Sadly, you may never... but if you ever owned one, especially one of the carved top models, you might just fall in love.
I read (somewhere, wish I could find that article) Bill Monroe himself owned a Stradolin & spoke highly of his. David Grisman speaks highly about them, too. When it comes to vintage Pre-War American BLUEGRASS mandolins, there aren't a lot of choices.
I was thinking the exact same thing when I saw Andres Segovia's guitars at the Met.
A hand-carved solid spruce top & an Elevated Brazilian Rosewood Fretboard & bridge look very plain, but sound (to quote Grisman) Loud & Punchy. I've sold a Master Model for $800 recently & two Deluxe models for $650 each. I'm not finding many of these pre-war models around like you could even five years ago.
Yes, there are a lot of steam molded top, laminated Stradolins in need of repair on ebay for $50, $100, $200 & nice ones for $350. These are the Stradolins, that everyone says, have no business sounding as good as they do. However, these are NOT bluegrass mandolins.
This is a better one...
https://www.mandolincafe.com/ads/130538#130538 w/hard Lifton case for $750. Meanwhile, I'll be with all the Bargain Hunters watching for one like this on ebay for $350 only because it sounds better than any modern $1000 mando.
Now, about that Artist model, IMHO I don't believe there is a modern $1,600 mando that can compete with it (& it does say "Reasonable offers considered"). Don't knock it until you've tried it. It is no ordinary Stradolin.
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