Craigslist Flatiron Festival

I've been playing about six months on a salvaged Fender FM53-s. When I bought it, it had a few high frets and one of the tuning pegs was a lot tighter than the others. Needless to say, it was neglected somewhere in its past.

Well, I haven't done much better for it (I took a long diamond file, then a soft sanding block to the frets to level and "bevel" them :grin:), but it sounds alright now--at least all of the notes play. Anyway, I'm in the market for a reasonable upgrade!

Are my eyes playing tricks on me, or does it say "Fesrival" on the label instead of Festival?

After reading a few other threads it looks like the serial number is from September 20, 1994. I did a bit of googling, but I couldn't find other examples of Festival labels and how they're supposed to look.

For some reason I'm skeptical with the tailpiece and misspelling. If it is a 94 Flatiron, I feel like it would be a great way to take a step up.

I appreciate the collective insight, I'm going to take a look at it tomorrow, and likely have a great mandolin to continue learning with.

It appears to be a Flatiron Performer with the intergrated fretboard. I had a Flatiron F style Performer and the decal looked like that. I’m not sure why they wrote that under model but if you look below that you’ll see the word Performer, or partially see the word. The tailpiece also looks familiar but the brand escapes me at the moment. At $300 it’s definitely worth checking out.

Welcome to the Cafe!
That's an aftermarket Ashton Bailey cast tailpiece by Morgan Monroe.
Also an awesome typo on the label. I love stuff like that. T & R are neighbors on the keyboard and it looks like this one got an R instead of a T.
Anyhow, '94 should make it a Bozeman Montana made instrument. Likely made by Bruce Weber, or under his watch.
I'd snatch it up in a hurry at $300 if it is in good condition.
Attachment 163680

Edit: Holy schnikes! Here's a video of this exact mandolin for sale from 2015
https://youtu.be/qzZTTszPIE8

From the video, it looks to have Grover 308 satin tuners. Love those.
Buy this mandolin before someone else does!

Hah! You're right, you can see the "R" in there. Well I'll go check it out tomorrow if no one swoops in. Thanks :)

I owned one of those for several years. Actually traded it in at Morgan Music in Missouri for a Festival F. Very nice tone, very. Not huge in volume, but well made and a real value at that price.

Looks like it was snapped up last night, ah well, the search continues!

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Originally Posted by colonelcurry

Looks like it was snapped up last night, ah well, the search continues!

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Bummer. That was a super good deal, and I'm not surprised that it sold quickly.
Just a heads up - if there is a mandolin you're interested in buying, linking to the location it is for sale, is a sure way to have someone else buy it out from under you. Next time, ask your question and post a photo if needed, but don't say "I found this awesome deal on Cincinnati Craigs List at this URL, what do you think?"
Keep looking. Great deals are out there.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by colonelcurry

Looks like it was snapped up last night, ah well, the search continues!

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I'm wondering if this recently revived thread offers a clue: https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/s...light=Flatiron

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Originally Posted by pheffernan

I'm wondering if this recently revived thread offers a clue: https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/s...light=Flatiron

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Yeah, he's in Portland, pretty sure bet.

You would think there should be a 24hr "dibs" policy 🤓