# General Mandolin Topics > Mandolin Cafe News Discussions >  Great Vintage Mandolins Under $1,000

## NewsFetcher

The Mandolin Cafe has posted the following news release:
Great Vintage Mandolins Under $1,000

In this special article we consulted some of the most experienced names in the music business for their recommendations on vintage mandolins under $1,000 with the idea in mind that you don't have to spend a lot of money to get a very good instrument. 

 

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NOTE: You may use your board membership to comment on news articles published by the Mandolin Cafe. Your comments will appear here and also will be appended to the end of the news article for public viewing. Standard board membership posting guidelines apply.

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## Schlegel

It's well worth reminding people that you don't have to be rich to get a rich sound. My personal fave at the moment is a WWII era A-50, and it was indeed less than $1000.  BTW, Roland White told me he started out on a Stradolin, before he could afford a Gibson.  He, too, said they were a really good mandolin for what you spent, even the ply ones.    Too bad the bowlbacks got no love- there are still some beauties mixed in with the piles of wrecks on Ebay.

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## bruce.b

Wow. What a great article! Thanks.

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## Scott Tichenor

> Too bad the bowlbacks got no love- there are still some beauties mixed in with the piles of wrecks on Ebay.


Good point. Let's not count out the fact that a companion look into this is possible in the future, or that there are other versions of something similar looking into other price ranges. Right now I think the $2-3K range for new and used has an incredible amount of interesting possibilities, but I'm not convinced it's necessary to go there.

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## grassrootphilosopher

This place is being monitored by the mando mafia I guess.

Don´t y´all feel a little scared by telling the truth? I, mean having a horse´s head in your bed and all?

No more pac rim mandolins being sold for interesting prices in your local music store. A-50ies, A-75s, Army-Navy mandos, Martin A´s,  Kalamazoo´s, (my favorite) Strad-O-Lin´s etc. selling for an all time high ...

... I think this article needs to be deleted as fast as you can.

I don´t know why, but the Dawg, Grandpa Banana, Stan Jay and Brad must have not taken my advice, when I had them over for tea...

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## danb

> This place is being monitored by the mando mafia I guess.
> 
> Don´t y´all feel a little scared by telling the truth? I, mean having a horse´s head in your bed and all?
> 
> No more pac rim mandolins being sold for interesting prices in your local music store. A-50ies, A-75s, Army-Navy mandos, Martin A´s,  Kalamazoo´s, (my favorite) Strad-O-Lin´s etc. selling for an all time high ...
> 
> ... I think this article needs to be deleted as fast as you can.
> 
> I don´t know why, but the Dawg, Grandpa Banana, Stan Jay and Brad must have not taken my advice, when I had them over for tea...



I'm having trouble making an ounce of sense out of your post Olaf- what are you saying?

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## chip

All made in the good ol USA for the most part! Jus sayin'.   :Wink:

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## William Smith

I'm a fan of the 30's Gibby F-Hole models,,some have great tone,,not much in the volume depo as compared to style 5,,but great little horns..my favorite was a 35 A-50 that I wish I still had with an elevated board!

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## Bill Clements

This is a excellent resource for those interested in finding fine vintage mandolins in an affordable price range, as well as being very informative about mandolins in general.
Considering the collection of experts who have graciously contributed here, this is a must-read for every Cafe member!

Bravo!

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## Chris "Bucket" Thomas

Excellent !

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## thistle3585

I was really surprised by the number of times Stradolin was recommended. I knew they had a following but wasn't aware that they rated that high with the "experts".  I was also a little surprised that the Gibson built Flatiron Performer A's weren't mentioned.  All in all, it was a very well done article.

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## MikeEdgerton

> I'm having trouble making an ounce of sense out of your post Olaf- what are you saying?


It's code, Olaf is a well-known Strad-O-Lin fan.

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## MikeEdgerton

Anyone looking for more information and some pictures should check out the Strad-O-Lin Social Group. There is an entire genre of mandolins made by whomever built them. They weren't all labeled Strad-O-Lin but they are all easily identified.

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## Ron McMillan

My thanks to all involved. A superb resource that I will bookmark and come back to time and again. My only 'complaint' is that it has made my deep, burning need for a mid-20s Gibson A Jr all the more difficult to suppress.

ron

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## Cary Fagan

A very solid article, much appreciated. What I like is the fondness that many people feel for these old mandolins, which I share.  Besides their qualities, they also hold all that secret history--the people who have played and loved them before us.

