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Thread: Monteleones at Rudy's Music

  1. #1
    Purveyor of Sunshine sgarrity's Avatar
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    Default Monteleones at Rudy's Music

    Looks like this might be someone's collection. A Grand Artist, a GA mandola, and a GA guitar. Beautiful instruments but those prices......

    Then there's the one not on their site:

    https://reverb.com/item/37601241-mon...sound-hole-159

    A Grand Artist oval hole mandola for $157,500. I seem to remember this one has been discussed here in the past. It was built for Elizabeth Taylor's son. But $157k?

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    Registered User John Rosett's Avatar
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    Default Re: Monteleones at Rudy's Music

    There's one too many digits in that price.
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  5. #3

    Default Re: Monteleones at Rudy's Music

    Costs more than my house and car FFS

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    Registered User John Soper's Avatar
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    Default Re: Monteleones at Rudy's Music

    They carry a great collection of arch top guitars - prices that reflect NYC rents. One can always ask - I think they keep open with their electric guitar inventory. However, the most Monty mandolins I've seen in one store website ever! Droolable.

  7. #5

    Default Re: Monteleones at Rudy's Music

    The archtops sell for bigger dough than the mandolins. I was under the impression that the mandolin that belongs to Michael Todd and Liz Taylor's son was an A style. There is a picture in Monteleone's shop with her holding it.

    Howard Emerson, who was Billy Joel's guitar player at one time or another, and a fine blues guitar player is a good friend of John's was the one who told me about the Todd/Taylor mandolin. I guarantee he'd know a bit more about those instruments. And as for NYC rent, you'd be shocked at the market since the pandemic. Going to be a lot of change in big cities over the next few years.
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    Default Re: Monteleones at Rudy's Music

    Could it be they meant to sell the necklace that graces Liz's decolletage at that price instead of the Monteleone? Possibly an errant listing, an honest mistake?

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  10. #7
    Registered User mandolinstew's Avatar
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    Default Re: Monteleones at Rudy's Music

    Hope she didn’t scratch the finish

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    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: Monteleones at Rudy's Music

    Those may be from Rudy’s collection and a lot of them were in their Scarsdale store when I last visited that place in 2019. There is another guy who has consigned some Monteleone instruments there, too.
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    Default Re: Monteleones at Rudy's Music

    Well, no matter who the owner[s] are, the seller thinks very highly of his stuff.

    Putting "son of Liz Taylor's" instrument aside, they are asking $39 K [40.9 K on Reverb] for a Monteleone mandola, and 35 K [or $36.8 on Reverb] for a mandolin. That's close to twice what the last one actually sold for out of a major vintage store. And [gulp] 10 K for a refinished '65 D-28, and $2400 for a '63 ladder braced Gibson LG-1, complete with original mold-injected plastic bridge.

    He won't get it from me.

    I guess he's not looking for a quick sale.

  14. #10
    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: Monteleones at Rudy's Music

    That is what I was saying. I think at least some of those are the owners collection and he is pricing them high because he doesn’t really want to sell them. They are in his suburban store (near where he lives) and they will stay for quite awhile.

    There was a famous store on 48th Street in NYC called We Buy Guitars. I had a friend who was an amazing bass player. For many years, prominently displayed in that store at an astronomic price was a pristine 1952 Precision bass. My friend really wanted it but years later the owner decided to sell and he lowered the price considerably. It was still pretty high for those times but my friend immediately bought it and it was an amazing sounding electric. He even played it for a square dance. The closest an electric solid body bass could come to sounding like and upright.
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    Default Re: Monteleones at Rudy's Music

    Wow, Shawn! Thanks for sharing that information. What a great find. Quite rare, I presume. Yet, it does seem overpriced, though I don't have the knowledge of this particular mandolin to evaluate. Interesting post!
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    Registered User Glassweb's Avatar
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    Default Re: Monteleones at Rudy's Music

    Quote Originally Posted by Mandolin Cafe View Post
    Could it be they meant to sell the necklace that graces Liz's decolletage at that price instead of the Monteleone? Possibly an errant listing, an honest mistake?

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    Hi Gang... here's a bit of info on The Liz Taylor dola...

    A friend of mine, a dealer from NYC who now lives in Florida owned this mandola for many years before he sold it, perhaps through Larry Wexer or Mandolin Bros. (Larry used to be the head salesman there) to Liz Taylor or her son... it's been many years so I kind of forget all the details. But this much I do know, because I played it many times... this is a FANTASTIC sounding and playing instrument... probably one of the finer Monteleone instruments I ever played. I recall that there was some binding separation around the scroll, but that was expertly repaired at some point... maybe by Bob Jones out of NYC/Brooklyn... again, this was a LONG time ago so I may have a bunch of the details wrong.

    But at the end of the day it was/is a great, longer-scale mandola. No way you can justify that price though... even if it was photographed with ET!

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  18. #13

    Default Re: Monteleones at Rudy's Music

    Rumor has it that Liz gave John M. a copy of that picture, but he had to sign an agreement that he would never sell it or make copies of it.
    "your posts ... very VERY opinionated ...basing your opinion/recommendations ... pot calling ...kettle... black...sarcasm...comment ...unwarranted...unnecessary...."

  19. #14

    Default Re: Monteleones at Rudy's Music

    The Liz Taylor connection is novel, IMHO. At least, as opposed to (the usual) celebrity-owned instruments by Johnny Depp or Richard Gere....
    Very nice picture of Liz.

    At that price, it would take a special fan, I'm thinking....

  20. #15

    Default Re: Monteleones at Rudy's Music

    I think it is a lovely picture of the woman and mandola.
    On the Reverb site photos it appears to be a sap pocket intrusion in the top.
    To paraphrase Tony Rice, 'Get it, son!'

  21. #16
    Registered User j. condino's Avatar
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    Default Re: Monteleones at Rudy's Music

    Quote Originally Posted by Mandobar View Post
    Rumor has it that Liz gave John M. a copy of that picture, but he had to sign an agreement that he would never sell it or make copies of it.
    It is hanging on the wall in his shop, as you walk in the main entrance.
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  22. #17

    Default Re: Monteleones at Rudy's Music

    I'll take 2. Thank you.

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