$182 Kentucky KM-162 in a non-music store. Good Deal?

[mjbkwrds]

Ok, so I'm looking for a beginners mandolin for my guitar playing wife. She has already said she wants one, so I'm good there. I want to get one for her for Christmas and don't have much of a budget to speak of (If I have to spend more than $375 I'm going to wait until her birthday in April and just get her a Kindle Paperwhite). I was walking around a store locally called Bargain Hunt, which is what craigslist would look like if it had a storefront. It's lots of overstock, undersold, wrong addressed stuff that all ends up being bought at auction or whatnot. You can find 60" TV's in box for $600 semi-regularly. /Backstory

I was walking through as I do on a monthly basis to kill time and ran across a Kentucky KM-162 Mandolin in their music section. It will assuredly need a pro-setup, but it looks to be brand new, unplayed, etc. It is for sale for $182. I didn't see a hard case or a soft case for it. Is this worth the price when factoring in a pro-setup and a case?

I see the pros of having the instrument and getting it set up for under $300 a good deal, but then there is the risk associated with buying from a non-music store with no return policy. What do you guys think? We have a discount music store that my wife already takes her guitars to, and I'm going to ask there in person, but I want some collective wisdom as well.

Thanks All!

[Mandobart]

A quick Google search like you probably already did shows this is a good price compared to other internet stores. About $100 or more below other advertised prices. You can get a nice gig bag that will do a good job of protecting it for much less than $100. I would find someone who knows something about mandolins in your area to check it out for expensive to fix problems. If it's clean I would buy it. If she doesn't take to it, you can probably resell it for a little more than you paid and still ask a very fair price.

[Samuel David Britton]

The Km-162 goes for $380 with setup and case.

[Folkmusician.com]

Most playability issues can be addressed by setup. Everything from action, on up to completely uneven frets or loose frets are not a big deal. What would be a big deal is a neck issue. This would include a bowed neck (either back bow or too much relief), that cannot be addressed with the truss rod, a damaged truss rod, a hump or ski jump at the neck joint, or any dips twists etc.... Neck issues generally require extensive work (including a re-fret) to fix and will probably cost more than buying a new mandolin.

So check the neck and take a 4mm allen wrench to test the truss rod. Past that, if it looks good visually, I would jump on it.

Setup prices are all over the place as are quality of the setup or how extensive the setup might be. If you want the action low, the frets need to be addressed. This is not always included in a setup. Ideally the bridge would be fit, and may need to have some wood removed to get the necessary adjustment range (very common). Again, this may not be included. and you don't want someone taking a lot of wood off the saddle as a thin saddle may break. Since the difference between a quick basic setup (15 minutes of work) and a setup that completely goes through the frets and bridge (2 hours) are so extreme, the prices are really dependent on what the mandolin needs and who you take it to.

[mjbkwrds]

Alright guys, everything here makes total sense.

Visually, the instrument is immaculate, so from what I'm gathering, a pro setup will fix anything that sounds "off" acoustically. I will be checking the truss to make sure it's in good shape. As I'm not a musician myself, I have checked a video on a basic truss adjustment to see how much it is bowing and to what direction – If anything is way off or I'm concerned, I'll see if I can get a musically talented person to come look with me. If all checks out, I'll be picking this mandolin up this evening.

Thank you very much for the responses! I was shocked at how active this forum is and how quickly I could get solid advice. The wife will be told of what was done here today haha

[eastman_315]

The wife will be told of what was done here today haha

. . . and, of course, you will tell her to join the Cafe immediately! :-)

Good luck!

Frank

[mjbkwrds]

OK, so I went to our local music store and told them about the mandolin I found and was really warned against the instruments from there. Apparently the items that end up there are seconds and rejects that have been offered to music stores or were originally sold at a music store and returned for one reason or another. He has been there and has seen major issues with each one he's seen (ukes, guitars, etc.)

Now I'm looking at our local selection. The big point of difference with the local guy is that he will beat any retailers price (internet as well: his sign says he'll pull up their websites for you to prove that he usually wins without having to change his price) and he services any instrument he sells for free for life. As in, he just restrung, tuned, and cleaned up my wife's guitar for free. All his instruments are setup for free and he usually has you come back in two weeks to listen to them and restring them from the factory strings to the ones of your choosing (also free, unless you want a specific string). He's been selling instruments in this same shop for longer than I've been alive and nobody has ever said anything bad about the guy. Real down to earth.

All that to say that he has what appears to be a Fender FM-52E (I didn't look at the model, I looked it up after i got home) that he'll sell for $200, set up, strung, with a gig bag. There's a Savannah SF-120E for $250 with all those same things, and then a beginner mando for $90 without the bag – don't remember the brand. He had a The Loar LM-600 F-model in there but I didn't care to find out how much it was over my budget. He sat and tuned each one for me to play around with and I couldn't decide. For the record, the guy could get me a brand new, set up Kentucky KM-162 for $300 without a bag. He said those items are just what he had in right now. None of the ones I played were solid wood construction, but each one sounded fine to my ear.

What should I do here guys/gals? Everything he sells has free service and set up, so those aren't costs be concerned about. I'd like to get out of the door for less than $300. Based on a Kentucky KM-162 being $300, what would you think is going to be the best thing around that price point? I've read mixed things on the Savannah, but it sounded pretty good to my untrained ear, plus the electric was really cool: he said it needed more set up though. He says he can get almost any instrument, so I have no limits other than the price point.

[Rob Meldrum]

The savannah sf120 is different from the sf100 you see on eBay all the time. The few reviews I have seen on the sf120 were very good. Spend your money with this guy. Honest, hard-working people deserve our business.

Rob

[mjbkwrds]

I'll be picking up our Savannah SF 120-E after work today! Thanks everyone for all the help and comments. Not sure If there is a minimum post number before I can post pictures, but if I can, I'll send some up somewhere (I think there is a better location to post those on this forum, so I'll link to it if and when that happens). I'll try to get word out on the quality of the instrument once I can form an opinion, since there is sparse information about this particular model online.