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Thread: Expensive mandolins

  1. #51
    formerly Philphool Phil Goodson's Avatar
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    Default Re: Expensive mandolins

    When you find "your instrument", it's worth whatever you pay for it. You play it every day because it makes you feel great and makes you smile, and I bet you understand.

    If you find that instrument for $100, then good for you. If you pay more, then you pay more, and you're still happy.

    Corollary: If you're not happy, then it's not really "your instrument"
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  3. #52
    Martin Stillion mrmando's Avatar
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    Default Re: Expensive mandolins

    Well, I have the Schmergel Devastator Deluxe in a climate-controlled vault. For $5K you can spend an hour playing it.

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  5. #53
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    Default Re: Expensive mandolins

    Quote Originally Posted by mrmando View Post
    Well, I have the Schmergel Devastator Deluxe in a climate-controlled vault. For $5K you can spend an hour playing it.
    They made a Deluxe model? The Schmergel Devastator is awesome on its own, let alone a Deluxe model! I SO envy you!

  6. #54
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    Default Re: Expensive mandolins

    I had a Schmergel Devastator Deluxe copy back in the 1990's - I traded it for a pair of those x-ray glasses that let you see through people's clothes, and a copy of 'Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes', signed by Mother Goose!

  7. #55
    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: Expensive mandolins

    Quote Originally Posted by Roger Moss View Post
    Personally, I'm more comfortable with more economical instruments.
    Certainly you should not buy anything that you are not comfortable with.

    There's just something elitists about overly priced stuff that rubs me the wrong way.
    Well I can't control how you are rubbed but that is in your head. Its not overly priced, for the most part, its that the increased quality (play-ability and/or build quality and/or tone and volume) isn't worth it to you. The quality difference is there. The hype is minimal.

    I just can't see a $10,000 mandolin being 200 times better than a $500 one.
    I am not sure its a straight linear proportion, but the high end mandolins are better then the economy mandolins, and for most the difference is discernible and for many the difference is worth it, and for some the difference is affordable.

    Besides, I'll never have the chops to merit this kind of expenditure.
    There is no meriting a mandolin. My first decent mandolin I purchased for about $1,000 many years ago. I will never merit that mandolin. I will never deserve it based on my playing, and I will never get everything out of it that can be gotten out of it, and the mandolin will always be ahead of me.

    I have since then spent more on a mandolin.

    No, I'm happy with my trusty Rover,
    Happy is happy. I would stick with happy.

    and feel no need to lust after something I could never afford anyway..
    While there is some lust, that is part of the fun. I think anyway. And I have come to recognize that the few incidents where I might have thought someone with a high end mandolin was lording over me, that it was probably me being a little envious and sensitive.

    The truth is that most people don't care what you play, and will share there enthusiasm for the instrument and the music regardless of a disparity in value owned.

    And if you can tear up the pea patch, you will be worshiped. What ever you tear it up on.
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  9. #56
    Registered User William Smith's Avatar
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    Default Re: Expensive mandolins

    My main mandolin I drove many hours to play! It was the winter of 02 I believe. I still have it today and once I played it I knew I'd buy it and it wasn't real cheap I want to say it was 11.5? And its my "Loar Buster" An old 30's F-7 conversion that Brian Aldridge had done. I've played it next to Loars as he has also and many Gils and other high end mandolins and this conversion has the it factor, I prefer her over all the mandolins I've had and have had it up against. It is a freak, it shouldn't sound as good a it does the treble F hole is farther in the body than it should be, the wood selection isn't great! It just has IT! I wouldn't sell it for 50 Grand if someone offered that to me. I could never replace the voice of that mandolin. I believe if you have expensive taste make sure yourhappy withyour purchase if there is doubt then that one isn't for you.

