Kentucky km350 or MK legacy deluxe

[Jakerex]

Hello all,

I'm new to this mandolin thing and have been playing for about one year. I started with a borrowed epiphone mm-50 F style, then I returned it to the owner and bought a kentucky km-350 A style mandolin once I realized that I wanted to stick with it. My question is that I found a MK legacy deluxe with a case that is in excellent condition for cheap ($200); would this be any sort of upgrade from my kentucky? Thanks for the input.

[dcoventry]

Upgrade to a better Kentucky or keep the one you have. No slight against MK's, but on the whole, Kentucky does some better stuff.

YMMV.

[allenhopkins]

I'd tend to agree w/dcoventry, but you have a pretty amazing bargain on the MK, which lists for $1K and discounts $6-700. It's all solid wood and hand-carved. I'm not a big MK fan, and construction-wise it's no "upgrade" from the Kentucky (other than those fascinating scroll and points), but if you can pick it up for $200, and it's in good condition -- and you like it -- you're really only risking $200 which you could almost certainly recoup by re-selling it.

Some Cafe members have been generally satisfied with their MK's, though they tend to get less respect than the "trinity" of mid-pricers: Kentucky, Eastman and Loar. I'd be tempted, though, at that price.

LATER: I may have overstated the MK's construction; it's carved, but MK doesn't claim it's hand-carved.

[Jakerex]

Thanks for the input.