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## Paul Cooper

When I was collecting, I got about as much pleasure out of finding a great-sounding old beater for a few hundred dollars as I did buying vintage Martin guitars. This was a really fine article.  My two best mandolin finds in that category were an A-style Gretsch (at least that's what the shop owner thought it was), and a Weymann Mandolute.

I'd propose taking this idea further.  What about an online gallery of great-sounding beaters with pictures and sound clips?

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## Randi Gormley

Considering how often this question comes up (on the Cafe and during an ordinary internet search by new players), this is a great resource. Many thanks!

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## mandobassman

> I'm having trouble making an ounce of sense out of your post Olaf- what are you saying?


I think what Olaf is trying to say is that as soon as the word get out that we are now seeking these under $1000 steals, sellers will start increasing the prices so that they are no longer great deals.

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## JPerkins

> I think what Olaf is trying to say is that as soon as the word get out that we are now seeking these under $1000 steals, sellers will start increasing the prices so that they are no longer great deals.


I think it means he spent too much time in the sun at the beer garden yesterday.

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## Capt. E

I have owned and played a number of the mandolins mentioned above. My first "good" mandolin was a "Shiro" A with ff holes made in the late 1970's (I am sure Shiro is another masthead used by Aria. The founder's name was Shiro Arai). The others I have owned under 1K that I would recommend are as follows: 1926 Martin Style B, a 1921 Gibson A (one of the first with a truss rod), a 1980's Mid-Missouri flat-top, a Flatiron flat-top and a '36/37 Gibson A-00 with carved back (sometimes mistakenly called an A-50). I still own the Shiro and the Gibson A-00 and play them often.

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## grassrootphilosopher

> danb
> 
> 
> 
> Re: Great Vintage Mandolins Under $1,000
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks Mike,
that´s the short of what I was rambling about. 

To clarify...
When I started out on the mandolin my budget was low. Where I lived I might have been in the same situation the multitude of you are. There are not many musical stores that carry mandolins. Those that do mostly have the "usual" brands. At that time when I was looking for an instrument they were Samik, Aria, Kentucky (in that price increase order). I was not satisfied with what I saw, found and played. Like many I also play another instrument so I was not totally green. I researched about mandolins as well as I could in the pre internet days. I also had the good fortune to know a good store in Hamburg. That´s where I finally went and I played/tried about all the instruments they had just to find out about each instrument´s advantages and drawbacks. I wanted to know how they sounded. I tried low price semi acoustic Samiks, Kentucky A-s and F-s, a multitude of different vintage Gibson A-(jr, As, 4s; no 3s and no snakeheads), a Gibson Bill Monroe F-5 (highest price with about 10.000,- DM), a very nice A-5 style mandolin that was built by Mr. Richter, the owner of the shop and finally, allmost as an afterthought I inquired about the Strad-O-Lin brand. They had one mandolin, it sounded very good, it was structurally sound (straight neck, no fret issues, intonation okay, one seam seperation properly treated). It fell into my budget. It sounded the way I wanted a mandolin to sound for what I wanted to play (that´s why I didn´t buy a Gibson A...). I bought it for a reasonable price and I´ve had nothing but great compliments about it. It is still a very nice mandolin. I only bit the bullet for a "new" mandolin because years later I found a maker that at that time for a relatively reasonable price built a highly professional mandolin. My Strad-O-Lin and my "new" mandolin compare like apples and oranges. They both have a great sound. Yet they are noticably different. Under certain circumstances I would/could be perfectly happy with just my Strad-O-Lin.

This clarification about sums up what all the contributors said about inexpensive vintage mandolins. 

I chose to include those in my previous comment that specifically mentioned Strad-O-Lin mandolins as Mike (savvy guy) has understood immediately. Otherwise my original statement intended to poke a little fun, overestimate the effect of this very well conducted interview and criticise those that don´t check out vintage options.

Many a thread I´ve read where the mandolin novice has bought himself a ...(insert all the well known names here). Never was there a mention of what the mandolin should do for that person, what the music was that would be played on the mandolin, what the setting (practice, band, performance etc.) was that the mandolin would be used for etc. That was allways sad because it left out so much. I doubt if that poster would have ever found the best choice for what they could afford and for what they´d want the mandolin for.

Red Rector played bluegrass on an A-4 (I guess) paddlehead mandolin and it sounded great. I have a Mainers Mountaineers record where the mando picker plays a Strad-O-Lin (oh... not that brand again...), Mike Compton played an A (or Ajr) on the Down From The Mountain show (also played his then Gilchrist #500 I guess too), Buzz Busby was mentioned and he is a must listen, Niles Hokkanen played an F-4 (I guess) on his instruction tapes and they all sound great. This is just the bluegrass side. 

