I'm looking around for an inexpensive mandolin (certainly less than £200 GBP), either available in the UK or shipped from Europe. I've played an old bowlback for years, but for the Scottish and Irish tunes I'm playing it would be nice to have a more comfortable flat backed instrument.
I tried a friend's Carvalho bouzouki at a session recently and quite liked it, so I've been considering their mandolins. I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has tried a few of their models, especially as to whether there is much difference in sound between the basic spruce/sapele MDL305 model and the slightly fancier spruce/ovangkol MDL308 version, or if the major differences are cosmetic.