Recommendations for good sounding/playing mando for around $1K

[joni24]

I'm looking for recommendations on good sounding mandolins (preferable F style) for around or under $1,000. I got my first mando this past summer: a used Harmony A-style for $89. While it was well worth the money paid, I had the opportunity to try a Rigel this past week... can't believe the difference in tone! Of course my friend paid close to $4K for that one (used). The local music stores don't have much in stock other than entry level instruments. Am interested in any & all comments & recommendations that you all may have... Thanks!

[Ron McMillan]

Do a search for threads talking about The Loar, Kentucky, Eastman, all of which companies have fine instruments in that price bracket. Be advised that you pay two or three hundred dollars for the F-scroll that adds nothing to sound or volume or tone (but looks very appealing), so if it's bang for buck you are after, an A shape (teardrop) instrument will always offer better value for money.

The Classifieds often have excellent instruments in the sub-1000 range too; mandolin owners buy and re-sell (usually at a significant loss) a lot, meaning that money can be saved that way, though doing so would mean buying an instrument you have never had the pleasure of actually playing. To do that, making the effort to get to a good store with a broad range of instruments is a chore well worth taking on.

ron

[Pete Martin]

If you can find a used pre Gibson Flatiron A5 type, they will sometimes go as low as 1000.00. Good instrument at that price.

[CES]

Lots of options in this range...the imports mentioned above are all valid suggestions, especially if you want a scroll.

I would highly recommend a used Silverangel Econo model...got mine for 900 or so and absolutely love the thing! It was a major upgrade from my Kentucky 675-S in both tone and playability, and, as it's a better mandolin than I am a player, has cured my MAS for a while.

Other options that come immediately to mind include used Gibson A-9 and Weber Absaroka, Breedlove's Quartz (A, K, and F styled bodies) series (the A's you can often find new in your range), and used Rigel A styles (though these don't pop up terribly often). In shopping for my SA I also considered Bulldog and Howard Morris Mandolins. Morris often advertises his A's in the 600-900 range new...2 pts a bit more...

Good luck...you really should be able to find an excellent mandolin in your range!

[KEB]

I got my Eastman MD-615 for under $1000 and love it. Get more compliments on it's sound than I do on my playing-- that's for sure.

[JeffD]

For little more than a tenth of your budget you could get that Harmony checked out and set up, and it might just sound a whole lot more satisfying. It ain't never going to be a $4000.00 instrument, but it could very well be a whole lot better sounding and playing.

If you are anything like me you will always want to get a more expensive mandolin, but as a sanity check it makes sense to spend a little to see if you have to get a more expensive mandolin.

[joni24]

Thanks for all the great responses (and keep them coming!). I appreciate all the insight and advice I can get.

JeffD, I already did get my little Harmony set up quite well. The action is nice and low, for a beginner/early intermediate player, and the tone is actually not bad. Tonight I stopped in one of the local music stores & tested out the best of what they had in stock: various Morgan Monroes & Ibenez models. To tell the truth, there was only 1 instrument in the store (the high end MM) that sounded better than my Harmony, and that still isn't the exact woody tone I'm looking for. So for now I will happily stick with what I have, but still dream & try out other models as I have the opportunity.

ps. My better judgement is telling me that I shouldn't rule out the A-style models, since tone & playability are really the most impt factors (to me).

[Ron McMillan]

There is seldom much in the way of consensus on a healthy forum like this, but one piece of near-universally accepted wisdom says that, while Morgan Monroe and Ibanez mandolins will indeed be a step up from real budget instruments, they will never be in the same league as instruments coming from factories where good management and craftsmanship mean their output is not, in any sense of the term, mass produced. Of the best known Chinese companies, The Loar, Eastman and to a more qualified extent Kentucky (whose cheapest instruments are more like the mass produced cousins from outfits like Morgan Monroe) are putting out instruments that are well made and, importantly, won't be quickly outgrown by relative newcomers as they progress.

Many people move on from their 'intermediate' brand to a more expensive one. I speculate that of those folks, the people with decent quality instruments are far more likely to hold onto them as back-up or office or outdoors mandolins, while many of the mass produced ones end up in the classifieds.

ron

[Schlegel]

$1000 can get you a darn good used A. For example, a vintage Gibson A-40 or A-50 from from one of the good periods. A new top-model Kentucky or the Loar if you really want the elevated fingerboard.