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Thread: Mandolin Pricing?

  1. #26
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    Default Re: Mandolin Pricing?

    There's almost a thousand instruments here in the Cafe classifieds.

    Shortage?

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  3. #27

    Default Re: Mandolin Pricing?

    Quote Originally Posted by Bob A View Post
    There's almost a thousand instruments here in the Cafe classifieds.

    Shortage?
    Take a look at what’s for sale. It’s not the total number, but what is for sale. TME has 4 used mandolins. Two are $20k+. There are a handful of small builder a5’s, lots of guitars, etc. it’s what makes up the 1,000 listings, some of which, by the way, are marked “pending” or “sold”.
    "your posts ... very VERY opinionated ...basing your opinion/recommendations ... pot calling ...kettle... black...sarcasm...comment ...unwarranted...unnecessary...."

  4. #28
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    Default Re: Mandolin Pricing?

    TME used to carry as many as 40 or more brand new Collings Mandolins at all times, and then the the rest. Now, as Mandobar says. 14 total among all brands (two sold overnight), two of which are pricey Monteleone's on consignment that have been there probably 6 months, a left-handed Collings--hardly a fast seller--and a couple of Eastmans they keep in stock for numbers. That cupboard is far beyond bare as we've ever seen in our 15 year relation with them. The Mandolin Store has been having a hard time keeping the kind of numbers we suggest to them in the Classifieds, something that has never before happened. This is just the tip of the iceberg, so yes, there is a huge decrease in availability hitting all retail music stores selling stringed instruments.

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  6. #29
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    Default Re: Mandolin Pricing?

    An acquaintance sent this to us in April, said in their decades of visiting Elderly they'd never seen more than one or two open spaces on any portion of the mandolin wall, they always had instruments to spare in stock awaiting display. Now...

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    Last edited by Mandolin Cafe; Jun-13-2021 at 2:33pm.

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  8. #30

    Default Re: Mandolin Pricing?

    I am still thankful that I was able to buy an all original (minus pickguard) 1924 Gibson Snakehead A Junior for $800 from Guitar Center a few months ago. Plays and sounds amazing!

    Prior to that lucky purchase, I was looking all around for mandolins and also noticed less mandolins were available to purchase. Contacted a couple builders and both had over a year wait for delivery. One of the builders was going to increase his prices this Summer.

    I am no longer in the market for a new mandolin. The Snakehead A Junior has everything I need in a mandolin and nothing that I don't need.

  9. #31
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    Default Re: Mandolin Pricing?

    More data. This is a screen shot from Wayback Machine of the classifieds from February 2020. 628 mandolins for sale in the Classifieds. Right now, 440 and a lot of that is easy to spot as retailers still needing to make money but are now adding in more banjos, guitars and other instruments to try to make up the difference. Overall site traffic which is largely classifieds, actually up, number of replies to ads and new ads placed almost identical. Difference: fewer instruments on the market to display and offer for sale. You'll notice guitars are down as well, banjos actually up (holding my tongue).

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  11. #32
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    Default Re: Mandolin Pricing?

    Quote Originally Posted by Mandobar View Post
    I’ve selected wood and “components” on numerous occasions from Collings. Factory isn’t always “factory”.
    Maybe it’s a dealer problem but I have always gotten a, “This is what’s in inventory, take it or leave it.” Since I am never in a hurry to drop serious cash, I leave it.

  12. #33

    Default Re: Mandolin Pricing?

    Quote Originally Posted by Peter Barnett View Post
    Maybe it’s a dealer problem but I have always gotten a, “This is what’s in inventory, take it or leave it.” Since I am never in a hurry to drop serious cash, I leave it.
    Find a better dealer.
    "your posts ... very VERY opinionated ...basing your opinion/recommendations ... pot calling ...kettle... black...sarcasm...comment ...unwarranted...unnecessary...."

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  14. #34
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    Default Re: Mandolin Pricing?

    Well, for the time being, with the factories way behind on their deliveries, you just might have to "take it or leave it." When the current conditions relent, then you can find a better dealer.

    My local store will be waiting until February to receive some of the stuff he ordered earlier this year. A lot of other items are coming in just a few pieces at a time.

  15. #35

    Default Re: Mandolin Pricing?

