CBOMs of Note

**Tavy** · Nov-29-2008, 5:23am

Here we go, a thread for all those interesting, desirable, or downright strange CBOM's that come up for sale.

If we end up needing formal guidance for what should or should not go here, then I'll edit this first accordingly, otherwise post away!

John.

**Tavy** · Nov-29-2008, 5:28am

Here we go, a rather nice Germain bowl-back mandola, up for sale by David Hyndes (you'll find him posting in the builders section).

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...m=170280639599

John.

**Tavy** · Nov-29-2008, 5:31am

I'm not really sure why I'm posting a link to this, except I can not believe the price the guy is asking given the state of the instrument: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...m=350130530536

Frankly even at $50 I'd think twice given the condition of the top - and he wants $300

John.

**Kyle Baker** · Nov-29-2008, 11:11am

Originally Posted by Tavy

I'm not really sure why I'm posting a link to this, except I can not believe the price the guy is asking given the state of the instrument: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...m=350130530536

Frankly even at $50 I'd think twice given the condition of the top - and he wants $300

John.

yikes, that's in rough shape! It would be a nice instrument to have, but the soundboard is ruined with little words indented all over it. Looks like one of the instruments Andy Irvine plays.

**Tavy** · Nov-29-2008, 12:09pm

Originally Posted by Kyle Baker

yikes, that's in rough shape! It would be a nice instrument to have, but the soundboard is ruined with little words indented all over it. Looks like one of the instruments Andy Irvine plays.

Nod. It's a waldzither, see http://www.johnmaddock.co.uk/waldzither/html/index.html for the story of mine, and some info about other instruments of this type. Normally instruments in that shape really do go for $50: that one would need a whole new top at the very minimum

John.

**Keith Miller** · Nov-30-2008, 6:22pm

This one looks good, will not stay at that price !
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Beautiful-Gree...1%7C240%3A1318

**Keith Miller** · Nov-30-2008, 6:35pm

how about a Sobell citern
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Superb-and-Rar...1%7C240%3A1318

**Tavy** · Dec-01-2008, 4:44am

Originally Posted by Keith Miller

how about a Sobell citern
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Superb-and-Rar...1%7C240%3A1318

Way out of my price range!

Very nice though

John.

**Tavy** · Dec-01-2008, 4:46am

Originally Posted by Tavy

Here we go, a rather nice Germain bowl-back mandola, up for sale by David Hyndes (you'll find him posting in the builders section).

Sold for £216.

John.

**steve V. johnson** · Dec-04-2008, 9:54am

I was about to note the rosewood Garrison OM-50 that Mr. Peter Mix had up on the Cafe Classifieds, but I put it off til daylight and now it's gone, gone, gone. It figures, tho, it's a nice instrument and was offered at a nice price.

Garrison seems to have well and truly disappeared. I did some web searches yesterday after seeing the P.Mix OM ad and found nothing. (Of course, I might have missed it...) I was looking for the Garrison page that had the various mandolin and OM models all lined up for comparison.
All I found were some months-old notices of Gibson's purchase of Garrison.

As I recall, the basic Garrison OM had mahogany b/s, with upgrades to maple and rosewood, all with mahogany necks, truss rods and scales of around 20". The body styles were simple A's with round soundholes, floating bridges and stamped tailpieces, the headstocks a simple 'paddle'-type shape.

Congrats to the buyer of Mr. Mix's Garrison OM. These will be collectable one day, esp. if the
disappearance of the Garrison mandolin line is as complete as it seems to me.

stv

**steve V. johnson** · Dec-04-2008, 11:01am

Who knows luthier Mark Locke?

Here's a Mark Locke OM. Visually very Sobell.

At Elderly now. I have NFI in this one.

http://www.elderly.com/vintage/names...--90U-5182.htm

I was looking at the Used Mandolins list under "Other" to find these.

There's also an Olde Woods Luthierie OM in that section and a Weber Absaroka OM in the
used Weber listings.

stv

**PseudoCelt** · Dec-04-2008, 11:28am

Garrison still seems to be producing instruments, despite having no obvious web presence. TAMCo have got a few Garrison OMs in recently, either cedar/birch, or spruce/sapele.

Patrick

**Gerry Cassidy** · Dec-04-2008, 1:14pm

Didn't Gibson buy Garrison?

**steve V. johnson** · Dec-04-2008, 2:38pm

Thanks, Patrick. Good news, I guess. And I'd forgotten about the birch ones, too.

stv

**Arto** · Dec-06-2008, 10:34am

"This one looks good, will not stay at that price !
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Beautiful-Gree...1%7C240%3A1318

Looks great, but isn´t the ornamentation a bit over the top?

Arto

**steve V. johnson** · Dec-06-2008, 11:21am

Thanks, Arto.

I always wonder about those real eastern bouzoukis... There are usually a pretty wide range of them listed on eBay, from toys and wall-hangers to serious and sometimes old instruments.

I've never played one of those eastern types. I ran across a video on YouTube of Paul Brady doing a song with an eastern bouzouki, and it sounded fantastic, "that sound" from the great Irish band recordings of the '70's, and Alec Finn's wonderful sound to this day.

There aren't places around here where I can just go and sit down with one... but I'm really intrigued to find out what it's like to play them. I need to learn more about the regional differences in construction and who the various current builders (and manufacturers, too) are and what they do, certainly before an serious shopping. But I have lots of time for that... because I can't afford to buy one! ;-)

Thanks,

stv

**Tavy** · Dec-09-2008, 11:41am

Well here's a little cracker - A vintage Gibson Mandocello - be prepared to drool

More at http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Gibson-Mandoce...3A1|240%3A1318

**Tavy** · Dec-09-2008, 11:46am

Two more afordable luthier made instruments, one from David Freshwater (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/David-Freshwat...3A1|240%3A1318) and one from Fylde (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Fylde-Archtop-...3A1|240%3A1318)

**Tavy** · Dec-16-2008, 4:41am

Update:

No sale on the Gibson or Freshwater, the Fylde went for £700.

John.

**steve V. johnson** · Dec-19-2008, 11:33am

Here are a couple from the mandocellos on eBay, pretty unusual...! I have no financial nor personal interest in these sales. But I am amused.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Custom-mandocell...1%7C240%3A1318

http://cgi.ebay.com/BARDSONG-MANDOCE...1%7C240%3A1318

stv

**PseudoCelt** · Jan-12-2009, 12:04pm

I noticed that there's a Mid-Mo octave mandolin on eBay. They don't seem to come up used very often. Some nice photos on the listing.

**PseudoCelt** · Jan-12-2009, 12:10pm

Also, The Music Room in the UK has a used Manson cittern for sale (NFI). I've seen photos of his mandolins and octave mandolins, but I don't think I've seen a cittern before.

Patrick

**steve V. johnson** · Jan-12-2009, 3:22pm

The Mid-Mo is still listed on eBay...

Nice Manson!!

Thanks!

stv

**Tavy** · Jan-13-2009, 1:50pm

Originally Posted by PseudoCelt

Also, The Music Room in the UK has a used Manson cittern for sale (NFI). I've seen photos of his mandolins and octave mandolins, but I don't think I've seen a cittern before.

Patrick

I've seen those up for sale before too: is it just me though or is that headstock really ugly? I like the triangular shape - that's unusual and distinctive, but that big block on the end looks plain ugly to me

Of course the photos may not do it justice, and I'm sure it's a heck of lot better than anything I could build!

John.