# General Mandolin Topics > eBay, Craig's List, etc. >  Bruce Wei

## Oliver R

Not his usual stuff?.....Very strange all the same (not sure how you would actually turn 2 of the machines)

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Solid-wood-Sty...#ht_2429wt_905

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## JEStanek

Kinda cool take on a Blue Comet!  

I'm gonna assume there's clearance for those machines to turn (how else could it have been strung up?

Jamie

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## Oliver R

Cool comet! Never heard of one of them.

Fair point regarding the tuners.

Oliver

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## Jim Garber

If nothing else, those Vietnamese shops come up with some interesting designs.  I wonder what Vietnamese Koa actually is (see picture of the back).

I agree: the tuners at the top of the peghead look odd -- I wonder if you could reverse them. 

Also, note: Fingerboard Width At Nut :  1 3/4"  -- kind of wide, no? even for a mandola.

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## Oliver R

You could re-cut the top of the headstock a'la snakehead!

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## Jim Garber

I wonder if the gear strips can just be swapped. It is sort of strange the way they installed them. Must have been a "Friday" instrument.  :Smile:

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## MikeEdgerton

You are all missing this instruments finest point and the point that means they might be starting to get it....

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## Jim Garber

You mean the flowerpot? Nah, these guys are trying lots of things -- not just copying Gibson. Take a look at their bowlbacks. I think it is more sending out a spray in many directions rather than focusing on one particular style. I would love to visit one of these Vietnamese shops and see what their thought processes and production is like. could be interesting.

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## MikeEdgerton

Yes the flower pot. I'm guessing they got an order to cut those for a manufacturer and decided to use it as well. The day these guys figure out they just need to make a mandolin that looks like a normal A5 or F5 and they're going to sell a ton is the day that the mandolin market makes another big shift. I'm surprised the folks at Saga aren't there already. I'm guessing that Vietnam might be the next inexpensive origin country for musical instruments.

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## Eddie Sheehy

Beware of "half-seasoned" wood.  My Tsai Doubleneck developed a split in the back - Canadian Maple.

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## Jim Garber

I think Mike's point was that if the Vietnamese got their act together they could compete with other Asian centers of instrument making. As Eddie noted, if they could have some patience and properly season their wood they might do quite well. I have often been tempted by the interesting design of some of their products. I have not been too impressed by the quality of thier hardware tho. I have a feeling that if anyone does buy this particular mandola , you would probably replace the tuners anyway.

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## MikeEdgerton

Exactly. Right now they are not unlike the Japanese Bicycle makers of the early 1970's. Building odd looking products. A few years later they were the bicycle industry.

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## brunello97

Well, I'm the lonely guy over in the other thread touting the exotic Nouveau Cristofaros and Calaces and all-around exuberance from Catania. Yet, I am typically reminded of how much others prefer the simpler, subdued designs of the Romans or classic Neapolitans. (Plami and I are on our own it seems.)  How come this weirdness is so interesting?  I hope their design skills grow along with their basic luthiery.  Truly hideous stuff to my eye, without redeeming design sensibility, unless reckless (aka garish) collage is what is popular now. (Well, I guess it actually is.)

Mick

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## MikeEdgerton

Their basic lutherie is quite advanced, it's been going on for over a hundred years in that area. We had a thread a while back about a Vietnamese mandolin from the 30's that was sold.

My mistake, the 20's. It's here.

Actually, you and I were in that thread. Somebody finally gave a valid reason for it to exist.

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## Jim Garber

I love that Bat mandolin. It would have gone quite nicely with the Batmobile that Scott Chinery owned.

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## JEStanek

I really waznted that Bat Mandolin too.  It was a fair bit cooler, to me, than the current model under discussion.

Jamie

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## Jim Garber

Of course, Jamie, you can prob commission either Mr. Tsai or Mr. Wei to make a modern day version of the bat mando.

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## MikeEdgerton

chances are it wouldn't look like the original even if you sent them a picture.

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## brunello97

> chances are it wouldn't look like the original even if you sent them a picture.


I did like the Bat-O-Lin.  I'll bet it had a biting tone.  We probably wore out all the bad puns last time 'round as well.  I'm all for weird imagination (Catania) though I haven't gotten my head around the cheap curio shop aesthetic yet. 

Mick

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## Jim Nollman

why not get the Cafe to interview Mr Wei and/or Mr Tsai. Would answer many of your questions.

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## Jim Garber

> chances are it wouldn't look like the original even if you sent them a picture.


Actually a friend of mine used Mr. Tsai for inlay work. My friend liked to design but wanted someone else to implement and Tsai's prices were pretty low. At first he didn't come close to my friend's drawings but he made clear to Tsai that he wanted it to look as close as possible to the drawing and he did a fine job after that. 

I think a lot of it has to do with communication. I talked to a violin maker who wanted to make available reasonably priced violins for students. He went over to China and visited a number of shops there until he found one that he felt comfortable working with to produce violins in the white. Some of that had to do with the seasoning of the wood. He says that he still throws away all the hardware and fingerboards and puts his own on as well as regraduates and finishes but the arrangement works out well.

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## Jim Garber

> why not get the Cafe to interview Mr Wei and/or Mr Tsai. Would answer many of your questions.


Certainly an interesting idea! I wonder how it would go. Initially these guys represented themselves as luthiers in Taiwan without mention of the shops in Vietnam. Now they seem to subtly mention those shops.

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