Re: "It's a steal (but it needs a little work...)"
Finest example in my past was my Regal Octofone, which had a repaired headstock when I bought it from Bernunzio for maybe $250, as I remember. In its first year of my ownership, it got a re-repaired headstock, the fretboard pulled to accommodate a carbon fiber reinforcing rod (neck warpage), the pulled fingerboard replaced with a new ebony one (the old one made of dyed "mystery wood") -- and then the headstock re-re-repaired due to shipping damage sending it back from the truss-rod-and-fingerboard guy.
So: somewhat more than $500 in repairs (and I got them cheap through a personal connection) into a $250 instrument. Good news is that it now plays really nicely and I like it. Worth the $750 total? IHMO, yes, but barely...
If you can't do the work yourself, tread carefully when the mandolin "needs a little work." A little work = a lot of money, sometimes.
Allen Hopkins
Gibsn: '54 F5 3pt F2 A-N Custm K1 m'cello
Natl Triolian Dobro mando
Victoria b-back Merrill alumnm b-back
H-O mandolinetto
Stradolin Vega banjolin
Sobell'dola Washburn b-back'dola
Eastmn: 615'dola 805 m'cello
Flatiron 3K OM
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