This weeks mandolin that won't get a bid or buyer

[Pjones3]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/271701311270...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

[jim simpson]

but it's signed by "Eric Lange"!

[JeffD]

What am I missing? That looks pretty sweet. I don't want the case, but the instrument looks like a player, at least at a glance. Not for that BIN price, but for several hundred it might be worth it. No?

[Jim Garber]

Here's a crazy one. Two bad photos of a Collings MT, which seller insists is an antique Gibson:
http://reno.craigslist.org/atq/4807373326.html

The seller must have made a mistake with the photos. Now there is an old Gibson on that posting.

[mrmando]

The seller must have made a mistake with the photos. Now there is an old Gibson on that posting.

Yes, well, I exchanged several emails with the seller, pointing out that she had posted Collings photos. Eventually she decided to take me at my word and replaced the photos with the correct ones. What she has is a very plain-Jane teens Gibson A, missing its pickguard, possibly with an after-market bridge (photos are too blurry to tell). Certainly not anything I would pay $1850 for, but at least she now has images that match her text.

[Petrus]

Underwhelming. (Also apparently 6-string.)



VINTAGE METAL BODY MANDOLIN
http://www.ebay.com/itm/331420108873

I like how the laptop and the Windex in the background are the same color blue!

[barney 59]

What am I missing? That looks pretty sweet. I don't want the case, but the instrument looks like a player, at least at a glance. Not for that BIN price, but for several hundred it might be worth it. No?

Yes, take it down about a G and I actually like the case!

[Petrus]

but it's signed by "Eric Lange"!

If it were Eddie Lang, it'd be something. (Actually it'd really be something since Lang died in '33 and the mando was made in '81!)

Also, that case lining is not complimentary at all. Replace it with black velour and the mando would really "pop." Has nothing to do with the quality of the mando obviously, but from a salesmanship p.o.v. it would make for a more compelling photograph and might even inspire people subconsciously to bid higher.

[mrmando]

Eric Lange was Flatiron's banjo setup guy at the time, or so the story goes.

This seller started this mandolin at $2,950, several eBay listings ago. If he ever finds the right price, it won't be until he has paid much more in listing fees than he really needed to.

[Ray(T)]

http://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/au...6-a40600fbf995

Oh dear!

[Jim Garber]

http://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/au...6-a40600fbf995

Oh dear!

Oh yeah! I hope they include the fiberboard and the picture of the microwave.

[allenhopkins]

Yeah, looks like "Let's clean out all the dreck that accumulated behind the workbench, and see if anyone's fool enough to buy it" day.

[Petrus]

A very hand made F style.




Mandolin, Hand Made Folk Art (F5 style) 8 Strings
http://www.ebay.com/itm/191455910901

[Bertram Henze]

Yeah, looks like "Let's clean out all the dreck that accumulated behind the workbench, and see if anyone's fool enough to buy it" day.

The seller clearly forgot to mention that those banjos were salvaged from the Titanic by Robert Ballard.

[Dobe]

[QUOTE=Petrus;1354872]A very hand made F style.

Woa, there's some great info in the description:

“Hand gemacht” is what my German Grandmother might call something that is handmade. Handmade means flaws and something hand made was to her far more desirable that a factory made instrument.

That's true.

This is a *“Parlor” Mandolin. It has a slightly wider neck and 18 frets.

??

..... Poplar for the top and back. The sides are made from flexible plywood.

Nice

.... body is approximately 2 1/4 inches deep, creating a greater volume of air in the sound chamber, which might mean more volume and a mellower tone.

might


I own several expensive Asian made Mandolins, which have about the same sound quality as my Folk Art mandolin. Most instruments are made with an expensive spruce top which requires bracing to support the bridge. Because my instrument is made of 3/16 inch poplar there is no bracing. I think that poorly placed or badly crafted bracing mutes the instruments sound.
NOTE: Most musical instruments are now made somewhere in Asia, even very expensive ones.

So it's as nice as any Kentucky or Eastman , so far so good. Some ' The Loar ' have no bracing, that's reasonable. Spruce is pretty expensive.... hmmmm.

*“Parlor” means that the neck has fewer frets (18) where a standard Gibson F5 Mandolin has 29 and the Gibson A model has 22 frets. Scale length of this instrument is 15 Inches. Scale length of Gibson F5 is 13.875 and Gibson A is 14.25.

Learned something new here.

I think the instrument is easier to chord than the tighter fretted F5 or A Model Gibson Mandolins. I am told be several buyers that this is really a marvelous instrument.

Can I BE one of the buyers ?

Comes with a hard shell case and free shipping.

I'm sold, An F-5 with a hand carved scroll for under $400. Hope I don't get outbid.

[mrmando]

Eric Lange Flatiron down to $1420 and counting ... still about $1120 too high.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1981-Custom-.../271713031829?

[Petrus]

I wonder if there's a smaller mando inside of it, then a smaller one inside of that one ...




HAND PAINTED RUSSIAN MANDOLIN 1990'S
http://www.ebay.com/itm/HAND-PAINTED...-/281542885302

[Charles E.]

A very hand made F style.




Mandolin, Hand Made Folk Art (F5 style) 8 Strings
http://www.ebay.com/itm/191455910901

This needs to be posted in the "worst scroll of the last century" thread.

[Bill Snyder]

A very hand made F style.




Mandolin, Hand Made Folk Art (F5 style) 8 Strings
http://www.ebay.com/itm/191455910901

Or in the thread in the builders section about rat extermination because it looks to me like a rodent or a horse has been cribbing on that scroll.

[mrmando]

Nice teens F4, but way overpriced, and another example of a mandolin that has a replacement bridge and no pickguard but is magically somehow still "all original"...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/The-Gibson-M...item43d5362d5d

[Charles E.]

This one almost made me spit my beverage on the screen for laughing so hard.....

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Stel...item2c94bb4e45

Good luck.

[Jim Garber]

This one almost made me spit my beverage on the screen for laughing so hard.....

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Stel...item2c94bb4e45

Good luck.

Yikes, that is a bargain at half the price!

[JeffD]

Underwhelming. (Also apparently 6-string.)



VINTAGE METAL BODY MANDOLIN
http://www.ebay.com/itm/331420108873

I like how the laptop and the Windex in the background are the same color blue!

OK now wait a second. How can the frets be getting farther apart as we go from the nut towards the bridge. This is wall art.

[JeffD]

I wonder if there's a smaller mando inside of it, then a smaller one inside of that one ...




HAND PAINTED RUSSIAN MANDOLIN 1990'S
http://www.ebay.com/itm/HAND-PAINTED...-/281542885302

I really love this kind of thing. Very cool IMO.

[PatAMcD]

I really love this kind of thing. Very cool IMO.

Me too. There's something for everyone out there, I suppose. A bottom for every seat, as my car friends say.

But I really can't picture anyone thinking "That's just what I've been looking for!" about this one.