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:grin: Jim, true enough, the bb mandolin story is a convoluted one, be it here or over there.
Incidentally, I really like my Hoffman Embergher.:grin:

I find the American bb making scene in the early 20th century utterly confusing with various dealers, wholesalers, distributors etc. coming and going, merging and separating. Can't tell who is only...

Wise decision, John. You may publish when all is said and done.:grin:

Jim, not easy to say how much price leeway is there, but surely they must be some, otherwise the BIN price would have been firm. I would think this one is still a better option than a similar (same...

An Embergher mandolin (1913) appears in a fairly good condition, by a UK eBay seller. The BIN price is 1750 pounds ($2,940 US), offers accepted....

Thank you, Jim.
I can not figure it out why my links work initially, and then sometimes become corrupt eventually.

He he:grin:.....what is a bit of a mystery to me is why would anyone want to raise the strings by so much ?:confused:

An interesting instrument indeed with a mixture of German, Italian and perhaps some American features. The soundboard is real nice, and Jim is right, the headstock does seem to have a serious crack. ...

Yes, it goes to show that an on-stage performer doesn't have to act like a sick monkey in order to move a tune along nicely and project a strong feeling of rhythm.

Here you go: if the bridge support beam was stained black, you probably wouldn't even notice that the mandolin had been repaired.:grin:...

Thank you Jess and TKD.
The input I have received here is more comprehensive than I had expected, it is much appreciated, and most of it is making me somewhat concerned.
A had seen a neurologist...

I'd venture a guess that there have been 100s of thousands of physically faithful Stradivarius violin copies made in N. America, Europe and Asia. Most of them do not sound very good at all. I've...

I think that tells us that modern makers have families to feed.:grin: The market wants (mechanical) copies of the Stradivarius or Guarnerius violins (or patterns), and that has not changed much in...

There is another tricky but telling violin test of which I read many years ago. A concert violinist was asked to play the same music piece on two different violins in close succession. Both violins...

Thank you, Belbein. Getting older, way beyond my juvenile 40s, on its own certainly compounds playing challenges.

Well done, Curtin and Fritz.
There are fortunes which have been made on the trade of old master violins, and the business is still going strong.
Furthermore, the "secret of Stradivarius" is one of...

Thank you for that insight, Ron. Your condition seems more challenging than mine, and I wish you all the best.

Shaun, I hope there is a remedy of sorts available to you soon. My condition began to rapidly deteriorate last summer. Then I started playing the mandolin. That has arrested the worsening of the...

Jim, thank you, I see that he has a very sensible approach where the basic instrument is available at a rather favourable price, and then there are enhancement and "bling" options which obviously...

Jim, thank you, would you happen to have a link to Lippi's website, or his Facebook page etc.
I don't seem able to find anything on the Net. Does he offer any standard mandolin models of his ? ...

Thanx Paul.
Mandoplumb, good to hear your procedure was successful. True enough, sometimes I can't feel the pick either....what a way to play.:grin:

While I believe this to be an "ethno instrument", I kinda doubt its claimed African origin. I think that stringed up contrivance might have been made in Naples (in Italy, not Florida) as a Carnevale...

Thank you Pasha.:)

Gents, thank you for your helpful feedback.

It looks like there is a carpal tunnel surgery (both hands) in my near future.
To those mandolin (or violin) players who had such procedure done, what kind of impact on as well as recovery of my...