Cheapest “Good” Mandolin?

[MandoNina]

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Whats the cheapest mandolin you’ve ever bought that sounded good and played well?

This here on the right is my Hofner 545 (not sure about the year) that I bought for around $60.
It sounds great to me.



( But then again, the one on the left is the only other mandolin I’ve ever played, so I don't necessarily have much to compare with )

[roysboy]

Going by my experience as part of the forums here for a few years , I can offer a bit of , I believe , very useful advice .

If you like that little mando on the right in your photo and you're happy with the sound ...NEVER EVER look at or listen to another mandolin or anyone's opinions with regards to the instrument unless you are prepared to contract MAS ( mandolin aquisition syndrome ) and spend a lifetime of lusting over every other mandolin you see , here or are told about .

Don't smoke that first cigarette , don't take the first drink and NEVER look at , listen to or play another mandolin if you are happy .
Live a great life .

[MikeZito]

I love my Washburn M1SDL. $200, new. Plays GREAT, nice tone. Only down side is that is lacks big volume - but if I am playing privately, it is of no real concern.

[John Flynn]

My Parsons flat-top. I got it off of the Classifieds here over 10 years ago. It was pretty much mint at the time and I think I payed about $400 for it. I bought it as a beater/travel instrument, but I've really grown to love the tone and the playability. It has a really sweet, chime-y kind of sound. I've taken it to bluegrass jams in places I've traveled with it and done OK. I can even get a passable chop out of it! It's a real gem and dollar for dollar, the best musical investment I've made.

[F-2 Dave]

That Hofner is absolutely cool. If it sounds good, that's just icing on the cake. I have a few nice mandolins, Gibsons, Collings, etc. but if I could handle the sound of the Hofner, there are places I'd play it just because it looks so cool.

[DataNick]

Kentucky km150

[Seter]

Serviceable bowlbacks can be found used for under $100

[Roger Moss]

I love my Washburn M1SDL. $200, new. Plays GREAT, nice tone. Only down side is that is lacks big volume - but if I am playing privately, it is of no real concern.

Which color? I tried out a rather fetching red one. Played pretty nice, but ar $220, was more than I could spend.

Just for the record, I now play a $105 Rover RM-35s, which I adore. Low action, arrow straight neck, plays like butter, and sounds quite good.

[JeffD]

My first mandolin was a Japanese Terada. It did everything it was supposed to do, and I am sure could do a lot more. My dad got it for me for $80.00 from a television repair store that also sold high school band and other instruments (which, in itself will tell you how long ago that was).

I played the potatoes out of that thing, for years and years. There was no internet, there were no personal computers, (as Dilbert says, we didn't even have ones and zeros, we only had ones) and I had a busy life going to school, starting my first job, figuring out how to have a social life, so I was not as obsessed as I am now.

I left the mandolin in my car one hot summer day, and it destroyed itself. If that hadn't happened I am not actually sure I would ever have bought another mandolin. Or, ironically, gotten into mandolinning as much as I have.

My first serious instrument of good quality was a (pre-Gibson) Flatiron mandola, that I purchased sight unseen from the Elderly catalog for something like $400.00, (we only had the print catalog then), and I played it for many years. I have since sold it, and it is played regularly by a friend of mine. It was part of my arsenal for a long time. That thing was loud. It went to Scotland with me, the first time I went to the Edinburgh festival(s) and I played that thing all over town.

[JeffD]

I don't like the word "cheap". It has the connotation of compromised quality. There are economy instruments that are not extremely expensive, but are really good quality builds and sound great and can make one happy for ever.

To find them you kind of have to go a few standard deviations from the bluegrass icon of a Gibson F5. So, for example, A styles tend to be less expensive than F styles, flat tops tend to be less expensive than arch tops, etc.

I am still in love with my Big Muddy M-11, and can't say enough great things about it, and that was a very affordable instrument.

[MikeZito]

Which color? I tried out a rather fetching red one. Played pretty nice, but ar $220, was more than I could spend.

I have one of the black Washburn M1SDL's (you can see a photo if you click on my profile, and check the the 'Some Of My Instruments' photo album.

After seeing some very positive reviews on the internet, I bought mine new from AMS, who lets you make affordable payments. With only a minor tweak to the bridge for personal preference to the action, it played VERY well, right out of the box. A few months later I saw a used one at the local Guitar Center, (about $159) but the previous owner didn't seem to know how to care for it, so it wasn't a good player . . . but if I ever come across more 'good' used ones, I'll snap them up.