When I picked up the Tone Poems I CD in 1994 I thought about it as a labor of love towards great sounding instruments (including the SS Steward Snow Queen - we´re talking mandolins). I also thought about the effect the CD would have on the vintage market (and on marketing a Gilchrist mandolin). It (and its sequels as well as the Tone Poets CD) are great statements about what tone is all about. Never would you be able to say one instrument is better than the other. They all do what they were built to do and each instrument has its special place. Listening to recordings like Traversata by Beppe Gambetta and Carlo Aonzo even widens the perspective as it includes bowl back instruments.

I know people who each have several modern mandolins that cost up to 1.900,- USD each. They claim to be looking for the differences in the sound of these mandolins. Had the people I know invested in the mandolins that have been mentioned here, A-00, A-75, A-jr, A, A-3, Kalamazoo, Army Navy, vintage Washburn, Martin A, Epiphone etc. they really would have had a wide variety of sound choices (pun intended). The mandolins that they have though sound pretty much the same to me. What´s more, they lack the musical spice that only a well played (vintage) instrument can have.

Closing out I´d like to express my wish that every aspiring mandolin player ought to read this interview whenever he´s on the hunt for a new mandolin. It is very well that even those with a budget that could buy a new car think about these seemingly lesser instruments once in a while - as the contributors to this interview aparently do time and again. I don´t expect the interview to be the turningpoint in the (musical) evaluation of inexpensive vintage instruments though (sigh).

And I wouldn´t have minded having had the people that I mentioned over for tea.

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JRG

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## Doug Ezell

Just want to add my Kudos to Scott for getting these honorable players to comment on this subject.  This is what makes the Mandolin Cafe the coolest site on the net!!

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## epicentre

> I think what Olaf is trying to say is that as soon as the word get out that we are now seeking these under $1000 steals, sellers will start increasing the prices so that they are no longer great deals.


BINGO!!  A great article, but:  BINGO.

Wish I had known in time to stock up for resale.  :Frown:   Aw well...................... :Wink:

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## BradKlein

I was happy to contribute to the Vintage Mandolins Under $1K feature, but I left out one bargain since they don't come around THAT often, and I'd have had to 'cheat' a little.  The early 20th c. carved instruments by Lyon & Healy were made in three styles and two scale lengths, (a short scale similar to a Martin bent top and a long scale, close to Gibson). Even the most modest, the Style C was built to a level of fit and finish quite comparable to Gibson's top of the line A-4 but with a sweet tone that is all their own.  Observers of the vintage market will note that these instruments in good condition sell for well over our price limit, but over the years, many have lost THIS flashy feature:



The ornate and lovely L&H tailpiece cover, which on its own sells for $4-500 dollars.  So there you have it!  If you happen upon a Style C in good condition, MISSING its tailpiece cover and perhaps without its original hardshell case, you may well snag it for just under four figures (a short scale C just sold on ebay for $1400, WITH tailpiece cover and a low-end case). No one would call the L&H a traditional bluegrass beast, but if you've ever heard Norman Blake play his Style B, on his old Homespun instructional tape, you know how sweet they can be! They stand comfortably alongside the top of the Gibson line as the finest carved, oval hole mandolins of the great mandolin boom of the early 20th century.

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## Charles E.

A case in point, NFI

http://fayetteville.craigslist.org/msg/2909073585.html

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## Perry

Great article. 

NFI but check out what this fellow does with vintage parlor guitars. 

http://www.vintageparlorguitars.com/

He fixes them up and gets them ready as _players_ even if it means replacing an original part or three.

Someone running a mandolin version would be cool.

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## PaulO

Scott, Thank you, Thank you, for such a great article that puts some balance into the search for that great instrument.

What makes this so wonderful is how you have collected such a group of "experts" who are willing to chime in and give us their opinions on under radar finds.