  10. #57

    Default Re: Expensive mandolins

    Quote Originally Posted by MikeZito View Post
    I had a Schmergel Devastator Deluxe copy back in the 1990's - I traded it for a pair of those x-ray glasses that let you see through people's clothes, and a copy of 'Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes', signed by Mother Goose!
    I'm SOOOO envious. I haven't even seen a Schmergel, much less a deluxe, but will never part with my lawsuit Schmergel I bought in 1972.
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  11. #58
    Registered User djeffcoat's Avatar
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    Default Re: Expensive mandolins

    In 1986, I convinced my future ex-wife to let me buy a used mandolin for $2800. I convinced her that it was an investment. Using an inflation calculator, the mandolin would cost $6300 in 2018. But, since it is a 1982 lefty Monteleone Grand Artist it is worth about 3 times that based on classified ads that I occasionally see. Of course I don't want to sell it. It sounds and plays wonderfully and I appreciate having such a finely built mandolin. All that being said, my favorite mandolin to play is a 2014 Collings MT. IMHO, they are a lot of bang for your buck.

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    Default Re: Expensive mandolins

    Quote Originally Posted by djeffcoat View Post
    In 1986, I convinced my future ex-wife to let me buy a used mandolin for $2800 . . . Of course I don't want to sell it.
    Kept the mandolin and got rid of the wife . . . . need I say more?

  13. #60
    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: Expensive mandolins

    Quote Originally Posted by MikeZito View Post
    Kept the mandolin and got rid of the wife . . . . need I say more?
    That is why one should seek out a musician to partner with.
    A talent for trivializin' the momentous and complicatin' the obvious.

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  14. #61
    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: Expensive mandolins

    I have two or three gems in my accumulation of mandolins. Mandolins so good, so sublime, that every time I come back to them I am excited again at how wonderful they are to play and to hear and to look at. I play one of my other ones, just to get back to them.

    Yea they were pretty spendy, but the joy in just plain owning them is huge. Now, full disclosure, I did not spend five figures, no where near, but to me the prices where every bit as significant. Its not the hours i have to work to make that much, its the years it takes to save that much discretionary cash.

    To me its not a hierarchy, its not levels of instruments. Its what you like, what you can appreciate.

    For me it is playing ability that seems to organize itself inside me into levels, or tiers. It is playing ability that seems to push my envy buttons. I have spent a lot of time sorting that all out.
    A talent for trivializin' the momentous and complicatin' the obvious.

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  16. #62

    Default Re: Expensive mandolins

    Quote Originally Posted by JeffD View Post
    That is why one should seek out a musician to partner with.
    No.No.No. A musician really needs to partner up with a nice professional person. A doctor, maybe a psychiatrist. Anyway, someone who will buy a house with detached studio space. Also someone who enjoys their own company. You don't need a clingy type every time you go out to the studio to play. You need a gardener who is happy to tend to the veggies while you go play a farmers market on Saturday and a film buff glad to take in a foreign film on Friday and Saturday nights while you play cafes and bars.

    And you don't need a light sleeper when you come home at 1 AM still buzzed from the awesome gig you just did. Someone who will be thankful they have someone to pick up the kids at school, at least when you are not on the road.
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  18. #63
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    Default Re: Expensive mandolins

    What's expensive to one person may not be expensive to another ! Also, if a person works hard and makes enough money to buy an expensive mandolin, even if their skills don't warrant such an instrument, that is their business ! My playing doesn't warrant the fine instruments I have but I have worked hard for many years and I need okay, just want nice mandolins !

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  20. #64
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    Default Re: Expensive mandolins

    I will never be as good a player as my mandolins are (and I will say none of my mandolins are what I would consider "expensive," but they are what I would call "mid-level.") But I can afford them, and they make me want to practice, and they sound fabulous to me, and I want no others, so they serve their purpose. And I think that's what it is all about.

