This a new Chinese Bowl Back I bought yesterday. It is sold in Italy and in Greece under different names (Comet in Italy - Privatera and La Perla in Greece) for around EUR 170.00. I bought it here for a lot less. It was a stock from a shipment from a few years back left in the warehouse of a music store. Probably the quality we get here (at least finish issues) is not the same they get in Europe.
I followed Jim Garber's advise, I only bought it because it sounded nice, as there is not much hope that the sound will get better in time (due to the shiny finish)
I am not sure what wood the top is (whether pine or spruce as mostly I can't tell them apart), It has 17 ribs don't know what wood either (probably walnut). The frets are brass and very well placed and leveled, the bridge is not that good and will need some work as I can't get the G string into a good intonation. I'll probably have to lower it at the G a little. Surprisingly all the rest of the intonation is very good. It has a zero freight, which is crucial for me (for set up reasons obviously) AND it has a 33 cm scale (distance from zero fret to the middle of fret 12 is 16.5 cm).
It has a good treble but not a rich bass. Sustain is not like my old Italian mandolins.
I bought it because now that I can play a little, I needed I mandolin I could move around. With all that shiny finish weather conditions will probably not affect it.
Here are pics and a couple of demos I made.
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