Lebeda

Thinking about investing in one...just checking to see if anyone knew anything of them before i drop 2 grand.

..check out Jeff Cowherd at Mandolins.net...he had a slew of them at SPBGMA...he seems to know his stuff about them and in mandolins in general....

I have one, its a F5 standard , I don't know why they don't get more attention, this mandolin is really nice, plays like butter, nice bottom end that you can feel,clear mids and highs. The workmanship is real clean, the only thing I don't care for are the tuners, but there easily change when or if I ever get around to it.I also like the neck shape its a little wider than most F's I have played. And I got it from Jeff Cowherd, great guy to deal with. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/...icons/cool.gif

I played those at SPBGMA and they were impressive in that price range. There were A's, F's, and then an original style that was very much F-inspired but had sort of a modified carved lump of a scroll thing on it. It was not as unattractive as that sounds, actually it was kind of cool.

I owned an older one that had a slightly sunken top, terrible tuners, and ugly wood---it was a dog. Then again I've played a friend's A5 style Lebeda that I liked a lot.

One thing about Lebedas is that the tops and backs aren't arched as dramatically as most other makes. That may contribute to the top sinking issue that I experienced.

Crowder,

The arching on my Lebeda's top and back is quite prononuced, but its#not dished out to deeply though http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/...icons/cool.gif

I got one off MC classifieds , like it , feature: the Whikey tone stain Brown tortoisoid binding, and pearl-abalone-pearl block markers.
Came with a bridge piezo, but with a Schertler pickup it's redundant (maybe for a stomp tuner)
Sound and playability, after setup, is nice.

A friend of mine called me at home Saturday night from SPBGMA and said that he just bought a new Lebeda. This guy has been playing mandolin since he was a teen (20 years)and is the best mandolin player I know. He said he played every mandolin he could find there and especially liked the playability of the Lebeda. I haven't seen or heard this mandolin yet, but I know this guy wouldn't buy a "dog".

..I was right there at Jeff Cowherds table when that mando was bought..I believe his wife actually bought it for him....if we are talking about the same thing....yea..you could tell he knew what he was doing..he made it sing...

George Lebeda is one of a handful of Czech builders who has been building bluegrass instruments for more than 20 years in and around Prague. He was building for the Czech bluegrass scene during and after the Communist years, but these days he coordinates a team of luthiers who make the Lebeda mandolins and resonator guitars for sale all over the world. There are lots of fans around; check the archives for previous threads. No financial interest, etc.

There may still be the gorgeous 2-point Lebeda lingering in the classifieds. Tough to tell from the picture but it looked somewhat assymetrical; almost like the very graceful Old Wave C#.