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Thread: What mandolins are made in North America?

  1. #26
    Worlds ok-ist mando playr Zach Wilson's Avatar
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    Default Re: What mandolins are made in North America?

    Quote Originally Posted by Mandolin Cafe View Post
    Those are all companies incorporated in and doing business in the United States. The fact that some purchase products made in other countries as part of their resale is simply part of their business model. Misleading? Please...
    Yes, I know that information. Its misleading to post it here in a thread where the OP is looking for "What mandolins are MADE in North America".

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  3. #27
    Worlds ok-ist mando playr Zach Wilson's Avatar
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    Default Re: What mandolins are made in North America?

    Quote Originally Posted by Mandolin Cafe View Post
    Please...
    Also, this is so very condescending.

  4. #28
    two t's and one hyphen fatt-dad's Avatar
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    Default Re: What mandolins are made in North America?

    very happy with my A5 mandolin built by Larry Muth in Regina, Sk. Google his web page and check his pricing. It's favorable and he does great work.

    Now, in dealing with custom orders, prepare to wait at least a year. It'll give you time to practice and lord knows you won't want to buy another mandolin as your is being built!

    f-d
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  6. #29

    Default Re: What mandolins are made in North America?

    Quote Originally Posted by fatt-dad View Post
    very happy with my A5 mandolin built by Larry Muth in Regina, Sk. Google his web page and check his pricing. It's favorable and he does great work. Now, in dealing with custom orders, prepare to wait at least a year. It'll give you time to practice and lord knows you won't want to buy another mandolin as your is being built!
    f-d
    Thanks, but I'm way way WAY too impatient to wait that long!

  7. #30
    Registered User Jill McAuley's Avatar
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    Default Re: What mandolins are made in North America?

    Nice looking used Skip Kelly A just hit the classifieds - NFI on my part:

    https://www.mandolincafe.com/ads/164018#164018
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  9. #31

    Default Re: What mandolins are made in North America?

    Quote Originally Posted by esslewis View Post
    I’m considering a new (or used) mando but want something made in the US or Canada. What options do I have? It won’t be anything boutique, I know — under $2,500 or so — so I don’t really need to know about the custom high-end makers. Thanks in advance.
    Ratliff Mandolins are very good, made in USA (Tennessee) mandos. You can get a new country boy for that price range ($2250 on website).

    http://ratliffmandolins.com/new/

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  11. #32
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    Default Re: What mandolins are made in North America?

    Quote Originally Posted by Jill McAuley View Post
    Nice looking used Skip Kelly A just hit the classifieds - NFI on my part:

    https://www.mandolincafe.com/ads/164018#164018
    If I already didn't have a good A model, I'd consider this bad boy big-time. And, it's Kelley, btw.

  12. #33
    Registered User Charles E.'s Avatar
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    Default Re: What mandolins are made in North America?

    [QUOTE And, it's Kelley, btw.[/QUOTE]

    Reminds me of the old Irish popular song "If I Knock The L out Of Kelly, He'll Knock The L Out Of Me!"
    Charley

    A bunch of stuff with four strings

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  14. #34
    Registered User Jill McAuley's Avatar
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    Default Re: What mandolins are made in North America?

    Quote Originally Posted by AlanN View Post
    If I already didn't have a good A model, I'd consider this bad boy big-time. And, it's Kelley, btw.
    Oops, my bad, thanks for the heads up!
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  15. #35
    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: What mandolins are made in North America?

    BTW the OP has Pulled the trigger on a Collings-A. I suppose we could still keep the discussion going... or not.
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  17. #36
    Mando accumulator allenhopkins's Avatar
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    Default Re: What mandolins are made in North America?

    I vote "not."

    Discussions on "what instruments are made where," tread along the edge of nationalism. As such, they're vulnerable to politicization. And we know where that leads.
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  19. #37

    Default Re: What mandolins are made in North America?

    Blevins Mandolin Works.
    I should have mine in February or March.

  20. #38

    Default Re: What mandolins are made in North America?

    Blevins’s Mandolin Works.

  21. #39
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    Default Re: What mandolins are made in North America?

    Weber mandolins are made in Bend Oregon. They are great mandolins.

  22. #40
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    Default Re: What mandolins are made in North America?

    Quote Originally Posted by Richard G View Post
    Weber mandolins are made in Bend Oregon. They are great mandolins.
    Yup, as are Collings. My two faves, and not because they're made in North America (although they are).
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  23. #41
    coprolite mandroid's Avatar
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    Exclamation Re: What mandolins are made in North America?

    Peter Mix Carbon fiber ones were his Vermont company
    collaborating with a Rhode Island carbon specialist.

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  24. #42

    Default Re: What mandolins are made in North America?

    <violates Forum posting guidelines>
    Last edited by Mandolin Cafe; Jul-05-2021 at 6:42am.

