Czech mandolins

[man dough nollij]

I'm fantasizing about some of my travel plans for when I escape this frozen wasteland... one of the places I've always wanted to visit is the Czech Republic. I see that there seem to be a lot of builders there (Vana, Sucek, Lebeda, Prucha...), and I'm wondering if there are good deals there. The builders I've heard of seem to be held in pretty high esteem-- any Czech mando owners want to weigh in? If I happen to go to the Czech republic, are there any cafe members there? Anyone actually buy their Czech mando on site? Anything I need to take into account re:customs, duties, etc? It will probably be mid-October or a little later when I get there. Is that a good time to visit? Thanks in advance, Lee

[dcc]

i have a lebeda, and i think it's GREAT, especially for the price range. i like it better than any collings or (non-loar) gibson i've yet played. the only instruments that i've tried and liked better than my own are the very high end ones (gilchrist, dudenbostel, loar) that cost quite a lot more.

sorry, have no useful info about purchasing in europe.

[Dagger Gordon]

I've been to Prague in October. #Certainly recommend the city. It was sunny during the day but it got pretty cold in the evenings.

I have tried some Czech mandolins at The Acoustic Music Co in Brighton, England. #There are a lot of pics on their website.
Trevor, the guy who has the shop, is always very enthusiastic about makers from Czech.

Dan Beimborn has a Lebeda, or did. He's a man who knows a lot about mandolins.

I don't know whether any makers would have much of a selection for you to choose from. #I assume mostly they build to order. #

[Joel Spaulding]

man dough,
You may wish to contact a few of the builders directly, (info is here )to arrange some shop visits.
My "little" sister (she's now 24) spent her post-graduation summer in Europe and enjoyed Prague more than any other place she visited. I'm pretty certain the "cold" evenings won't be much of an issue for you.

[grassrootphilosopher]

Lee,

check out the festival listing for Europe on www.ebma.org. There are numerous festivals in the Czech republic where you could find out about the builders, meet them, play their creations and such.

I would not think that the year´s closeout would be so great a time to visit though.

As far as builders are concerned there´s Capek (Ricky Skaggs has been featured with these instruments, as has been the Dawg; Radim Zenkel plays one...), Novotny (fairly unknown but good methinks), Holubek (his brother builds world class dobros), Janish (a well known banjo builder that also builds mandolins).

I think going to festivals will enable you to check out all sorts of good instruments there. Try to find some concerts by... let´s say Vabank Unit, Rolls Boys, Meantime, Bluegrass Cwrkot, Svata Kotas Band, Funny Grass, Relief and such and talk to them about their instruments. There are tons of class acts in the Czech republic that are as good as they make them.

Try to google up the Czech bluegrass music association and find someone that can help you there. They are all quite nice.

The only problem that I can see is the language barrier, at least when you´re not into the Czech language.

[Pavel Havlicek]

Hi Lee,I´m from Czech and I think that the best quality mandolins and as well the best know mandolins in Czech make Frantisek Furch.
See this site http://www.furch.cz/

Pavel

[Matt Hutchinson]

Hi Lee,I´m from Czech and I think that the best quality mandolins and as well the best know mandolins in Czech make Frantisek Furch.
See this site http://www.furch.cz/

Pavel

I have a Furch MA 23 (top of the range A style). It's a fantastic mandolin within its price bracket (beat all the Eastman's I tried hands down in comparison plus a couple of Czech made Pavlu's into the bargain). Not sure I'd say it's the best though, not when you have Capek, Lebeda, Kristufek etc to compare it to!

Furch (also marketed in the US as Stonebridge) are pretty hard to beat on a budget but I'd swap mine for a Capek or Lebeda any day

Matt

[Christopher Standridge]

I went to the Czech Republic last summer and had a blast! You can see the thread I started with pics from that trip here:
http://www.mandolincafe.net/cgi-bin....+europe
I wasn't able to meet all of the builders, not Lebeda, Vana, or Firch, but I played about one of everything. I would go with this guy, if I had to choose:
http://www.krishot.com/

I sure hope that you do go and have a good time, it is hard not to!
Chris Standridge
www.carvermandolins.com

[Timbofood]

Well, I have seen the pix from Adrian (Hogo on this site) and I have heard some sound clips. I would look him up were I going.
I understand his plans are very well done too.

