A Sobell mandolin, said to be made for Ged Foley.
Don’t ask me why, i’m fascinated by these 
Neck looks really wide, BTW, makes me wonder about the playability. I’m sure if it was Ged’s, he beat the tone into it, so no worries about how it sounds.
[u]That other one[/u] was an octave mandolin that started at $2500 and ended up at $3670. I wonder where this one will go. I saw one just like this on eBay a couple years ago, listed for $1,000 USD…and also located in New Zealand. Maybe it didn’t sell, I forget, and the seller has been inspired to relist it after watching that OM.
I love those things too. I played one once, up in Seattle, years ago, and the thing sounded like a huge boombox. I mean that in a good way. 
rh,
That’s that wide neck I was talking about. If you’re used to a Gibson A or something similar, this would be a whole new world. And very tiring, I thought.
Rick
Yeah, my Foley has a 1-3/16" nut, which is fine, but the neck profile itself is really chunky… sometimes it bothers me, sometimes i’m okay with it. So i can only imagine what getting around on that Sobell is like.
If i could get a builder to make a Sobell-ish instrument with maybe a Breedlove or Rigel neck, that might be a good compromise.
RH,
I ran into Ged a few years back at Augusta, and he had another Sobell, maple back and sides. He agreed with the problems of the wide necks, and told me Sobell was building a narrower “normal” neck on his 4 course mandos, which his new one had. He offered to let me give it a whirl, but I never caught up with him to do that-- have regretted it ever since.
Rick
You might want to contact Graham McDonald in Canberra. He’s the kind of guy who’d probably accept a job like that and do it very well. The exchange rate would probably be in your favour too.
I’d love to own that instrument. A Sobell guitar would be nice too. Are you listening Santa?
Ironically, you can do very well in New Zealand with a Davey Stuart instrument for a lot less than a Sobell, well, they were a lot cheaper last time I checked.