  21. #65
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    Default Re: Expensive mandolins

    Quote Originally Posted by Br1ck View Post
    No.No.No. A musician really needs to partner up with a nice professional person. A doctor, maybe a psychiatrist. Anyway, someone who will buy a house with detached studio space. Also someone who enjoys their own company. You don't need a clingy type every time you go out to the studio to play. You need a gardener who is happy to tend to the veggies while you go play a farmers market on Saturday and a film buff glad to take in a foreign film on Friday and Saturday nights while you play cafes and bars.

    And you don't need a light sleeper when you come home at 1 AM still buzzed from the awesome gig you just did. Someone who will be thankful they have someone to pick up the kids at school, at least when you are not on the road.
    yes yes yes .....and yes .
    this should be part of every music curriculum.

  22. #66
    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: Expensive mandolins

    Quote Originally Posted by Br1ck View Post
    No.No.No. A musician really needs to partner up with a nice professional person. A doctor, maybe a psychiatrist. Anyway, someone who will buy a house with detached studio space. Also someone who enjoys their own company. You don't need a clingy type every time you go out to the studio to play. You need a gardener who is happy to tend to the veggies while you go play a farmers market on Saturday and a film buff glad to take in a foreign film on Friday and Saturday nights while you play cafes and bars.

    And you don't need a light sleeper when you come home at 1 AM still buzzed from the awesome gig you just did. Someone who will be thankful they have someone to pick up the kids at school, at least when you are not on the road.
    That's funny. That's good.
    A talent for trivializin' the momentous and complicatin' the obvious.

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  23. #67
    Registered User William Smith's Avatar
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    Default Re: Expensive mandolins

    Personally it all should be about sound, give ma a Kentucky and if it sounds like a vintage Loar or 20's-30's F-5 fern I'd buy but so far nothing does so I'll be sticking with and continue buying what I do?!! Owned and played many Gils, and Nuggets also-they just don't do it for me!

  24. #68
    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: Expensive mandolins

    There is absolutely no point whatsoever in getting a more expensive mandolin than you can appreciate. If what you have does what you want, and you can get out there and play, you have succeeded way beyond those burning with MAS figuring out how to get a home equity loan without the spouse finding out.

    I have come to believe absolutely that hardly anyone, if anyone at all, buys a mandolin for the price and bragging rights. Certainly not for bragging rights alone. (I have sometimes doubted this, even recently, but it always turns out to be more about me than about the other person's mandolin.)
    A talent for trivializin' the momentous and complicatin' the obvious.

    The entire staff
    funny....

  25. #69

    Default Re: Expensive mandolins

    Quote Originally Posted by JeffD View Post
    There is absolutely no point whatsoever in getting a more expensive mandolin than you can appreciate. If what you have does what you want, and you can get out there and play, you have succeeded way beyond those burning with MAS figuring out how to get a home equity loan without the spouse finding out.

    I have come to believe absolutely that hardly anyone, if anyone at all, buys a mandolin for the price and bragging rights. Certainly not for bragging rights alone. (I have sometimes doubted this, even recently, but it always turns out to be more about me than about the other person's mandolin.)
    True. It is a shame most of us have a vast reservoir of appreciation.
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  26. #70
    Montana Mark
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    Default Re: Expensive mandolins

    Quote Originally Posted by rnjl View Post
    I have two thoughts. The first is that there's always a law of diminishing returns: usually, a luthier made mandolin will sound much
    better than a factory-made Pacific rim plywood job- the lowest price Weber is usually much better than a good Kentucky at half the price- but at some point, the improvements are subtle. A Weber sounds twice as good as a Kentucky but 6K Weber doesn't sound twice as good as a 3K Weber. I learned this, by the way, drinking whiskey: $20-25 dollar whiskey is MUCH better than $12 whiskey, but $50 whiskey is, to me, only somewhat better than $25 bottles.

    The other thought is that an $6-8K mandolin is only expensive compared to . . most other mandolins but not lots of other things that Americans buy. An Acura gets you to work exactly like a Civic does, but lots of people spend $10 or $15K extra on a new car that is basically a fancy box around the same engine as a cheaper car- and don't get me started on people who spend $35 or 40K on a new SUV to go three miles to work in the suburbs.

