Re: bill davis artist model A mandolin
I owned Bill Davis A5 Artist #115 that I bought here on the cafe about 10 years ago. I was mainly a guitarist when bought it and kept the Davis for 8 years or so before I started studying mandolin more seriously and exploring higher end instruments. Others on the cafe will certainly know more, but I remember researching Mr. Davis back when I bought the mandolin and was unable to find a website or any information about whether he was actively building. The Davis was my first mandolin built by a small builder and I have since owned or played many high end instruments. What I will say is that the build quality was superb and the fit and finish rival the top builders making mandolins today. Aesthetically gorgeous. As I recall, however, I found it had a comparatively high string tension and a tightness to the tone - the tone was not a woody bluegrass tone, but a more treble dominant and modern tone. I didn't know enough at the time about what kinds of things a luthier might to do address what was clearly a well built mandolin technically that lacked responsiveness. I've never sent a mandolin to the Mando Voodoo doctors, but in retrospect, my Davis A5 might have been qood candidate for that intervention. Your actual question was about value. I bought mine in 2009 for $1700 and sold it in 2016 for $2000. I always felt that it must be worth more than this, but there is no better market test than posting a mandolin for sale on the cafe and finding out what this community of very knowledgable players and collectors will pay.
Last edited by EvanElk; Sep-01-2018 at 1:24pm.
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