Hi everyone,
I in an area of Canada that is not close to a store carrying vintage mandos. As a result, my fix for an old instrument will have to be satisfied online. I've been doing what research I can, but am hoping that you good folks will be able to help me pick a good one.
If this has been comprehensively addressed in a previous thread, I'd appreciate if you could please point me in the right direction.
Here are some questions that I have, and below I have identified a few models that I have my eye on.
I am very grateful for any time that you can give to providing your comments, either generally as to the process or specifically on the models that I link to.
Here are my questions:
1. Does buying from a retail store (as opposed to an individual owner) reduce the risk that you are buying a lemon or that the online description is inaccurate? I would prefer to not have to rely on the right to return since shipping to & from Canada will be expensive. At the same time I'm mindful that there are a great many awesome individual sellers and that literally thousands of satisfied buyers have purchased through the Cafe and other online marketplaces from just plain people.
2. What should I be looking for in pictures? I'm more interested in sound than looks. Based on my research I'm mostly concerned with cracks and seams at the neck joint. But I can't tell anything about whether the condition of the fretboard or if there is warping.
3. Other than looking at pictures, is there anything that I can do to get assurance that the mando is in good repair? Is this a good reason to buy from a well-respected retail store?
4. How concerned should I be with previous repairs? Is it a bad sign that repairs were required, or is it a good sign that repairs were made?
5. Is it unreasonable to request a sound clip or a zoom meeting to hear the instrument?
6. Is it easy to remove an unwanted pickup?
7. Any other helpful advice?
My primary mando is a custom. I plan on using it for bluegrass and having the vintage for a change of sound and to play old time and the odd Celtic-type song. Here are a few of the mandos that I'm thinking about - as you'll see, it is A-Jrs and an A-0. For this category, does the vaunted "Loar era" designation carry more weight?
Links are to the Cafe ad where applicable.
A. https://www.mandolincafe.com/ads/186433#186433
B. https://www.mandolincafe.com/ads/186256#186256
C. https://reverb.com/ca/item/53642186-...ehead-mandolin
D. https://reverb.com/ca/item/44741421-...a-0-1928-brown
If you've made it this far, thanks so much for reading and thanks in advance for your thoughtful comments.
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