American conservatory mandolin?

[mysticfaery]

[B]I promise I'm not going to post ebay listings all the time here,but found this interesting listing-very leery of bidding on it however due to the description and the photos aren't very good.Your thoughts?classical mando (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=10179&item=3748272019&rd=1)

[Bob DeVellis]

This looks to be a low-end Lyon & Healy in very poor condition. The tuners are a mess. There's an excellent chance that there are other serious problems not evident in the pictures. I'd steer clear.

[Martin Jonas]

I agree with Bob -- stay well clear of this one. Basically, anything that will take a professional repair is not worth buying, at any price (unless it's a Calace or Vinaccia or similarly lofty makers). The reason is simple: there are virtually no luthiers around that know what they're doing when repairing bowlbacks, so non-trivial repairs are going to cost hundreds of dollars and you can't even be sure that you'll end up with a playable mandolin. Buying such a mandolin doesn't make sense when there are abundant instruments that with a fairly basic setup (home skills for somebody who knows what they're doing) are wonderful players, but cost only marginally more on Ebay (because most bidders don't know what they're doing, luckily).

Martin

[Eugene]

I agree with all the above. #American Conservatory was a lesser brand of the Lyon & Healy co. #They aren't worth buying unless you find them in pretty good shape to start...then they can represent an excellent start.