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## bones12

I love opinions from people who know their stuff.  This is a fine summation of what we all hear in the trenches; it is nice to see a consensus regarding the beautiful  workhorses of the past 90 years.  On the Cafe we are so very lucky -- thanks to all,   Doug in Vermont

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## journeybear

Great article - lots of very useful suggestions and information, the closing contribution from Roger Siminoff in particular. This should be posted in a FAQ or sticky or something where everyone thinking of buying an old instrument can easily refer to it. I was fortunate to find a teens Gibson plain A (not A Jr) on ebay for about $900 with just a couple minor imperfections four years ago - fortunate not only because it's a good instrument but also because I took a leap of faith and didn't get burned. I have since learned how lucky I was. Having a check list like this in hand when someone goes to look at a potential purchase would be an invaluable resource. Now if only someone would produce something similar for cars ...  :Wink:

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## bmac

I found the article an excellent and informative read.  I doubt that an article dealing with used instruments over $1000 would have quite the appeal.... Those with that kind of money to spend already have some knowledge and experience with mandolins and hopefully can make informed decisions from their knowledge base. The beginner, with three to five hundred dollars to spend can often get a very decent instrument. I wish I had seen an article like this before I made my first purchase. I purchased one new but i now think (know) I could have done better with a decent used mandolin.

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## JeffD

A classic piece. It will be linked often. 

It is of the same caliber of usefullness as that other often linked article on Jazz Mando about the effects of pick shape and hardness on tone.

And of course Mike Marshall's video on how to hold the darned thing.

I espeically like the format of the article. Its really magazine style. I felt like I was reading an old copy of Mandolin World News, back when a magazine was the only way to create a community feeling. Now the internet has kind of changed all that, and the cafe here has always felt like more of ummmm.... a cafe, than a magazine. But that article goes in the magazine camp, along with the other interviews, and Bill Graham's excellent columns.

I never thought of myself as particularly old fashioned, but I do really like a magazine format. And actually, it adds to the whole cafe experience. Its the stack of magazines over there by the window that you pick up and read over coffee.

Good job. Great topic.

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## treadnot

I have an Elias Howe flatback mandolin. Made in Boston. excellent condition. I think it sounds great, but I don't see any reference to them on this thread.  too few of them to comment on?

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## grassrootphilosopher

Even though I have no experience with Howe instruments, I think that Grandpa Banana does (http://www.vintageinstruments.com/). And if they are as good as Strad-O-Lins they deserve a dedicated following (http://www.vintageinstruments.com/mu...me6photos.html).

Anyone that looks for something new better look out for something old.

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## BradKlein

I was discussing this vintage Cafe article this afternoon, and I'd like to amend my recommendations to include, what I think is the single best deal in vintage mandolins today. It might run slightly over a grand, but then again, it might not. A vintage Lyon & Healy C model - MISSING ITS TAILPIECE COVER. This is #113, probably sold in 1919, with neatly truncated fingerboard and a finely made replacement pickguard in ebony rather than the 'vulcanized fibre' original. It's in the longer 'Gibson' scale, important to me, but not to everybody. In VG unmodified condition, probably worth about $2K, but they come up on ebay regularly with some wear, and if they're missing that fancy hard-to-find easy-to-lose tailpiece cover, you can knock off $500! And the instrument is every inch the equal of a teens Gibson A-4 in sound and build quality, and which will generally set you back about twice as much.

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Scott Tichenor

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## Mandolin Cafe

Observing the five year anniversary of the publication of this feature. Only thing that has changed is that it's our opinion many of these vintage instruments can likely be purchased for less than when published. Not unusual for prices to go up and down, and they went way, way up for a few years before heading back down.

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BradKlein, 

Jeff Mando

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## JRG

Got my first Stradolin last year, a 1940 that was played in a little church up on the TN/NC line where snake handling was a regular part of the "service". It ain't signed by Loyd Loar but it sounds better than it should and has more mojo than it should as well.

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## Mandolin Cafe

Noting the anniversary of this feature article. It was a lot of fun to put together. A lot has changed since 2012 so maybe it's time to do another!

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Eric Platt, 

John Lloyd, 

MikeEdgerton

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## Mandolin Cafe

Still a good reason (our opinion). Published 8 years ago today.

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## Mandolin Cafe

Noting the anniversary of this one-of-a-kind feature.

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BradKlein

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## mandrian

Hi,

Funny, I was thinking of this article last week when I saw a Gibson A Jnr advertised in the classifieds for 2500 USD. Of course, I’m not sure anyone will buy it!..

Regards,

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## Sue Rieter

This is the article that inspired me to get my Strad-O-Lin. Didn't even know they existed before I read it. Then I saw mine on CL.....  :Mandosmiley:

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## BradKlein

In post 24 above I laid out my theory that the best deal in vintage mandolins is an L&H Model C that's missing its desirable tail piece cover. At the moment, there are two such in the classifieds. Both asking well above that $1K limit, but I still believe that all else being equal,  but they often do go for well under the price of the equivalent oval hole Gibsons and so represent a special value if you can find a reasonably motivated seller.

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