Chinese or Other various eBay Mandolin Sellers question

[kupoback]

I am looking for a Mandolin, and there aren't any retailers around my area. In fact, after moving, there are less retailers than my home location (Chicago-Orlando). I am turning to eBay and came across a posting like this one.

Now I know Chinese things aren't always that great or high quality, but it sounds pretty legit. Now, I've heard these mandolins can sound really really good, and some crap, but it depends on the wood. I've done some research for users, but a few of them didn't seem too understanding.

I turn to you Mandolincafe for advice on these Chinese sellers. I want a under 400$ Mandolin F-Style, doesn't have to be F-holes, and I don't really mind if it's shinny or used, as long as I can play it. My current mandolin is destroying me because the G strings sound dull and lifeless, even with replacing the strings!

Can I trust these sellers and does the wood thats listed, even make a difference? Air dried maple for the sides and back and solid spruce top. I don't understand the woods too well.

[Gary Watkins]

kupoback,
I don't know anything about the seller that you are pointing to, but I can tell you about my experience. I purchased one almost like this from ebay, and it was like throwing money out the window. It was a lesson well learned! I wasn't happy at all, but it was my fault. It took me over a year to save up enough money to get a "good" mandolin. You may have a better experience than I had. Just to let you know what happened to me. I would save up and purchase one from someone here on the cafe.

[Jeffff]

''The quality is remembered long after the price is forgotten''

—Sir Henry Royce

[Jim Garber]

Easiest to quote from another thread. This is from luthier Paul Hostetter who has worked with some of these to get them playable.

BTW IMHO that one linked to by the OP is pretty strange: a cartoon version of an F5.

OTOH there are some decent quality Chinese made mandolins these days including Th Loar and Eastman. i think you are better to pay for one of those and forego the glitz.

Use the advanced search function with any of the following keywords, and something will show up:

Antonio Tsai
antoniotsai
Vietnam
Vietnamese
Ho Chi Minh City
Taiwan
bruceweiart
Sam's

As Jim points out above, there are several Chinese dealers running export businesses from Taiwan who actually ship from Vietnam. Sometimes the instruments crack and fall apart if the humidity differential is too great. Sometimes the mandolins keep on playing fine for years. I see more of the latter, and some are really fun and are quite different than anything else I've seen. With the possible exception of headstock overlays, the parts and materials are not worth buying. There are a couple of dealers in Oz who claim they made them and charge big money, which is lamentable.

[barrangatan]

As others had already mentioned, stay away from that one or any other like it. I understand the need to turn to eBay as a source for instruments, esp. if you live in an area where there aren't too many options. But I recommend using it as a way to purchase instruments that are of known quality, rather than going through the listings and picking out the ones that seem interesting. I see you already had a different thread where many members had chimed in with good suggestions on what to look for. I'd start searching for some of those brands / models on eBay to see if you can score a good, used one for below the market price.

Also, not sure if others had mentioned already: I don't think any mandolin, esp. F-style, for around $400 is going to give you any dramatic improvement over the Epiphone you're currently playing. It sounds like there is some playability issues on the Epiphone that can be corrected and improved by a setup. But if you are dead set on it, I'd look for a used Rover RM75, which can be found for around $400 including shipping. How about this one:
http://www.mandolincafe.com/cgi-bin/...uery=retrieval

[JeffD]

If you are looking on line, chec out some of the sponsors of this web site. Banners at the top. They may guide you to something you will love for along time.

[almeriastrings]

I have worked on a few of these over the past several years. The "workmanship" is highly, highly variable. Some are not too awful, others are diabolical. They are typically made from unseasoned materials that crack and warp. Neck issues are common (warped, wrong angle). One even had the fretboard misaligned and stuck on with epoxy! I always thought that if they'd spend a bit more time on making a basic, decent mandolin than on inlaying insanely fancy peacocks and dragons over every available square inch that would be a move in the right direction. They make good wall hangers....

