Best Bang for Buck, No Frills Player Discussion

[CES]

While your window of opportunity here in the US does add some urgency to your endeavor, no need to fret over the matter. You’re looking in a great price range, and there tend to be a lot of options available. Also, because of the quality you’ll be getting, odds are you and your daughter will be very happy with whatever you end up with. I own a Silverangel that I chose to keep over a Collings MT because I preferred the tone, though the Collings was a very good mandolin as well. My beater is an Eastman 315 that’s not as good as the SA or Collings, but isn’t that far behind them...good tone and playability, just not as complex sounding. If I could only have 1 mandolin, I’d be happy with either of those three, though I’d definitely rather have the MT or SA...

[CES]

Probably not a major consideration, I’ll also add that Collings mandolins hold their value well for resale, and tend to sell quickly. I traded mine + cash for a mandocello at TMS, and the MT was on their site for less than 24 hours before selling. I got about 600 dollars more in trade value for the MT than I have been offered for the SA on a couple of occasions. Mandocentric stores know and respect Ken’s work, but guitar and banjo centric stores just don’t recognize his “brand” yet. Collings has Gibson-esque recognition it seems.

FWIW, I hear great things about Summit mandolins, but have never played one personally...

[Gutbucket]

I would look into Audey Ratliff's Country Boy series of both A and F style mandolin's. Good bang for the buck on a small shop instrument.

[SAfricaMandolin]

Have had a lot to consider and seems there are some great options out there. I have a Gibson Banjolele selling on eBay to help fund the upgrade, a buyer for her current Aria here in ZA, and will then make up the difference. Very interested in a Summit A that was offered, also a used Silverangel that piques my interest. Once the cash is ready I will call the owners and strike a deal... definitely looking used. It seems there are a lot of great instruments in my price range, so will pull the trigger when the money is available.

[bbcee]

Looking forward to knowing what you wind up with, and to hear your daughter's group! Have a great time in the States.

[William Smith]

A good bang for the buck is any old plain Jane Gibson A model from the teens-1930's! Some have great tone "if you like that kind of tone/sound" also some have great volume. A bunch can be had for well under 1000 bucks. There are also so many independent builders that make economy/no frills A and F style for that price and under. The Kentucky makes some real good A and F's also, and used one can get a real nice 900 or KM-1000 for under 1G. The Kentucky 900's in A-5 style are really great bangs for the buck and there may even be one in the café classifieds right now. I've played them and like them better than the Loar mandolins and the Eastman A's and F's I've played. I guess it all depends on what you want?

[Cheryl Watson]

Skip Kelley A model.

[Chuck Leyda]

You're in a good price range. I think you can find something nice. I also think it may be more a case of finding the right seller than a specific mandolin.

For example; there was a very nice used Weber Yellowstone mandola on Reverb. Great condition. $1695 and willing to accept offers. Predictably, it sold. There is also a very nice used Old Wave mandola. $3000. It's still there. I don't know which is actually nicer but I'm pretty sure the Weber had more bang for the buck at less than $1695 vs $3000.

Some sellers are more motivated than others. So I think the best bang for the buck would be to identify several types of mandolins that really interest you and then haunt the Cafe Classifieds, Reverb etc to find the right seller.

[SAfricaMandolin]

Well some feedback on the search. I received great advice, some excellent instruments were offered both publicly and privately, and got some great information from builders, luthiers, and players.

In the end, we dropped down quite a bit in budget and got a very nice price on an instrument with history. A complete change in life is having us relocate back to the US and my daughter and son are expressing interest in electric instruments as well. After much discussion, I pulled the trigger on the Ray Matty customised Gibson A-50 owned and played by Al Valenti. It presents a decent acoustic and electric playing instrument for my daughter, with an inspiring history. I have picked up some music by Al, who had quite a reputation as a picker. My daughter has fallen for the Gibson headstock, as my wife uses her UB2 in a BlueGrass band with my daughter. So this will hopefully keep her music moving forward. It will be waiting for her in the new house when we arrive in a month, while she waits for all her other belongings.

Looking for a mandolin/violin/fiddle instructor in the Northwoods of Wisconsin...

[Louise NM]

I hope it brings her many years of happiness.