European dealers?

[Roda]

Hi,

I hope this is the right forum. My name is Simon and I live in Sweden. I had an old Gibson EM-150 a couple of years back and really miss having a mandolin. The mandolin market here is really small. We have our own brand of Classic "Levins" but even those Can be hard to find.

Im out for a nice F or A style mandolin with a budget of 1000$.

Do you know any european dealers? Thomann only has The Loar which kind of is My plan B. A Kentucky would be more up my alley but cant seem to find any.

Best regards,

[OneChordTrick]

In the UK we have TAMCO http://www.theacousticmusicco.co.uk/ ; Hobgoblin https://www.hobgoblin.com/ ; Eagle Music https://www.eaglemusicshop.com/ to name but a few.

Other than as a satisfied customer of some of them no connection etc. ...

[allenhopkins]

Git them British dealers before Brexit takes effect.

[OneChordTrick]

Brexit took effect, on prices at least, when the currency fell immediately after the vote.

[pit lenz]

You might want to check Oliver Waitze‘s New Acoustic Gallery in Wuppertal, Germany.
http://n-a-g.info

[vic-victor]

The easy approach is to get a Kentucky from an online store like Musician's Friend or similar.

[almeriastrings]

The easy approach is to get a Kentucky from an online store like Musician's Friend or similar.

Um.... that is NOT easy if you are in Sweden! Far from it. Now you are dealing with no warranty, import duties, clearing fees, payment issues (currency conversion fees), international shipping costs...

[Beanzy]

A bit more ‘boutique’ style would be JAT in London. http://johnalveyturner.co.uk/mandolins/

[HoGo]

Um.... that is NOT easy if you are in Sweden! Far from it. Now you are dealing with no warranty, import duties, clearing fees, payment issues (currency conversion fees), international shipping costs...

Isn't there Kentucky dealer in EU?
I ordered 1/4 cello from my son from large UK online store and the shipping was under 20 EUR, simple payment with VISA card. No additional taxes or costs within EU at all. I don't know exact relation of Sweden and EU...
Perhaps used KM1000 or KM900 would be best bet. I've seen few of these in hands oe EU pickers so some used may hit the market from time to time...

[Ivan Kelsall]

From OneChordTrick - " Brexit took effect, on prices at least, when the currency fell immediately after the vote.". I'm old enough to remember the almost immediate price increase of some UK goods after we joined what was then the 'Common Market'. Some goods that we'd sourced from our Commonwealth cousins - Australia / New Zealand / Canada etc. were now coming from Europe,along with an increase in cost. Also remember the increases in cost after we ' went decimal ' - something that we've never recovered from !!.

All that aside - I'd definitely take a look at what Trevor at TAMCO UK has to offer. You won't find a better selection of mandolins anywhere else in Europe,
Ivan

[vic-victor]

Um.... that is NOT easy if you are in Sweden! Far from it. Now you are dealing with no warranty, import duties, clearing fees, payment issues (currency conversion fees), international shipping costs...

I've done it a number of times (US online stores to Australia) and in 100% of the cases it worked out cheaper and better than buying through the local dealer. Just a couple of things to be aware of. Setup of "out of the box" instruments can be not as good as the ones setup by the dealers. If worse comes to worst and you don't like the instrument you have to pay the postage to send it back for a refund or replacement.

[Roda]

Thank you all! The only Kentucky model ive found in Sweden is the KM-505. Which can be had for 800 dollars new. And Thomann stocks The Loar. The Loar LM400 goes for 600 dollar on Thomann.

Would you spend the extra 200 bucks on the Kentucky? Of course it might be individual with preferences etc but from your experiences?. I have zero possibilities to try one out unless I travel across the country heh.

[Ivan Kelsall]

Hi Roda - I played a Kentucky KM-505 a few years ago at the Hobgoblin Music store in Manchester UK,& i thought that it was a very fine sounding mandolin. It was nicely made & played very easily,although i suspect that it would be even better with a good set-up.

I haven't played any of the ''The Loar'' models,so i'm unable to comment - but the KM-505 that i played was very nice. If you can get to play one,try it out - if you like it ok - if not.... !.

I've made 2 x 518 mile round trips to TAMCO in the past. I went by train & made the journey part of 'the experience' - which it was !!. I enjoyed it so much,i wish i had the reason (& cash) to need to go down again,
Ivan

[Roda]

Hi Ivan! Thank you for your wonderful reply!
I can imagine traveling to TAMCO must be thrilling! The only ones on their site that suits my budget is the lower end Eastmans.

At first, I would maybe settle for a lower end Loar but then I started hanging out here and seeing all beautiful Webers and Nuggets. Now I want to extend my budget drastically But I have to be realistic. So I might just settle for a KM-505. Or the LM 400...

