MFG is entirely a consignment shop. Stevie never advertises for instruments because he says that they "just walk in the door." As Martin said, it is "more of a 'boutique' shop." You'll usually find a couple of Martins, a couple of Gibsons, a couple of Lowdens, and a couple of Goodalls, but the bulk of his inventory is guitars from luthiers who don't sell through stores. I've bought two guitars there in the last three years, and I really need to stop.
He occasionally has a mandolin or two, but never more than that. The best I've seen there was a tremendous Mowry A-style mandola that sat there for a few years before finding a home. It had been a custom order, so it was accented in the Italian tri-color.
MFG doesn't have display cases --- only wall hooks and floor stands. So, the K-5 is not in the showroom, and nobody can play it unless the owner (who lives in the area) specifically approves. So, I got to see it in its original case, but that's it.
Stevie said that he and the owner haven't set a price yet because Stevie has been getting a wide range of informal appraisals of the instrument's value. How many 1924 Gibson Loar K-5's have been sold in the last few years, and how much did they go for? Those are the key questions for an appraisal, and the answer to the first question is probably zero. There aren't even similar instruments to go by.
So, the buyer is going to be either a mandocello player with deep pockets
, or an investor who is willing to gamble that that instrument will be worth even more a few years down the line. How big a market pool is that?
That instrument has an incredibly strong attack, so I'm only guessing that LL had the K-5 built with an L guitar body, rather than the K4 body, because he wanted it to match the attack of his F-5's, which an archtop guitar body could give.
Bookmarks