Vintage Mandolin Ratings

[John Flynn]

I have seen this multiple times on major online dealers sites and I just wanted to invite comment. Not to single one dealer out, but just as an example, I saw this quote on Eldery to describe a vintage Gibson A:

VG-EC except needs work (remove back and rebrace top to reduce top sinkage, level and dress frets, restring and setup, etc. - sold AS-IS)

How do you get "Very Good - Excellent Condition" from the words that follow? If am going to have to remove the back, rebrace the top, level and dress the frets, restring and setup and possibly have to do even more, since it is being sold "as-is" and I can't return it, that is not "VG-EC." That is a "Poor Condition," "Fixer Upper!"

[mrbook]

I'm in the rare book business, where I spend most of my time describing old books, documents, and manuscripts, in an attempt to sell them. Descriptions vary from dealer to dealer, and it is an art to describe an item in a way that lists all the defects yet will still get someone to buy it. One dealer even wrote a book of phrases and terms to make bad things sound good. The mandolin here (and I've always trusted Elderly) probably looks pretty good at first glance, but has exactly the problems listed. Some people say very little in their descriptions, and the buyer is disappointed when they see it. I've also written descriptions listing all the small defects which would talk anyone out of buying something that really isn't as bad as it sounds. Sometimes I've put "not as bad as it sounds" in the description.

If you bought the instrument and thought about it objectively (after getting over your initial shock when you opened the case), you might agree that their description was accurate - and that you should have read it three more times before ordering (a book dealer friend of mine says "read the description three times before ordering" in his catalogs, which usually talks me out of most of his merchandise). I've bought many instruments from Elderly, usually at good prices, but have often thought that their "as-is" items would take a lot of work or expense to repair for the prices asked.

[s1m0n]

but have often thought that their "as-is" items would take a lot of work or expense to repair for the prices asked.

Surely that must be taken as a given. With expert luthiers on staff, it must be apparrent that any simple repairs would have been made by the vendor prior to listing the item.

Someone at Elderly has plainly made the judgement call that these repairs aren't worth doing on spec on that particular instrument.

[mrbook]

It is a given, because obviously the repair department would do the work if it was worthwhile. My point was that I always felt you could look around and buy a similar instrument in good shape for less than their price for the instrument and the cost of additional repairs. No bargains in the fix-er-uppers.

[Fretbear]

You don't have to have spent too much time horse-trading in music stores to be aware that the difference between "not desirable/not worth anything" and "very expensive/highly sought after" is exactly the distance between your hands and their walls.....