Octave Mandoline - where to buy a good one in or around Germany?

Hi there,
I'm playing Irish Bouzouki now for a few years and want to buy a short scale one or an octave mandoline. It should be a high quality instrument - budget is about 2-2,5k €. Could be custom as well. I just don't want to wait too long. ;)

I read a lot of posts and search results to find an address for buying. Unfortunately a lot of the builders or shops are in Ireland, England or US.
Has anyone a hint where to find a nice working builder or a shop in or around Germany, where I even can try an instrument before ordering? I'm from northern Germany and US or british isles a little bit to far just for a try...;)

Thanks a lot in advance!

Hi,

I bought my Thijs van der Harst OM at "new acoustic gallery" in Wuppertal. Thijs has his workshop in Breda, Netherlands and also sells directly.
A friend of mine bought his Northfield OM at "new acoustic gallery".
Both are fine instruments, but unfortunately not in the price range you described.
Pendennis mandolins near Hamburg could be an option, Stevens guitars in Munich also. But I have no information about their pricing.

There are a couple of very talented luthiers near Prague. Capek pops immediacy to mind, but I’m blanking on the other name we see mentioned not infrequently mentioned on here. Definitely closer than the US or Great Britain.

Lebeda and Krishot are two others...coffee’s kicking in, lol

A sleeper (not very well-known, internationally) in the Czech Republic is Roman Zajíček and his Rozawood instruments. I have owned two of his OM's and they are world-class. They're not cheap, but Roman is an incredibly talented luthier and it shows in his instruments.

Thanks for the tipps. Unfortunately the Czech builders are a little bit off my budget. But I will have a look on Thijs van der Harsts instruments. Some of them are very interesting