Flatiron on Reverb: bargain or bupkis?

[rnjl]

Hey folks, there's something wonky about this listing on Reverb:

https://reverb.com/item/22197061-gib...tival-sunburst

The text in the listing says Flatiron F-2, which would be a post-Gibson Chinese Epiphone "Flatiron" (a desecration of the name), right? But the label in the photographs says it's a Festival, without giving any information about where it was made.

I think most Flatiron labels say where they were made, no?

So is this a very overpriced Epiphone or is this a steal of a price on a real American Flatiron?

Or is the label not the original for this one?

Thoughts?

[CWRoyds]

It is a Chinese Flatiron.
It says so in the product info underneath.
They say it up front.
Way overpriced I think.

I am surprised they picked that sunburst color.
I hate that color scheme
Why make that color when there are so many more beautiful ones to choose from

[MikeEdgerton]

It is a Chinese Flatiron.
It says so in the product info underneath.
They say it up front.
Way overpriced I think.

Agreed.

[rnjl]

Right, I saw the China and "F-2" in the text but I didn't realize the label in the instrument would be so similar to a "real" Gibson label.

Waaayyy overpriced.

Mystery solved.

[John Soper]

I love the mixing and matching of history. Whomever wrote this blurb didn't realize that Epiphone was bought by Gibson:

"Epi Stathopoulo was fascinated by the new style of mandolins when they were first introduced and realized right away that if his father’s instrument company was going prosper, he and his brothers and loyal luthiers would have to learn everything about how these instruments could get such great tone and high volume and still retain the sweet timbre of an old world instrument."