Ozark resonator on eBay

I see this resonator for sale, I don't think they make them anymore?
I have never read a report on this model but it looks like it is well made?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1624362594...&ul_noapp=true

Sorely tempted, but I won't be bidding.

I don't have one of these but I do have an Ozark Mandolin and Octave Mandolin. Both are very well made, nicely finished, are fairly well set up when they arrive and sound very good for their price. A lot of people turn their noses up at Ozark instruments, thinking all romanian instruments are cheap and poorly made and some of the Hora instruments (which look very similar to Ozarks ) can be a bit rough and badly finished, for example painting the fretboard to make it look like rosewood.
But Ozark is actually a subsidiary company to the Stentor music group who kit out orchestra's all over Europe with stringed instruments.

That looks like some fun, but alas, I won't go for it either.

From the label on the back of the peg head, it's of Korean manufacture. Which may or may not be a good thing.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jes Woodland

A lot of people turn their noses up at Ozark instruments, thinking all romanian instruments are cheap and poorly made and some of the Hora instruments (which look very similar to Ozarks ) can be a bit rough and badly finished, for example painting the fretboard to make it look like rosewood.
But Ozark is actually a subsidiary company to the Stentor music group who kit out orchestra's all over Europe with stringed instruments.

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Ozark is Stentor's brand under which they distribute factory-made instruments made in many different places in the UK. As the actual manufacturers are all different and Stentor have limited control over how the instruments are made, you can't generalise from one Ozark instrument to another.

Their Romanian-made Ozark mandolins and zouks are made by Hora. The same instruments are also sold in the UK by a number of other importers, with minor cosmetic differences in the inlay etc. Ozark mandolins made in East Asia are completely different -- much the same instruments and the same factories as Ashbury or Vintage etc. The Ozark tenor guitars have generally been pretty good, but are not all from the same factory. My short-scale acoustic Ozark was made in Vietnam, but the resonator in the OP is made in Korea.

Martin

I stand corrected. Thanks for the info.