    Lol kinda like in the early days of Ford car production. You could get black or black as the color choice.

    Waiting for a mandolin to be built definitely requires lots of patience. I am guilty of the instant gratification like so many other people. We want what we want when we want it. Especially with mandolins.

    I manage a restaurant and it has been a challenge to get all the food items that our guests want. I have never seen it to where we could not get the food items we ordered until the COVID pandemic occurred. People get mad when they can't get what they want.

    I think the same applies to music stores who order mandolins from various builders who are so behind on fulfilling orders to their customers for whatever reason. I know at my job we are very short staffed, so I work long hours. I am sure this probably happens to all mandolin building facilities, which of course affects the available inventory of mandolins in music stores. I know it has to be frustrating to people like Dennis Vance and other music store owners who take great pride in customer service.

    Hopefully the world will get back to normal, although I can't remember what normal was like.

  16. #36

    Default Re: Mandolin Pricing?

    Quote Originally Posted by rcc56 View Post
    Well, for the time being, with the factories way behind on their deliveries, you just might have to "take it or leave it." When the current conditions relent, then you can find a better dealer.

    My local store will be waiting until February to receive some of the stuff he ordered earlier this year. A lot of other items are coming in just a few pieces at a time.
    Better dealers have inventory in the pipeline. Always. Even in this "mandolin desert" you can find a dealer with stuff already on order and can jump in without waiting even longer, because these guys are all going to be behind through 2022. Not everything is listed on websites.
    Last edited by Mandobar; Jun-13-2021 at 6:17pm.
    "your posts ... very VERY opinionated ...basing your opinion/recommendations ... pot calling ...kettle... black...sarcasm...comment ...unwarranted...unnecessary...."

  17. #37
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    Default Re: Mandolin Pricing?

    Stuff on order is not the same thing as stock on the wall.

    As far as custom ordering appointments on an instrument, maybe a manufacturer will take a custom order now, maybe not. If they do, don't expect quick delivery.
    Last edited by rcc56; Jun-13-2021 at 7:47pm.

  18. #38
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    Default Re: Mandolin Pricing?

    Mandoman, in WNY (Buffalo, NY) we experiencing a dire shortage of chicken wings. CHICKEN WINGS! And now a lack of mandolins! What's next, a plaque of surplus banjos!
    Ratliff R5 2007, Capek A5 2003, Washburn M5S-SB Jethro Burns 1982, Mid-Mo M-2, Epiphone MM 30 Bk mandolins, Harmony Batwing 1970's, George Bauer bowlback early 1900's Philadelphia.


    "Don't cloud the issue with facts!" Groucho Marx

  19. #39

    Default Re: Mandolin Pricing?

    Quote Originally Posted by Bob Gnann View Post
    Mandoman, in WNY (Buffalo, NY) we experiencing a dire shortage of chicken wings. CHICKEN WINGS! And now a lack of mandolins! What's next, a plaque of surplus banjos!
    Yes sir we ran out of chicken wings too. We ordered them and on two different occasions we did not receive them on our delivery truck. Finally got them again this week.

  20. #40

    Default Re: Mandolin Pricing?

    Supply chain disruptions due to pandemic. Increased at home time looking for new leisure activities increasing demand for instruments equals shortage. Look at The Mandolin Store, Elderly, or Banjo Ben Clark websites and note how much is listed as out of stock or sold out.

    I was lucky to buy my Eastman MD 505 in January. The price, if you can find one, is up $44 from January.

  21. #41
    Registered User Tom C's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandolin Pricing?

    In my opinion...Mandolin prices sky rocketed when we had good economy and the housing boom 15-20 years ago. A lot of people had a lot of spare money. Loars were going for $240K, People who bought Gilcrests (sp) for $7K were selling them for $20K to folks who didnt want to wait 7 years. because of this, he stopped taking orders til he caught up. Now there was a new bar set. Others followed suit. Loars have come down but higher end builders are still demanding premium prices.

  22. #42
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    Default Re: Mandolin Pricing?

    Ok everyone take a deep breath, exhale slowly. If you didn't pass out stay tuned. The world is not coming to an end.
    I think.
    At least until I look through the classifieds, and oh no not a Kimble .......
    Ratliff R5 2007, Capek A5 2003, Washburn M5S-SB Jethro Burns 1982, Mid-Mo M-2, Epiphone MM 30 Bk mandolins, Harmony Batwing 1970's, George Bauer bowlback early 1900's Philadelphia.


