Inlay instruments on ebay

[revlovejoy]

Looking for mandolas and octaves on ebay, I discovered the huge inventory of two builders in Taiwan. Bruce Wei and Antoniosai.

They're inlay artists, and have tons of product on ebay. The final auction prices are tempting.

Anyone have experience with either builder? The inlay work looks amazing, they do solid woods, I don't see the downside.

That's question one - quality - question two is ethical.

The prices are almost too good to be true.

I am concerned about exploiting a factory full of cheap labor from 5 year olds, but I am ignorant of the situation in Taiwan. I always thought it was a better place for labor than say, mainland China.

Is it turning a blind eye, or can I assume that there are a number of workers actually making a living wage at these prices?

Check out their listings at inlaidartist and bruceweiart. I am really thinking of a post Christmas purchase.

PS - any insight into the proper nomenclature of what they are calling mandolas would be helpful.

[revlovejoy]

Never mind - I jumped the gun and forgot to search the archives - I am currently catching up on other discussions of the artists.

[Paul Hostetter]

Don't forget Sam, the third purveyor. I've worked on some of all of these, they're all made by the same people in Vietnam and being hawked by guys with Taiwan business addresses.

[RichM]

I bought the inlaid tuner buttons from Tony (inlaidartist). The inlay work was really very well done, and I loved the way the buttons looked on my mandolin. The only issue was that the first set he sent had a couple of buttons that were drilled off-kilter and would not go on the post properly-- but when I brought it to his attention, he promptly sent me replacement buttons which fit perfectly.

As others have observed, it appears that most of the mandolins these guys sell are very low-end models that they add their own inlay to. If it's inlay you want, Tony is really good at it. As far as luthiery, well, I couldn't say.

[Paul Hostetter]

Some of the inlay is really sketchy. Burned through areas, lotsa fill. I really don't think these guys do anything but sell them. The skill level is the same on all three "artists." Bruce Wei was more than responsible on a mis-shipped mandolin, I am sure he spent far $$ more chasing down and reshipping one to me than he ever made.

The "A" mandolins with the side soundholes are pretty cool. I'd set up a dozen or so for other people, so I bought one. The frets are pretty randomly placed, the nut is always way off, so getting them to play in tune is an art and a compromise. But the sound is quite unusual, and for me, very agreeable. A friend who's a really great bluegrass mandolin player played one for 30 seconds and grinned, "Wow , it comes with its own bathroom!" I like the really wide necks too. I'd buy them for the sound, not the fru-fru.

It really pays to check their specs. Tsai was recently selling an "octave mandolin" which was a weird impression of an F-4 with a 14-1/2" scale - shorter than a National, only slightly longer than a standard Gibson mandolin. What made it an octave anything? Nothing. Caveat emptor.

[Paul Hostetter]

Just went off, for $115, plus P&P:

http://www.lutherie.net/mandola.sam.17.inch.jpg

Mandola, 17". By Sam. Good scale for a mandola.