, I don't even play the Gibson any more.

This doesn't just apply to the production mandolins. I heard and played some higher priced mandos from small builders at IBMA that underwhelmed me. In some instances, maybe it was because I didn't find them any better than the 6K mandos even though priced higher, in other cases I didn't like them as well. Again, maybe it's the designer label thing. The name takes on a cache of its own, the mando may not live up to it.

Anyway, enough about that. My opinion, and I'm happy to share it, expert or not.

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