Information re.Jiri Lebeda

[Ivan Kelsall]

Has anybody got recent information regarding the whereabouts & business operation of Jiri lebeda ?.A friend of mine asked me if i had any info. because somebody that he knows has a Lebeda mandolin that requires some structural work to be done on it. This person still has the original purchase receipt & guarantee for the instrument. The guarantee offers a 'lifetime warranty' for structural defects to be repaired under that warranty.
There have been a number of posts on here re. the 'where's & what's' of what Jiri Lebeda is doing these days - his old e-mail address that i used when i contacted him doesn't work any more - any info.anybody ?,
Ivan

[trevor]

The last I heard from Jiri, a few years ago, was that there wasn't enough money to made in making mandolins so he was going to do something else.

[mandroid]

Czech Republic in the Euro Zone now?
apparently, the currency exchange rate is driving the Swiss
to have troubles with Exports.. as CHF is driven upwards.

[Ed Goist]

I believe that Jeff Cowherd ('Mandolins & More') is/was the authorized dealer for Lebeda in the US?

[foldedpath]

I believe that Jeff Cowherd ('Mandolins & More') is/was the authorized dealer for Lebeda in the US?

I think he was the distributor, since there were other dealers like Spruce Tree Music where I bought my Lebeda. The link to lebedainstruments.com on Jeff's site goes to a domain parking page, but it might be worth emailing Jeff about contact info.

I haven't seen any new Lebeda mandolins or resonator guitars at any of the usual outlets for the last few years, just a few remaining old stock. So I would assume he's retired from luthiery. They're such nice imandolins and it's a shame if there will be no more, but life goes on.

Ivan, I hope your friend manages to solve the warranty problem. That can get sticky in situations like this, where the luthier is no longer active or easy to contact.

[trevor]

Ivan,

If he bought it from me I will see what I can do if he contacts me.

[Gerry Cassidy]

I have had a long builder/player relationship with Roman Zlajicek, owner/builder for Rozawood and he tells me all of the CR builders are a pretty tight-knit community, so if you can contact any one of them you should eventually be able to get in contact with Jiri.

For what it's worth, the trade deltas' are far too great for any of the small builders to actively sell their wares in the US. Roman told me my Octave he built for me was his last. He's gone on to develop a pretty good reputation in Europe for his guitars.

[mandroid]

Had to do a wiki look .. Slovakia is in the Euro-zone but the Czech Republic was not.
i rode on a bike tour thru the western part of Czechoslovakia before the split. 91..

may have been touristing in Prague, maybe across the street from Jiri's shop,
but I was not looking for more mando's then..
the $ to Pint of Pils conversion rate was good then, so I could have been distracted ..

I bought one 2nd hand ['Jazzica'] off a classified contact , here..
... think I'll go play something..

[Ivan Kelsall]

Trevor - I 'think' that the person in question had the Mandolin before TAMCO opened.However,my very first response to the 'Cafe member who asked me for info.(not the mandolin owner),was to contact you for advice.
Jeff Cowherd used to be the main outlet for Lebeda mandolins etc.in the USA,but that ceased a long while back. My current Lebeda was made for JC, but when TAMCO Opened,it was sent to Trevor who became a Lebeda dealer,thence to it's first owner - then to myself.(if i have my facts correct).
The very last thing that i heard re.Jiri Lebeda,was that he'd left Prague & was building again,but,my memory being what it is i can't remember where i heard it.
On a personal note,if i was the owner in question,i'd simply seek out a good luthier to get the job done.If Jiri Lebeda can be located & was willing to do the work,then the cost of sending it to the Czech Republic & back,would be costly in itself,taking into account that you'd need to insure the instrument for it's replacement value.I've said the same thing to the friend who contacted me re.this problem.
As a final note - thanks Trevor,
Ivan

[Ivan Kelsall]

I did e-mail the British Embassy in the Czech.Republic & received a reply this morning.Under the Czech laws of personal info.protection,information cannot be given regarding individual Czech.citizens = dead end !.
Many thanks to Gerry Cassidy for providing a possible link,
Ivan