intel

[mandolirius]

I was thinking about my recent experience buying a mandolin without being able to play it first. There are two mandolins for sale right now that I previously owned. One is a Phoenix Ultra at Elderly and the other a Flatiron F5 Artist that Mandomutt has. If anyone was interested in either of those I could tell them a lot. I'll bet there are lots of us who have owned mandolins that are out there for sale. It would be cool to have a designated place to exchange that information. I suppose it could be in this category - Looking for information about mandolins but I rarely see people asking about specific instruments.

[Bruce Evans]

Like Autofax for mandolins?

The only problem with that idea is we are still dealing with artistic judgement. I have heard people rave about how wonderful their instrument sounds when I didn't care for it at all. I think most mandolins would be described as having "great woody tone."

[Mike Bunting]

There was a 1978 Givens F that came up in in the classified a little while ago that I bought new in 1978 and sold in 2003. Chad Fadely in Missoula bought it and by this summer it was for sale in Florida. I did chat with the seller about the instrument and offered to be a reference as to its provenance. Tone is totally subjective of course, but nevertheless, getting more information about an instrument can give one a better sense of it. Mike's idea is a good one, communication with others (on line and off) certainly helped me in my last purchase.

[DerTiefster]

This thread is touching on the subject of "the one that got away" in a different light. I'd think it would be interesting to see whether several former owners of any particular mandolin ultimately let it go for the same reason, conflicting reasons, or perhaps just fatigue with perfection. I got no stories attached to my request for sold mandolins that the seller ultimately re-purchased. Would any of you readers have any stories (without naming names or instruments, of course; that could start rumors and undeservedly destroy an instrument's reputation) about contacts you might have had with subsequent owners of your own former instrument. Shared opinions? Maybe someone thought it was bass heavy when you thought of it as a tower of treble?