[barney 59]

Yep, they look great on a wall,not much for playing though. I purchased one several years ago from ebay when I caught one falling through the cracks and got it for $60. I just wanted to see one. The packaging was incredible and almost worth the additional $60 for shipping just to see what really good packaging looks like. The thing had problems from the get go and more developed as time went by. I have mine unstrung in a closet some place. I figure to go look at it in a couple more years to see if the wood ever dried out.If they would figure out to use dry wood and maybe figure out how to slot frets in the proper places they may eventually start making musical instruments instead of inlay fergazy's . I do see their point,other people make mandolins but they can do inlay so they make "inlayed" mandolins. They need to put it on something that someone will buy.

[P.D. Kirby]

If you really want one of those though I would recommend against it do a thread search with pawn shop mandolins in the terms. If I'm not mistaken there was a pawn broker on here a while back that had two of them and thought he had won the lottery. After reading similar responses like these he would most likely be thankful for an offer of any kind. They are wall hangers and the shipping cost alone is more than the mandolins are worth. Look at some of our sponsors on the homepage as previously suggested, they will all treat you right and you will end up with something you can actually play.

[Jim Garber]

I want a under 400$ Mandolin F-Style, doesn't have to be F-holes, and I don't really mind if it's shinny or used, as long as I can play it. My current mandolin is destroying me because the G strings sound dull and lifeless, even with replacing the strings!

Why does it have to be an F-style? You can do much better with an a style mandolin in that price range since you are primarily playing for the extra work it takes to make a scroll and pounts. What mandolin are you playing right now? I am sure that many here can recommend an upgrade and I second or third the suggestion of consulting the Cafe sponsors.

[draino]

I want a under 400$ Mandolin F-Style, doesn't have to be F-holes . . . My current mandolin is destroying me because the G strings sound dull and lifeless, even with replacing the strings!

(1) An under $400 f-style is in all likelihood going to sound just as dull and lifeless as you're current mandolin, regardless of where its made or the quality of the wood used to make it. One can build an f-style box to which strings are attached and which can be played like a mandolin and sell it for that kind of money, but one cannot -- no matter what country of mgf. -- make an f-style instrument designed for optimal (or even reasonably decent) tone production and sell it for that kind of money while still putting food on the table. A lot of labor goes into the scroll and points that cannot go into making the box an actual instrument optimized for tone production.

(2) You're concern is about sound -- yet you don't care if it has f-holes or not but instead insist that it be f-style. One of those has an impact on the sound, the other doesn't.

[Pipeous]

I didn't take the advice of the forum and bought an ebay F style to get cheap, which turned out to be a lot of work, then I sold it for half of what I paid and bought what the people here suggested... tossing money out the window.

the advice above is said over and over for a reason, because it is solid good advice.

[allenhopkins]

Problems with these, which are often Vietnam-built and sold out of Taiwan, are described as relating to inadequately-seasoned wood and sometimes-flimsy metal parts. They feature gaudy inlay, in many cases, but are constructed generally as "cottage industry" products rather than by recognized manufacturers. Hence, a wide degree of variance from one instrument to another.

You would be taking a chance: you might hit the jackpot, or you might get an instrument that needed a good deal of work to be playable.

Gather you're in Orlando. If you're up to spending a day, The Mando Shop is in Tallahassee, 250 miles away. Always more productive to be able to try 'em hands-on.

[Brutus1999]

For $400, you can get a pretty decent sounding mandolin.

If you don't need "THE SCROLL", you can definitely get a good sounding (beginner-intermediate) instrument for that price, or even less, especially used. A "round hole" instrument will often have a more booming bass, (the "G" strings you mentioned) but that might not sound best if you want to play bluegrass or certain types of jazz.

If you MUST have "THE SCROLL", you can get a "The Loar" model 520 in that ballpark, and it will sound pretty good, though setting it up for the best possible sound might cost another $50-$100. And there are other brands also -- I'm not just hyping "The Loar".

Spend some time looking through forums here at mandocafe and look at the classifieds and some of the major advertisers who are reliable folks.

DON'T, DON'T, DON'T buy a pretty wall hanger made with unseasoned wood, unless you are opening a restaurant and want something pretty to hang on the wall! (Re-read Jim G's post above, where he quotes Paul H....)

And yes, trying it out is very important, not just for sound, but for neck size and shape, playability, etc.