    "Don't cloud the issue with facts!" Groucho Marx

  23. #43
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    Default Re: Mandolin Pricing?

    Quote Originally Posted by Bob Gnann View Post
    Ok everyone take a deep breath, exhale slowly. If you didn't pass out stay tuned. The world is not coming to an end.
    I think. At least until I look through the classifieds, and oh no not a Kimble .......
    And not just one, but six!
    1924 Gibson A Snakehead
    2005 National RM-1
    2007 Hester A5
    2009 Passernig A5
    2015 Black A2-z
    2010 Black GBOM
    2017 Poe Scout
    2014 Smart F-Style Mandola
    2018 Vessel TM5
    2019 Hogan F5

  24. #44

    Default Re: Mandolin Pricing?

    Quote Originally Posted by Mandolin Cafe View Post
    An acquaintance sent this to us in April, said in their decades of visiting Elderly they'd never seen more than one or two open spaces on any portion of the mandolin wall, they always had instruments to spare in stock awaiting display. Now...
    I have been a regular visitor at Elderly since the 90's (when I married a Michigan girl) and I have had the same experience. Sometimes not even one open spot in the mandolin section, and there were always several vintage Gibson A's, F-2's and F-4's in addition to the newer stuff.

  25. #45
    Mando accumulator allenhopkins's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandolin Pricing?

    Still a decent selection at Bernunzio's; don't let his website, where the only F-models shown are four or five identical Eastman 315's, scare you off. He's been appointment only, minimal staff for over a year, and postings appear to be lagging a bit.
    Allen Hopkins
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  26. #46
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    Default Re: Mandolin Pricing?

    chip shortage? Not enough wood chips being made!

    f-d
    ¡papá gordo ain’t no madre flaca!

    '20 A3, '30 L-1, '97 914, 2012 Cohen A5, 2012 Muth A5, '14 OM28A

  27. #47
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    Default Re: Mandolin Pricing?

    Quote Originally Posted by Frankdolin View Post
    . What do you think the percentage is of serious buyers and players in the market. I would guess less than 30%.
    I am struggling to figure out what this means. Entirely my fault as others seem to get it. Percentage of serious buyers and players in what market? Percentage of mandolin buyers in the musical instrument market? the mandolin market? US, world wide? Buyers and players? How do players who are not buyers matter in this calculation. How does one even come up with a figure for this.

    Don't read any snark, I just am trying to make sense of this, without the benefit of coffee. 30% of what?
    A talent for trivializin' the momentous and complicatin' the obvious.

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  28. #48

    Default Re: Mandolin Pricing?

    Perhaps he's stating that 30% of the people who inquire on an instrument for sale have a real intent to buy? or 30% of those who do buy are real players. It's hard to tell, but the general rule is the 80/20 rule (which Pareto applied to most everything). In this context it would be 20% of the responses to a for sale ad are genuine and not just tire kicking. and so on.
    "your posts ... very VERY opinionated ...basing your opinion/recommendations ... pot calling ...kettle... black...sarcasm...comment ...unwarranted...unnecessary...."

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  30. #49

    Default Re: Mandolin Pricing?

    For our family, we saw an increase in our savings as a result of being home bound. We just didn't spend any money going to shows, dinner etc. Our stimulus check went to new bicycles and hiking shoes which is our new passion. Our lifestyle has completely changed and I don't see going back to our former lifestyle anytime soon. Now is a good time to get in to instrument building. I opened my list up and was swamped with orders. The few instruments I have listed for sale, new and used, were sold in a matter of hours. Enough so that I'm doing the math to see if I can use this as a stepping stone in to retirement from my day job.

  31. #50

    Default Re: Mandolin Pricing?

    You go, Andrew!

    Try buying a bike, or better yet an e-bike. A friend here in town owns a bike shop. He said things have snapped him out of his sleepy little semi-retired state.
    "your posts ... very VERY opinionated ...basing your opinion/recommendations ... pot calling ...kettle... black...sarcasm...comment ...unwarranted...unnecessary...."

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