I've been wanting to get a mando for awhile now. I'm looking for cheap, reliable, and solid woods. I ran across a very old looking Stradolin at a pawnshop for $99 today. How can i tell if it's solid woods or not? What else should I look for?
The usual: Neck joint, straight neck (not usually a problem with Strads in my experience), working tuners, frets still ok (they're bound to be quite worn but can still be adequate). They're quite solid instruments and tend to survive time well. Look at the edge of the f or oval hole to see if there are layers of wood (ply) or not (solid). Back and sides are trickier, you have to see if the grain looks the same on each side.
I meant to add that strads that are ply are usually still very decent instruments.
Also look at the sound holes. The Asian imports of the '60s(?) and later branded as S-O-Ls are not segmented, and the body shape is different. Checkout the group photos for some examples.
