Old nugget or old nugget?

[holden]

I suppose this question could apply to all great makers of fine instruments.
There's a Nugget A from the late 80's and one from the early 2000's up for
sale..roughly same price. I came across a posting where someone said (of gilchrist, nugget, etc) "buy the newest model you can.." Ya'll agree or disagree?
Of course the best case scenario would be to play them both and pick the best but that's not possible. It makes sense to assume that even the great builders get better with time and practice. Opinions...?

[mandobassman]

Yes, maybe the builders do get better at their craft, but Nugget has had a reputation for quite a long time and, assuming the one from the 80's has been played well, it has 20 or so years of break in time to really sing. I would go with the older one if I was buying.

[RBMB]

Buy them both!

[almeriastrings]

Then YOU can tell US which is best :mandosmiley:

[barry]

Yeah. Generally, builders improve at their craft. The more you do it, the better you get. One the other hand, age seems to count for a lot if a mandolin is properly built from the start.

That being said, the older one does a bit more for me from the pictures.

[holden]

It seems to me that most of the high end stuff sells used for the same
price whether its 3 years old or 20..

[Cheryl Watson]

I guess we can assume that you have been through all the details to compare the two mandolins such as fretboard radius, fret size, nut width etc.? I guess the only way to be certain would be to play both and that is, of course, impossible. If you like a well-worn, broken in mandolin I'd go for the older one and if you love the more recent, new look (it is 2007 so it might be somewhat broken in) then I'd go for the new one and distress it yourself over the years.

[Timbofood]

"Good is good, melted or not" Charlie Waite (Open Range)

[shortymack]

Whichever you choose be sure to celebrate your new purchase with a nice cold glass of this.
101373

[doc holiday]

In theory the new ones are awesome. In practice, a few years ago I had the chance to play one from the same era as Tim O'Brien's original Nuggett. I think it was originally $250, had a neck like the grip on a baseball bat.....& I'd give my eye teeth to own it. Nugget hit the tone right from the early ones on.

[blauserk]

Get all the information you can. Are both of them the same recipes? Same type of spruce? Same type of maple? Any chance you could get soundfiles of both under similar conditions? Have the sellers play the same common piece and record it on their iPhones. For the type of $$ we're talking about here, that's not too much. See which one sounds better to you. Trust your gut.

That said, I cannot imagine you going wrong, even if you picked by throwing darts at a dartboard. Buy the thing, play it until it becomes a part of you. You will rapidly forget what came before.

[sgarrity]

Buy the newer one. I think his fit and finish and overall building skills have definitely improved with time. Of course the best way to decide is to play them. Anybody selling an instrument of that quality would offer you an approval period.

The best Nugget I've played was a newer A5. Absolutely stunning beauty and tone.

[fatt-dad]

Buy the newer one. In time most of the dings will be yours.

f-d

[Rick Crenshaw]

What a dilemma!!!

Don't worry, none of us are jealous of you.:grin:

[Tom Sanderson]

I say get the newer one.

[mrmando]

There's also a Nugget F in the classifieds. Buy all three.

[barry]

Wow. Just saw that Nugget F. Those sure are some expensive extra sets of strings and a tuner.

[SternART]

How often do you think he changed strings to need that many sets?

[Jim Garber]

There's also a Nugget F in the classifieds. Buy all three.

Now four. The F5 in the classifieds (http://www.mandolincafe.com/ads/63688). There is #43 F5 (http://www.sandymunromusic.com/s/Nugget_F_43.html) on Sandy Munro's sitre for $10.5K less ($19,500) which seems to be the going rate for these.

[jasona]

want