Still happy w/ your Johnson 550 OM?

[rhetoric]

How are your Octave Mandolin 550s holding up? I am happy to buy a pac-rim instrument if it sounds decent (I like the sound on FOTW) and despite the perhaps too heavy usage of MOP, I really like the cutaway look. It has a solid top so it should improve with age, but if they are not durable, then I guess I'll start looking at the teardrops (I don't find that look appealing -- I've tried). By my search the last thread dedicated to the 550 was nearly 3 years ago so I wonder if any of you might give me an update. Still happy? Do you still play it?

I know they don't make these anymore so they couldn't have been selling like hotcakes, but I really think I wish I had one (how's that for sentence). I missed a "buy it now" on ebay a couple days ago by 10 minutes -- it took me that long to get my wife's permission and when I got back to the computer, it was sold ($299). Blast and sigh.

[allenhopkins]

Your "buy it now" experience reminds me of the old saying, "It's easier to obtain forgiveness than permission." Buy now, explain later...

[weymann1]

I've got a Lark in the morning that is an exact copy of the Johnson you describe. I think I paid 350 on ebay. Same color, inaly, and cutaway. The strings were buzzing and I added a piece under the bridge and it's fine now. I looked at the top and it looks flat still so maybe the bridge was not original. I'm happy with mine. Dan

[rhetoric]

Permission is hard, I know, but I had just purchased another mando from the classifieds (sight unseen -- never played) and I was unhappy with it. It wasn't much money, but I spent alot of marriage chips on that debacle.

Hmmmmm. I just got the Lark of the Morning catalogue today -- I"ll take another look.