Who plays a mandolin worth.......

[Roger Moss]

I am willing to bet that very, very VERY few MC members own a mandolin that costs as much as this Rolex:

https://timepieceperfection.com/role...oaAunWEALw_wcB

I haven't seen anybody using a watch for quite a while.

[Louise NM]

There is currently another thread on the boards, talking about a get together of Mandolin Cafe members . . . but based on this thread, there aren't enough of us with decent cars to make the trip!

And if anyone does get there, just look for the parking lot full of hoopties. That's where you're headed!

[William Smith]

Oh yeah, My mandos are worth more than my cars! Up here in Northwestern Pennsylvania there is no point in having an expensive car, you can loose your car in the pot holes! My wife's car every year goes through so many tires due to busted belts from our lovely roads I should make the state pay for them "yep right"

[DataNick]

I'm in this club....

[JAK]

Chris Thile (Loar signed Gibson, two of them?), Grisman (AT LEAST one Loar signed Gibson), most everybody else who owns a Gibson Lloyd Loar signed mandolin (over 200 people), and most folks who own a F5 Gilchrist mandolin (over 500 people). Almost forgot, people who own a Nugget mandolin. And of course Bill Monroe (when he was alive) and his $1.2 million Gibson Loar signed mandolin. Most of us don't know what kind of car the aforementioned folks drive, but my hunch is their mandos are worth more than the cars they drive.

[colorado_al]

My car might be worth more monetarilly, but I place more value on my mandolins.

[Roger Moss]

Chris Thile (Loar signed Gibson, two of them?), Grisman (AT LEAST one Loar signed Gibson), most everybody else who owns a Gibson Lloyd Loar signed mandolin (over 200 people), and most folks who own a F5 Gilchrist mandolin (over 500 people). Almost forgot, people who own a Nugget mandolin. And of course Bill Monroe (when he was alive) and his $1.2 million Gibson Loar signed mandolin. Most of us don't know what kind of car the aforementioned folks drive, but my hunch is their mandos are worth more than the cars they drive.

I just saw a NART Ferrari go for $26 Million at an auction.

[Br1ck]

Mater of fact I do own a Rolex LOL. I used to own two but gave one to my son in law. The one I still have is a 1948, found in a drawer when I cleaned out my uncle's apartment after he died. They could pass for a Timex. I paid around $400 ea. to have new crystals put in and have them cleaned. The jeweler showed me the insides. Beautiful, but on the outside it is just a pretty plain watch. Made way before it was bling, and not worth that much. Maybe could trade it for a Kentucky 900.

[Eric Platt]

Nope. Not even close. Purchased a 2014 Mazda CX-5 in October. Definitely worth more than my instruments. In fact, it's worth more than all of them combined. Then again, since getting it, have taken a trip to the UP of Michigan to play a couple of shows. And will be going back up there this summer for a festival.

Have never been able to own expensive instruments and feel comfortable taking them out and playing them. That hasn't changed in 30 years.

Used to look at Rolex watches. Never was that tempted. Do have a used CWC G10 on order from England. Should be here next week. I like watches. But like everything else, mine are all modest.

[LadysSolo]

I haven't seen anybody using a watch for quite a while.

I still wear a watch, in fact I own two Citizen watches (solar powered.) Can't take a patient's pulse while watching your phone......

[Mark Seale]

I place way more value in the instruments than the cars, but as others have said, you do need reliable transport to play them out. The instruments outclass the cars, but the cars are good enough to get us to the gigs.

[Roger Moss]

I still wear a watch, in fact I own two Citizen watches (solar powered.) Can't take a patient's pulse while watching your phone......

I see a nurse twice a week. She takes my pulse with a little dingus on my fingertip. But I do salute the old school approach.

[Mike Snyder]

Pretty much all patient care personnel in hospitals wear a watch. We’ve got all sorts of automated systems to provide us information about patient status but patients are not digital. Professional medical staff will recognize data that makes no sense and we go TO THE PATIENT, hands on, counting breaths and heartbeats against the clock and listening with the stethoscope. Sorry for the rant.

[Jeff Mando]

Mater of fact I do own a Rolex LOL. I used to own two but gave one to my son in law. The one I still have is a 1948, found in a drawer when I cleaned out my uncle's apartment after he died. They could pass for a Timex. I paid around $400 ea. to have new crystals put in and have them cleaned. The jeweler showed me the insides. Beautiful, but on the outside it is just a pretty plain watch. Made way before it was bling, and not worth that much. Maybe could trade it for a Kentucky 900.