  25. #43
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    Default Re: What mandolins are made in North America?

    When I learned my first mandolin chords in the mid 1970's, there weren't any good new mandolins being built in the US, except for the handful that were being made by individuals that I was not aware of, such as Randy Wood.

    And with the suspension of operations at the Weber plant, Collings is now the only US company making mandolins in large numbers. And they are good mandolins. I do find it to be ironic that they have only been making mandolins for just over 20 years, while the company that developed carved top mandolins has not made mandolins in significant numbers for several years.

    And some of the best mandolins being made today are built in Australia. But most of them cost well over the OP's budget of $2500.

    I do like the growth in the number of small shop makers, wherever they are.
    And I don't see anything wrong with a person preferring to spend their money in their country of residency.

  26. #44
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    Default Re: What mandolins are made in North America?

    Quote Originally Posted by rcc56 View Post
    And with the suspension of operations at the Weber plant, Collings is now the only US company making mandolins in large numbers. And they are good mandolins. I do find it to be ironic that they have only been making mandolins for just over 20 years, while the company that developed carved top mandolins has not made mandolins in significant numbers for several years..
    Northfield is now producing far more solely U.S. built mandolin family instruments than Collings. They just happen to also have even more partially produced in China then finished here. Gibson may even be producing more mandolins than Collings according to Dennis at The Mandolin Store.

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  28. #45

    Default Re: What mandolins are made in North America?

    Quote Originally Posted by Mandolin Cafe View Post
    Northfield is now producing far more solely U.S. built mandolin family instruments than Collings. They just happen to also have even more partially produced in China then finished here. Gibson may even be producing more mandolins than Collings according to Dennis at The Mandolin Store.
    Reminds me of a guitar I have, the short-lived Sigma USA stamped Martin D-35 copy from 1981. The actual model name was DR-35N. "N" stood for assembled in Nazareth. The guitar was partially built in Japan as a cost saving experiment, then shipped to the USA for final finishing, assembly, and set-up. Because 51 percent of the work was done in the USA, the guitars could be legally stamped "USA." The other Sigma guitars are not stamped "USA." Not quite as good as a Martin, but it is still a very nice guitar, IMHO.

  29. #46
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    Default Re: What mandolins are made in North America?

    Quote Originally Posted by Jeff Mando View Post
    Reminds me of a guitar I have, the short-lived Sigma USA stamped Martin D-35 copy from 1981. The actual model name was DR-35N. "N" stood for assembled in Nazareth. The guitar was partially built in Japan as a cost saving experiment, then shipped to the USA for final finishing, assembly, and set-up. Because 51 percent of the work was done in the USA, the guitars could be legally stamped "USA." The other Sigma guitars are not stamped "USA." Not quite as good as a Martin, but it is still a very nice guitar, IMHO.
    Northfield's Michigan built mandolins are manufactured from start to finish only in the U.S. Period.

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  31. #47

    Default Re: What mandolins are made in North America?

    Quote Originally Posted by Mandolin Cafe View Post
    Northfield's Michigan built mandolins are manufactured from start to finish only in the U.S. Period.
    I think Northfield makes a great mandolin. I think they're made by skilled luthiers who are well treated by the company (and, I think, are employee owners). I could care less where they are made.

    That said I thought they pretty much followed a North American woods and matching, China for assembly and finishing, North America for set up. I thought that process was pretty much the same for everything except the Calhoun and maybe the Flat top octave.
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  32. #48
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    Default Re: What mandolins are made in North America?

    According to Northfield's website, only two models are built from start to finish in the US: the flat top octave, and the Calhoun. The Artist 4th Generation is partly built in the US. Then the unfinished body and neck are sent to Quingdao, where "The assembly is then completed with sanding and coloring steps performed by Yao Ling." Then the instrument is shipped back to the US for final finishing, hardware installation, and setup. http://www.northfieldinstruments.com...rthfield-works

    As far as Gibson is concerned, unless Guitar Center has a large number of F-5G's and F-9's in stock, only a handful of new instruments are available through their other mandolin dealers, The Mandolin Store and Morgan Music.

    And although all manufacturers are having trouble delivering new instruments right now, a brief and incomplete survey of some of the better known Collings dealers yields at least 28 new instruments currently available, with additional instruments on order. I don't see any evidence that Gibson is out-producing Collings.

  33. #49
    Administrator Mandolin Cafe's Avatar
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    Default Re: What mandolins are made in North America?

    Information we share is based primarily on two factors: information directly from the the people at the companies building them, and then the owners of retail stores that act as their reseller. Based on that I'm confident in the accuracy of what has already been stated. Information from multiple sources align. Counting instruments on web sites is fine doesn't reveal a single instrument tsold before being listed because a customer requested a certain model, and there's a fair amount of that going on.

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    Default Re: What mandolins are made in North America?


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