[Randi Gormley]

Not counting the Rogue, which is a perfectly serviceable instrument I got for $49 along with a guitar of similar quality (I think the package was $99), probably my best score was my 1983 bandolim which I paid $80 for from a store that sold leftovers from auctions. It looked a mess but cleaned up well and has a lovely, ringing tone. It's now out on lone to a fiddler who had to give up her instrument (temporarily one hopes) because of hearing issues. Still sounds nice when I play alongside the fiddler. Definitely worth way more than I paid for it.

[allenhopkins]

Strad-O-Lin, probably 1950's; had a big un-repaired top crack, lots of finish crazing, and a canvas "gig bag." Paid $25 to the elderly lady who'd been keeping it under her bed for years, spent probably another $90-100 getting the top crack repaired (paying no attention to the cosmetics, just structural stability). Spent $75 on a used hard-shell case. Played it for over 20 years as my "throw it in the trunk, you never know when you'll want a mandolin" instrument. Traded it on a better Strad-O-Lin, got $95 on the trade.

People have given me mandolins –– a German Holdrio Piccolo "pocket" mandolin. a no-name mandolin banjo -- but the Strad-O-Lin was the cheapest one I actually purchased.

[dhergert]

"$199.00 solid F style"

[Br1ck]

I've got to jump on the 199.00 bandwagon, but it neither played well or sounded particularly good out if the box. After a lot of work it does now. Playing hours have improved the tone to the point I wouldn't know how to evaluate a new import.

[MandoNina]

If you like that little mando on the right in your photo and you're happy with the sound ...NEVER EVER look at or listen to another mandolin or anyone's opinions with regards to the instrument unless you are prepared to contract MAS

Haha yeah I was pretty sure I'd get advice along those lines. I've been suffering from IAS (instrument acquisition syndrome) myself for years, which is what got me to embrace "the way of the mandolin" in the first place. (I've since acquired several members of the family of course:)

Honestly I suspect the Hofner is worth a bit more than what I paid for it, but looking at the other posts here as well, clearly one can find a good, maybe even a great mandolin for a few hundred dollars
I've received almost as many complements for it's sound as for it's looks and I couldn't be happier with my first mandolin.

I am quite sure that this is the beginning of another expensive, painful, frustrating, time-consuming, relationship wrecking, arthritis provoking and completely wonderful time in my life...

[Glassweb]

Kentucky km150

Like Nick says... Kentucky KM150 is tough to beat for the buck...

[Ed Goist]

.
Whats the cheapest mandolin you’ve ever bought that sounded good and played well?
...snip...

My current mandolin, a c. 1965 Harmony Monterey H410.

I purchased it (for around $200?) from a luthier who had built and installed a new custom fitted, non-adjustable ebonized maple bridge for the mandolin. He also set-up the mandolin beautifully, so it has killer playability.

The mandolin has a wonderful old-timey,"honky tonk" tone that works very well for my modest needs and applications.

[Woodswalker]

I currently own a Gold Tone mandola and I'm thinking a mandolin would be better for folky type jams because the Mandola has the same register as a guitar. I would love to make a trade, but not sure how that would happen. Meanwhile I was at Sam Ash today looking at mandolins. They had several models by Carlo Robelli for about $200. (my Gold Tone was in the $400 range and I bought it online.)

I'm looking for something with nice easy action. the Mandola is really tough on my hands even after taking it to be 'set up" (at Sam Ash...) Also I'm wary of a "cheap" mandolin because they might be nice in the beginning but eventually they might warp & become unplayable.

Ibanez is a brand I always liked. I had an Ibanez banjo once and that thing was the Love of my life.
Any advice about brands? I could probly spend up to the $200 range if I could sell some of my other equipment.

[George Henry]

Around 2000 or so I got a nice Flatiron A-5 for around $300 on the used rack at a Knoxville store.

[Upis Land]

Good sound is such a relative term; probably The F9 that I got for just under 2K.

[CES]

KM 150 is a pretty safe bet if set up well. Flatiron 1N is an excellent little mandolin I payed $500 for. Best bargain I’ve scored was the Eastman 315 for $429.00 on clearance at a big box store. Lot of mandolin, especially at that price.

[MikeZito]

Around 2000 or so I got a nice Flatiron A-5 for around $300 on the used rack at a Knoxville store.

Ladies and gentlemen - we have a winner!

[UsuallyPickin]

About 30+ years ago, 86', I bought a Givens / Ode A for 150.00$ . R/