Similar story. Found a genuine Rolex at a yard sale at 3:30 in the afternoon for $5 bucks! That sounds good right? Well, the reason it was still there at 3:30 after hundreds of people looked at it and PASSED was, it was missing the band, the crystal, the hands, and was generally worn and not working. JUNK, except it was a Rolex. Or maybe people thought it was a fake. Who knows. And, this was 30 years ago, long before we had a functioning internet, so information might not have been as available as it is now. Anyway, I bought it and just for fun took it to the local Rolex dealer. They said it was a 1958 Oyster stainless and to get it running with new hands and a crystal would be $1200 -- I said thanks, but no thanks. Anyway, I found a guy's number in one of my collector's magazines who bought and sold Rolexes in Houston. (again, pre-internet) I took a chance and sent it to him and he offered $150 in the "as found" condition. I agreed and got my $150 -- probably close to my monthly rent back then. And, like ya say, not an exciting watch to look at, other than the Rolex name......

[Roger Moss]

Similar story. Found a genuine Rolex at a yard sale at 3:30 in the afternoon for $5 bucks! That sounds good right? Well, the reason it was still there at 3:30 after hundreds of people looked at it and PASSED was, it was missing the band, the crystal, the hands, and was generally worn and not working. JUNK, except it was a Rolex. Or maybe people thought it was a fake. Who knows. And, this was 30 years ago, long before we had a functioning internet, so information might not have been as available as it is now. Anyway, I bought it and just for fun took it to the local Rolex dealer. They said it was a 1958 Oyster stainless and to get it running with new hands and a crystal would be $1200 -- I said thanks, but no thanks. Anyway, I found a guy's number in one of my collector's magazines who bought and sold Rolexes in Houston. (again, pre-internet) I took a chance and sent it to him and he offered $150 in the "as found" condition. I agreed and got my $150 -- probably close to my monthly rent back then. And, like ya say, not an exciting watch to look at, other than the Rolex name......

A Loar Gibson looks like a most other f-style mandolins, and a Rolex keeps the same time as a Timex. Beauty is in the eye of the and so, I guess is, value. I know, that's oversimplifying, but things are only worth what you can convince a person to pay for them.

[Toni Schula]

I double the value of my car every time I visit the gas filling station. I do not double the value of my mandolin when I change strings ;-)

[fatt-dad]

every instrument I own is more valuable then my car, in monetary terms.

I do love my car - a 2001 Mercedes E320 Wagon with 330,000 miles.

I love my instruments too!

f-d

[Roger Moss]

every instrument I own is more valuable then my car, in monetary terms.

I do love my car - a 2001 Mercedes E320 Wagon with 330,000 miles.

I love my instruments too!

f-d

With proper care, your car and your instruments should all last practically forever. Value means more than just price.

[Mandolin Cafe]

Gets worse.

I've owned half dozen cases worth more than my old 1986 Honda Civic with 330K miles that I sold to by brudder-in-law in Green Bay for $1 about 7 years ago. He's still driving it... somehow. I suppose a case could have been made that car was worth less than a Blue Chip Pick.

[Jeff Mando]

Gets worse.

I've owned half dozen cases worth more than my old 1986 Honda Civic with 330K miles that I sold to by brudder-in-law in Green Bay for $1 about 7 years ago. He's still driving it... somehow. I suppose a case could have been made that car was worth less than a Blue Chip Pick.

Love it! The utility of a vehicle has value even when the "book value" says it is worthless. For example, I live in a rural area and there are no jobs, unless you are a farmer or can do internet work at home. The nearest jobs would be at least 8 miles from here. That doesn't sound like much, but there is no bus system or taxi service. One young man I saw walked it daily to his job at Walmart. He doesn't walk it anymore, but I still see him at Walmart, so he must have purchased a car.

Hard to compare a car to a mandolin. Fun discussion!

[MikeZito]

I use a company car; everything is paid for; gas, insurance, registration, repairs - everything . . . I wonder if somehow can talk them into buying a company Gibson F-4?

[Br1ck]

It is interesting to explore what people value, and their attachment to their possessions.

I knew a guy who when he was around 30, inherited ten lifetimes worth of money. He never really worked. He was the "manager" of one of his father's shopping centers. I ran into him one afternoon at Gryphon where he was buying a Gibson L5. While they were doing a setup adjustment for him, I saw him first pick up a J 200, strum it once, anounce he would take that too, then buy a D 45 without playing it.

He would come by my band's practice every so often with a different new guitar, high on coke and alcohol, show off the guitar which we'd never see again. Later I asked if he'd sold his fathers house. No, I need the house for storing my guitars was the reply. I know I derived more pleasure from my one Martin I struggled to buy than he ever did no matter what the guitar was. At least he didn't kill himself. Buying stuff for him became an I can, you can't exercise.

I really like my Rolex, because the watch guys got really excited to bring it back to life. They had me look at the workings through their high power microscope because they were really into watches. It was as if I'd walked into a guitar shop with a 1915 Martin.

Now I've never been attached emotionally to a car. I know people who have a passion for them, and for sure I could see owning an old MG, but instruments float my boat like nothing else. I would much rather have a 15k mandolin than a 15k car, provided my car was running.

[zedmando]

It would have to be an inexpensive car to qualify...