Waterloo No mandolins?!

[Joey Anchors]

Was just checking out the Waterloo site as it’s been a couple year since owning my WL-M, and noticed there isn’t mandolins listed on the site anymore.

These are great mandos and the best flat-tops ever made.

[Mandolin Cafe]

Believe this is fairly common knowledge and I know it was communicated somewhere on this forum once that although Waterloo Guitars are still considered a part of the Collings line, very few have been produced since the start of the pandemic. Now put mandolins a long way down the wait list behind guitars which is what keeps the lights on. The short answer is it could be a long time before another new Waterloo mandolin is built. You have to remember Collings lost over 2/3 of their staff as a result of the pandemic. I recently had a conversation with their GM and he shared graphs from an Austin publication that chronicled median home prices increasing from $390K to $521K in just the past 12 months. Between 2010 and now population increased by over 500K. I didn't ask but the cost of property taxes surely skyrocketed with that. Not unlike Bend, Oregon where TOH/Weber/Bedell/Breedlove is located, a similar story of external factors that make being a niche business more difficult. Time for all those young tech bros in Austin to get interested in guitars.

[GMorgan]

There was a time when we considered Austin just a big town. But, according to the local newspaper, the Austin American-Statesman, from just a couple days ago, the median price for a home in Travis County, where Austin is located, is now at $630,000.

[Mandolin Cafe]

Wow... someone just sent me this. It's even worse than I'd heard:

From the Austin Monitor: The median sales price of a home in Austin has surpassed $600,000

[Mandobar]

The mandolins were deleted from the lineup. While there might be more guitars, alas, there are no more mandolins being made.

[sgarrity]

Glad I got one of them. It's a seriously good flattop!

[Mandolin Cafe]

The mandolins were deleted from the lineup. While there might be more guitars, alas, there are no more mandolins being made.

No more Waterloo Mandolins. I do believe I heard that now that I'm reminded. But that doesn't apply, so far, to Collings Mandolins just to be clear. Don't want anyone thinking that applied to Collings Mandolins.

[Joey Anchors]

I feel the same exact way about mine. These are some heavy hitting flattops!

Mines become my #1.