Now I found the Eastman 404 aswell...

These decisions...

[Roda]

Ordered the KM-505 in amberburst. Seems to be a decent instrument for the money. I will post pics and let you know what I think when it arrives.

PS

I read somewhere that the new KM-505 is made in the same factory as the Master series, is this true?

Best regards,

Simon

[almeriastrings]

Good choice. The 505's are really excellent. Very good indeed. Better than 'decent'.

[Ray(T)]

Can you get cheap(ish) flights from Sweden to London Gatwick? TAMCO is only a short train ride from there!

[Bren]

A bit off-topic, but at the weekend I had a shot of a very good 1940s Levin mandolin that a friend bought over the internet and tidied up a bit.

He said there weren't that many Levin mandolins made and it's very hard to source a good one now.

I would say to try Victor Smith in Denmark but I guess his instruments will come in at a few thousand $$.

[Tim N]

I don't know what its like flying with a mandolin. Take the ferry to the UK and have a touring holiday, taking in some of the great music shops like Hobgoblins tht you'll rarely find in mainland Europe. When you find your mandolin you can drive it home in the safety of your own car. However, you'll probably blow your budget on the travelling.....

[Roda]

I don't know what its like flying with a mandolin. Take the ferry to the UK and have a touring holiday, taking in some of the great music shops like Hobgoblins tht you'll rarely find in mainland Europe. When you find your mandolin you can drive it home in the safety of your own car. However, you'll probably blow your budget on the travelling.....

Most likely! This is something I wanna do though. Maybe in a couple of years.

As I wrote, I ordered a Kentucky KM-505. Will probably land here tommorow.

[Ivan Kelsall]

Hi Roda (Simon) - I'd be very surprised if you didn't really like the KM-505. I'd read on here about it's big brother,the KM-900, which is still very highly regarded indeed The KM-505 was so good that i thought that if the KM-900 was so much better,it must be something of a 'real Loar' killer !.

When you receive it,tune it up & see how it plays - ''straight from the box'' & note anything that's slightly off ie.a too high / low action - then let it settle for a while. Very often these mandolins are simply left in their boxes,un-tuned for months,& it takes a while for the neck to adjust to proper string pressure, then do a thorough check - bridge postion / action etc. & it might need a new set of strings - after that, enjoy the dickens out of it !!.

Victor Smith in Denmark = ''Flatbush'' mandolins - stunning instruments. I played one at a UK Bluegrass festival several years ago & it was a terrific instrument,& a nice styling,

Ivan

[Roda]

Hi Roda (Simon) - I'd be very surprised if you didn't really like the KM-505. I'd read on here about it's big brother,the KM-900, which is still very highly regarded indeed The KM-505 was so good that i thought that if the KM-900 was so much better,it must be something of a 'real Loar' killer !.

When you receive it,tune it up & see how it plays - ''straight from the box'' & note anything that's slightly off ie.a too high / low action - then let it settle for a while. Very often these mandolins are simply left in their boxes,un-tuned for months,& it takes a while for the neck to adjust to proper string pressure, then do a thorough check - bridge postion / action etc. & it might need a new set of strings - after that, enjoy the dickens out of it !!.

Victor Smith in Denmark = ''Flatbush'' mandolins - stunning instruments. I played one at a UK Bluegrass festival several years ago & it was a terrific instrument,& a nice styling,

Ivan

Hi again Ivan!

Thank you very much for the tip! I will let you know when it arrives!

Best regards!

[Roda]

Received the KM-505 today! Gotta say, I'm impressed. It sounds amazing.
Thank you all for your help. I'm going to try to stay active on this wonderful forum.
All best!

Roda

[Ivan Kelsall]

Hi Simon - I'm glad that you're pleased with the KM-505. I was comparing the one that i played with 2 mandolins that i owned that cost upwards of 6 x the cost,& it was still very good. As i mentioned,let it settle in then check everything out. Adjust what needs to be adjusted & then just enjoy it,
Ivan

[suomalainen]

Hi,

I hope this is the right forum. My name is Simon and I live in Sweden. I had an old Gibson EM-150 a couple of years back and really miss having a mandolin. The mandolin market here is really small. We have our own brand of Classic "Levins" but even those Can be hard to find.

Im out for a nice F or A style mandolin with a budget of 1000$.

Do you know any european dealers? Thomann only has The Loar which kind of is My plan B. A Kentucky would be more up my alley but cant seem to find any.

Best regards,

I am from USA living in Finland. I bought a Loar from Thomann, had it set up at an old time luthier, which added another €120. The results were most satisfying, and several talented players owning mandolins worth much more, have been loath to hand my easy playing instrument back to me. I count that validation of my choice.