Re: Michael Kelly LFS-E
The MK's certainly have no lack of flash and bling...acoustically, however, they consistently come up short. The ones I've encountered were all the same, lots of "gloss" but heavy and dead/thin sounding. Actually, for plugged in use this may not be a problem, as it does make 'em pretty resistant to feedback! Kind of like stuffing a semi-acoustic with old socks, but in the case of the MK's you don't need the old socks
That 'inlay' is not actually inlay, either, at least on the headstock. It is a very thin 'slice' of pearl buried under the high gloss, thick finish.It is not routed into the wood - but laid on top. There are lots of other shortcuts on these things too, if you know what to look for.
Generally, you will get better overall performance by going for the best (acoustic) instrument for your $$ in an A, not F, style and adding your own pickup later. Bottom line is you are not going to get a really good F-style mandolin for a few hundred $$. There are very decent A styles out there for well under $1K, however.
Gibson F5 'Harvey' Fern, Gibson F5 'Derrington' Fern
Distressed Silverangel F 'Esmerelda' aka 'Maxx'
Northfield Big Mon #127
Ellis F5 Special #288
'39 & '45 D-18's, 1950 D-28.
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