Unfinished Newtown on Ebay

[Jim Nollman]

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.

[Jim Garber]

Jim: I wonder why you refer to this as a Newtown? I never heard of Old Town. It looks, from the website below that they were around until 2004.

I do see the old site listed on the eBay posting here: Old Town Mandolins

The F-5 that they built looks pretty nice:

[atetone]

I remember this builder mostly for electrics but he did build acoustic mandolins also.
If I remember correctly he also did a copy of a Lyon and Healy Style A?

I think that the claim of $5000 original selling price might be a bit optimistic.
As has been stated, you just dont know if this unfinished mandolin was built properly or just slapped together as the builder was fading to black.
$800 for this is too much in my opinion despite the sellers claims.
There is still a lot of work needed on it as the closeups show. Half finished binding channels etc,,, it appears to be rough.
You would have to be wishing hard that this mandolin would sound like a $5k mandolin to spend that kind of money on a gamble.
Unless the builder died or met with some other tragedy, why would he not have finished the mandolin?
Something is making me a bit nervous about this one.

[Jim Nollman]

Jim, sorry about the confusion. oldtown/newtown. Unfinished town. And yes, Atetone, I do agree with all you say.

[Jim Garber]

I wonder if anyone knows the story of this maker. I also am not sure if the seller *is* the maker. The link to the old site is hosted on a subside of another site.

[Northwest Steve]

There is/was a Kentucky 1050 in the classifieds for $1100 ready to play and everyone I have played have been really good. Or you could spend $800 for a mandolin in the rough that needs a lot of work to be playable. Easy decision for me as I have enough projects to last me a LONG time.

[mrmando]

Considering that a completely finished Oldtown sold not long ago on eBay for $899, I'd judge the price on this incomplete one to be a little high.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Handmade-F-M...p2047675.l2557

[mrmando]

I was in touch with Doug O' Dell concerning his electric mandolins, back when he was building them. He was based in Yellow Springs, Ohio, and I gather that he did what the vast majority of professional luthiers do: repair work to pay the bills and building instruments for a secondary income stream. I do believe he worked at Gibson for some part of his career and had a hand in building some EM200s. However, until these acoustic F5s showed up on eBay, I did not know he made acoustics.

[Jimmy Kittle]

I was running sound for a festival in Michigan, maybe 20 years ago. There was a band for Ohio named High Tymes. The mandolin player was playing an Old Town mandolin. The headstock was the same shape as the one on Ebay. It's the only one I've seen, but I remember it was a good sounding mandolin with a killer chop.

[Timbofood]

Was that one of Burke Coles shows?

[Jimmy Kittle]

It was the Charlotte festival. Wes Pettinger also played in the band at that time. He is running the Charlotte festival now.

[Timbofood]

I haven't been t charlotte in years, always ends up as the weekend I have to do the "early summer birthday party feast anymore!
I knew Wes was running it now. I was at the FIRST one way back in '72(?) went every year until "life got in the way"!
I have a feeling we might know each other.

[Jimmy Kittle]

Could be, if not, I'm sure we know a lot of the same people. This year will be my 20th year running sound at Milan. I've worked many of the festivals in Michigan, as well as traveling with Detour for 5 years or so. I've retired now and I'm only doing the Milan festival. After all these years I'm hoping to be able to go to a few festivals and just jam....

[fscotte]

$650 buy it now? Provided the woods are good. That's a steal.

I'd be inclined to have someone else buy it, then send to me to finish it. If it doesn't sound good, simply rip the back off and make it sound good, glue back on, bind it, and boom. Stellar mando.

Seriously, that looks like quite a bargain.

[Jim Garber]

Here's what it looks like since the post will be gone eventually. It looks like the top and back are mostly carved but probably need some extra carving and adjusting. I do like the headstock shape and the inlay.