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That's pretty much as definitive as you can get. Thank you both for weighing in.

An original Keith Haring on a mandolin!

https://www.auctionzip.com/auction-lot/keith-haring-dapres_F044348959/

213039

Not sure where to put this but Crossrock has a new blog posting out with information that may be of use to those considering their fiberglass A model case.

That mandolin I think it's the only model in the strad-o-lin advertisements or catalog listings that the bridge sits in the middle of the F holes.

What happened to it is a matter for speculation but, as Gibson labels were invariably filled in in pencil and subject to fading, it appears that it’s been over-written - wrongly.

I just ran across this thread, and I must say it startled me ;) .Thanks for the kind words, Ted Heinonen! Anyway, Eric is right: I do have a number of the Reko/Tikkanen CD's in the closet. Al Reko...

Actually, Mike, SOLs are somewhat supernatural, and you have to be trained to see them at all. There are untold thousands of them out there, some of them with other names, built over half a...

Strad-O-Lins are just cool and fun mandolins shrouded in mystery. I’m very happy with mine and I also like how my late 30s Harmony Monterey mandolin sounds. Inexpensive instruments can still make...

Let me guess, the merged company will be called "Coffee"? :))

Well, SOLs are "handmade". And indeed it´s unfair to do a comparison of an SOL with f.ex. a Duff or Kimble A-5 (though I liked the tone of my SOL better than the one of an Ellis A-5 when I tried it...

Time to buy a top of the line SOL or bring in one of your handmade mandolins. Unless you already brought in a handmade mandolin previously and that's why (by comparison) the SOL seems thin. I could...

I am an avid promoter of a certain style of Strad-O-Lin mandolins. They have the comma f-holes. The body is slightly smaller than the average A shaped Gibson mandolin and - as far as I know - it was...

I’ve never played or even seen a Stradolin. Would an enthusiast say that a good SOL sounds great…or that it sounds great for the money? I mean no offense to anyone or any mandolin.

I don't know if you ever listened to his podcast he did the last year or so of his life. If you haven't you should. It is priceless. It is near the bottom of his webpage at the link below.
...

It's a common style F hole, I've had this one for twenty some years. I don't think it's refinished, I had two with the same finish.

For adding clarity to the information being discussed here, Dan Beimborn made an informative post about ownership (referenced above a few posts and touched on by others) during a discussion last year...

Clearly pretty out-of-touch now! Need to put some new strings on and start practicing again. Build up the callouses....still, the Ellis is great motivation.

Forgive me Mandolin Cafe Forum for I have sinned and recently purchased a used Derrington MM. Weird though, I don't feel guilty.

With that thought I'm bringing this back bcuz it's so damned funny....

When I started working as the engineer for Gibson/Flatiron in 1995, in Belgrade, MT, Gibson had the majority of the domestic mandolin manufacturing and sales market. I believe it was something over...

Something that worked for me, may not for others.

I'd been having intermittent joint pain in my fingers when playing music for some time and it fluctuated wildly. I was pretty concerned it'd be...

I saw the title of this thread, and naively assumed "bal folk" was short hand for Balkan Folk music! Thanks to all those here who have educated me on what it really means.

Note from the auction about the label from the seller.

"On Apr-05-24 at 13:45:00 PDT, seller added the following information:
******* NOTE: The label shown from INSIDE the instrument actually...

I've always understood the term 'bal folk' to just be a shortened reference to 'le bal du folk' which means a folk dance with 'bal folk' more or less referring to the dance music itself. I see that...

Many thanks! :)
VITRIFOLK NOTATION IS HERE and here are the respective MIDI FILES.

There's no reason at all why a mandolin shouldn't be used in a Bal Folk, the thing is they tend to drowned out by louder instruments, such as accordions and bagpipes. At one point there was a band...