    A $6K mandolin is the same price as some week-long vacations, a few month's mortgage on a beach house, a few nice $1.5K guns, or 3.5 years of five-dollar lattes. Not saying everybody buys those things, but lots of Americans do.

    It's odd that we think it's odd that some people like to spend money on nice instruments when lots of other folks spend much more on other things that I'm guessing don't bring as much pleasure, but like Pope Francis, who am I to judge?

    There IS a bias in our community against people who can't play so good (like me) having fancy instruments beyond our talent- but nobody ever says that about cars or boats or fishing rods, do they?
    Ahmen to this.
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  27. #71
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    Default Re: Expensive mandolins

    I feel the better instrument you have, no matter your ability, the better it sounds and the more you play because you enjoy listening to your mandolin, and it probably plays better. I have always said "you can't learn to drive at Indy in a Volkswagen".
    THE WORLD IS A BETTER PLACE JUST FOR YOUR SMILE!

  28. #72

    Default Re: Expensive mandolins

    Good instruments inspire me to play and are expensive, Im always on the hunt for a better instrument.
    MAS Fund.......Up and running again

  29. #73
    Jerry Cobbs jerrycobbs's Avatar
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    Default Re: Expensive mandolins

    To me the whole concept of "better" or "more valuable" is quite subjective and varies from person to person. I recently got a chance to grab an Eastman MDO-305 OM before it could get snatched up from the local store. They also had a Weber in stock, so I spent quite a while sitting there going from one to the other; a $699 OM and a $3,999 OM. Was the Weber better? I remember thinking so at the time, but sitting here now I couldn't tell you what I heard that made me think so. To my ear they were both beautiful sounding instruments, fit and finish were excellent, etc. But sitting there going back and forth, there was nothing I heard that said, "Wow! Now I understand what everyone is talking about!" They were both just very good octave mandolins; one of which I could afford to take home and one I couldn't. What I did notice was that the Eastman's neck was much more comfortable to my hand than the thick neck on the Weber.

    I'd like to think that I am capable of hearing differences in quality, as a number of years ago I was involved in helping a church purchase a grand piano, and we listened to probably a dozen models. It became very easy to sort out the differences as we went up the scale from $6-7,000 Korean models to the low-teens/mid $20K Yamahas, Baldwins, etc., up to the $49K Steinways. But maybe I'm just not as attuned to the differences in mandolins. Or maybe the differences between a $700 OM and a $4,000 OM aren't as noticeable as some folks think.
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  30. #74
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    Default Re: Expensive mandolins

    Long story short - I have always wanted to get the mandolin tone that Bill Bolick had with the Blue Sky Boys. Several months ago I was digging through some old cassette tapes and found one that sounded like Bill - but it was a piece of music I had never heard him play before . . . then I realized that the recording was of me playing my Kentucky KM-272.

    I guess I found my tone for $300.

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  32. #75

    Default Re: Expensive mandolins

    Mandolins to me are the perfect combination of the practical and the aesthetic. I do not discount the power of aesthetics. Try as I'd like to convince myself otherwise, I try to be honest with myself. I'd rather have a fern than an F9, an MF 5 than an MF, Yellowstone than a Gallatin. I have played enough mandolins to know how relatively little the tone differs. I also know the aesthetic properties cause me to play more. So there goes rationality out the window in favor of emotion.

    Marketing people are very good at exploiting this. Hence, you can buy a very nice pickup truck like a u Haul rental would have, or buy the same truck for $60,000 loaded with options. Then there is the age old I've got one, you don't.

    I have not indulged in the very expensive. I don't have the money. Period.

    What I have indulged in might be the very expensive to some.

    A KM 150 might be out of reach to 80% of the world's population.
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