[Jim MacDaniel]

I will be in Prague in November, and all of the Prague-based builders that I contacted only build to order, so one would need to put down a deposit ahead of time so that a mandolin could be ready for pick-up while there from one of them. (I was given a lead however, on a music store in Old Town where I may be able to find a nice used Czech instrument while there -- which is fine by me.)

Since Furch, referenced above by Pavel, is not in Prague, I did not contact them -- so perhaps they or other larger builders may have a ready inventory of mandolins for an impulse purchase while there. (As DrMole suggested, you may want to try contacting a few builders in advance to arrange a visit, as well as to see if they typically have instruments ready for sale off the wall.)

[Greg H.]

Well while in Prague don't miss Prucha. I tried them out at Greg Boyd's booth IBMA a few years back (as well as many of the other Czech built mandolins in another booth) and the Pruchas ended up in my top 10 (and possibly even top 5 though there were some close calls there) of all the mandolins I tried out at IBMA (which put his mandolins in a class with Michael Lewis, Brentrup, SOME Gibsons, Red Diamond, and Sumi). That said, there were no models from Ellis, Kimble, or Daley to try out in the showcase that year. Prucha's are, however, closer to US price than many of the other Czech builders, but I thought highly enough of them to pony up the cash and buy one.

[mandroid]

Czech Republic is in the Euro zone , now, but I'm not sure if they have joined monetary union.

the Beer is excellent {even if now owned by other brewery holding company's investors}

and Old Town is not a reconstruction, unlike lots of the WW2 leveled cities.

[Gutbucket]

Have you checked out (excuse the pun), the Vana F5 that was recently posted in the "Post a picture dept".? That is one nice looking mandolin. It really has an old Gibson vibe happening there. Waiting for a sound bite of that one.

[red7flag]

I have a Lebeda Mandola. #Negatives first: came with a mandolin and not mandola bridge, came with tuners that were reversed (tuned them the opposite way), the set-up was non-existent (fault of the seller not builder). #Positives: great tone has what I would consider a classical instrument type of sound. Once set up (Dave Harvey) with a mandola bridge and Gibson Grovers, the instrument is easy to play. #The problems were a bit of the seller and a bit of the builder. #With a proper set up, I would recommend the Lebeda strongly. #Without, no.
Tony

[Brandon Flynn]

Am I seeing it right that the Czech mandolins are cheaper than American mandolins for the same quality? Are Prucha's cheaper than Michael Lewis, Brentrup, Ellis, Kimble, etc.?

[mandroid]

Lots of prior chats about backwards tuners , If the buyer wants Schallers to turn counter clockwise , all that is needed is to have the string peg below the worm gear,
the A tuners work fine , the look like the old style pegheads means a gear mass produced with one way will flip over and require a trifle of operator input to turn them clockwise .
But the [Lebeda] installation is perfect. turn smooth and easy.
couldn't ask for better installation workmanship.

[Greg H.]

The Prucha's are somewhat less expensive than the others I mentioned. A new varnished Prucha F5 (if you can get one) is available from Greg Boyd for $8,250. An Ellis, Kimble, Brentrup, Lewis, or Daley would be more expensive (at varying degrees). However, in my post I said that Ellis, Kimble, and Daley did not have booths there that year so I couldn't compare them (I've since compared my Prucha with a Daley, and they compared favorably--I think in the long run the Daley could be the better of the two, as the one I was comparing with was still a bit new). To clarify things a bit more, the Michael Lewis vintage model (made to the specs of Grisman's Crusher) was my favorite of the bunch (but at the time the list price on one of those was around $15,000). I think my excitement is more a matter of finding a mandolin that was similar to equal quality with the high end ones I favored that was actually somewhat affordable for me (though the one I bought was used and even more affordable).

