I know a few folks on the Cafe who have had some serious fulfillment problems with the luthier who used to build under the label of Oldtown. So I was naturally surprised to discover this ad on Ebay today:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Oldtown-F5-M...d/322525342559
Honestly, it looks like a great project for somebody, maybe me, although I personally find the selling price to be a little bit high and thus risky because so many more hours of work will be needed to finish the instrument, but with no possible way to know in advance if the completed instrument is actually going to sound OK. The seller assures us it will be a great sounding F5, using the argument that if it had been finished it would have sold for $5K. But lets face it, no one knows what amount of critical nuanced attention has either gone into it, or been avoided, so far.
I am starting this thread in hopes of, firstly, getting some feedback whether others think this is (or is not) an EBay scam. Sincerely, I am hoping it is a totally legit unfinished $5k mandolin for sale.
I also welcome comments by folks who either know the seller, or who have actually played a finished Newtown F5.
I am well aware the luthier mostly built electric mandolins. But as we all know, building an F5 demands a very different set of skills than building an electric. I mention this because how an Oldtown electric either looks or sounds is beside the point. Please, limit the conversation to Newtown f5s, both finished and unfinished.
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