Best cheap octave mando or Bouzouki?

Trad Strings
1

Can’t spend more than $550. I suspect the Trinity, Johnson ones are pretty much the same animals. Anyone know of any others?

2

Try to find a used Mid-Mo: Likely the best bang for the buck you can get, and you may very well be able to find one very near $550.

Loren

3

I just did a quick search on google and found one that recently sold for $540. with no case., so a used Mid-Missouri is definately in your range.

Loren

4

Lark in the Morning has an octave mandolin for $99. I know, you said ‘best’ but I couldn’t help but mention that one considering the price.

5

I picked up a Romanian bouzouki to see if it was something I wanted to put time in on. I’ve got small hands and decided the mandola was more my size. It’s a good instrument for the money. I still have mine and it’s for sale $150 + shipping if anyone wants to dip their toe into the octave/bouzouki waters.

Contact me off forum if interested.

take care

jim d

6

The Elloree OM is in your range, handmade in Louisiana, $500-$550; the zouk is $650:
http://www.angelfire.com/la2/elloree/mandolins.html

7

Have you ever tried any of his instruments Rob?

Loren

8

I haven’t, no. I’ve heard he’s a very nice guy to work with. The instruments are probably a little rougher than the Mid-Mo. $550 doesn’t give you much in the way of options, though, outside of the Asian or East European imports. If you can get up to $750, the Freshwater OMs start there.

If you’re handy, you can put one together from a kit:
http://www.donkawalek.com/octave_kit.htm

9

I have a Freshwater octave mandola and I´m happy with it and the price was quite OK: $868
It´s a little bit low volyme in it
configuration:
Spruce and american black walnut. A-shape soundhole, bigger box and soundsystem.

10

Damn Par, that’s one fat bottom girl!

Loren

11

I have some experience with him, so I will weigh in.

He will send you a kit already together for $700, of course you can have customizations for extra cash. He is also very nice to work with, I have a custom 26" scale length Kit on the way. If you want to spend a bit more, you can have different Woods, I know he has some Redwood for tops and some Mahogany for Back/Sides it is a $40 charge for those woods.

12

Thanks for all the replies. I’m most likely going to try the kit. I’ve got just about everything I’d need for tools since I’m putting together a fiddle workbench for the apt. Could always use the stuff at the shop too I suppose. Might be fun to see what you can do with one of these kits. Definitely will use hide glue instead of the other stuff

13

this might be of interest to someone here… might not last long though.
http://www.mandolincafe.com/cgi-bin/classifieds/classifieds.cgi?search_and_display_db_button=on&db_id=17817&query=retrieval

14

Yeah, I just saw that. Under different circumstances I’d be very tempted to give that one a whirl, however I’m maxed out at the moment, so someone here needs to buy that and give us a review :laughing:

Loren

15

The 19" scale should be very playable, i think that’s even shorter than the Trinity College OM. Similar scale to a 17-fret (short-scale) tenor banjo.

16

Anybody know anything about these? Made by Garrison Guitars

Someone is selling it over at the mandolin cafe. To me, it just looks like higher quality work than trinity ect. Wanting $500 for it. I wonder if anyone has played one.
http://www.mandolincafe.com/cgi-bin/classifieds/classifieds.cgi?search_and_display_db_button=on&db_id=17817&query=retrieval

17

we were just discussing this a bit. I haven’t played one, but that won’t stop me from speculating :smiley:

Here is the company website. I would guess that it is a better-quality instrument than the TC/Johnson/etc OMs. With the hard case and hardware upgrade i would think the asking price is a good deal even if the quality was on a par with the Asian imports. Looks like a lot of stuff there is done by laser and CNC which keeps their costs down.

Looks like the build level is equivalent to this model guitar on their website:
http://www.garrisonguitars.com/g4.html

Here’s the info on their bracing
http://www.garrisonguitars.com/bracing.html

Also their finish is apparently a high-tech process which allows a thinner coat (a lot of pacrim factories overdo the finish) and should help the top vibrate more freely.

I’d be tempted to get it but i’ve got enough instruments that go unplayed as it is.

18

Yes, that is one of the things that really appeals to me about this particular OM, the unusually short scale. I swear, I’d be all over it, if I hadn’t just made another commitment. But then, timing is everything…

Loren

19

One more thought: Trinity College OM’s go for $450 setup from Elderly with a “flattop semi-hardshell case”, but if you decided a month from now to sell it you’d take a pretty steep depreciation hit (prolly 40% at least). Buying something used, you’d probably break even or come close to what you paid for it if you re-sold it later.

20

I picked up a lovely Morgan Monroe Octave mando from a person on the Mandolin Cafe classifieds for $300 a while ago and it gets better and better as months go by. And I know some may chuckle, but for the money, it is an exceptionally well turned out instrument. I never have had the opportunity to play a big ticket instrument either so I may be out of line. I do know this particular one will never find it’s way to Ebay as long as I’m around.