All of this said, I think, and others who've played my Prucha, consider it in the same quality (playability and sound) with the others mentioned. I imagine some will be better, some equal, and perhaps some less, but it's in that ballpark. It has a German spruce top which, I think, is more even the Sitka or Red spruce (at least going by the mandolins I've owned that is true). It's not particularly bass heavy (like sitka can sometimes be) nor is it bass weak (as new red spruce can be). My Prucha has a VERY thin finish on it, is extremely loud, It has beautiful tone. . . but decidedly does NOT sound like a Loar. Which does not mean that it won't work for bluegrass because that's my primary use for it and it works great, but also sounds like it would be excellent for jazz or swing as well.

Did I mention that I like Prucha's? # #

[man dough nollij]

Thanks for all the great input. I think if I were to order a $4k-$8K custom instrument, I'd probably go with one of the fine builders on this side of the pond-- there are a lot of them, and I might even be able to watch some of the construction. I'm guessing the finer Czech builders were a really smokin' deal before the plummet of the dollar. Since it seems that mandolins are quite popular in CZ, there should be some great music stores, and maybe some cool used ones. Does anyone know if I have to pay taxes or duties if I were to buy a used one there and take it back with me on the plane?

[RichM]

Love my Capek Sam!

[swampstomper]

I have two Lebeda mandolins and one mandola, all in their way really fine instruments. I got used to the "backwards" tuners OK, it's just a personal choice. The tonewoods are supernice, from the Czech/German border region (near Carlsbad). CZ is not yet in the Eurozone, they have the Czech crown, but the builders I've bought from (Prucha banjo as well as Jiri Lebeda) happily accept Euros or dollars, and will give you the appropriate invoice for bringing the instrument back to the US or in the Eurozone.

AFAIK none of the above-mentioned names (and I have a Furch D34 guitar I really, really like, especially for the money) have storefronts. They do build to order, either for the customer or the dealers. They all have lists of dealers on their websites (e.g. Grey Boyd's for Prucha, Mandolins & More for Lebeda, somewhere in Brighton UK also) so I am fairly sure you can't go and pick out an instrument. Hey, you can't do that at Martin either.

Some builders do attend festivals, for example Prucha, Lebeda and sometimes Roza at EWOB in the Netherlands. You could write them and ask for their festival schedule.

Anyway, enjoy Prague and CZ in general. I second the recommendation to go to a festival. The musicians are great and bring in some nice local folk influences, it is really good jamming.

[red7flag]

In the 4-8k range, if you are thinking about staying on "this side of the pond", you might consider Chris Stanley. In my experience the best tone for the $ out there. I know there are other factors like fit and finish among others, but for straight Loar type tone, Chris has it. I am not sure if he is taking orders at this time, however. If somebody knows, they might chime in.
Tony

[man dough nollij]

Anyone know why the link between Czechs and mandolins? I'm assuming there is some local musical tradition that favors playing on the mandolin. After all, you don't hear of high end luthiers in Hungary or Romania... (or at least not that I'm aware of). There must be a reason that Czechs build a lot of nice instruments.

[trevor]

My best shot at an explanation is to do with two factors. CZ seems to have a long connection with American music in general and Bluegrass in particular, I believe Mr Monroe visited a few times. There is a long tradition of violin making, similar skills to mandolin making...

[swampstomper]

#1 there is indeed a very long tradition of fine instrument making, especially violins (made of wood hint hint)

#2 under socialism it was very difficult to acquire instruments from outside (both because the economy was poor but also because of import controls and no proper music shops), but it was (semi-)legal to make things for your own use -- which could be "given" to your picking buddies in "exchange" for some consideration...

#3 the "tramping" movement, AFAIK unique to CZ, involved folk music as an integral part of the experience, so there was a lot of demand for instruments of all kinds.

#4 exposure to "bluegrass" via (believe it) Pete Seeger on some State Dept. - sponsored tours; also via VOA.

Talk to Jiri Lebeda some time, he will explain this to you.

[JeffD]

Anyone know why the link between Czechs and mandolins? I'm assuming there is some local musical tradition that favors playing on the mandolin.

I have heard that bluegrass is big,(well you know what I mean) and has been for almost as long as it has here.


I love it. Having grown up in New Jersey I have as much "blood" connection to bluegrass as do the Czechs.