If you’ve been toying with the idea of getting a mandolin, or want an extra as a “beater”, Google “Breedlove Crossover”. These list for $600 plus, but a lot of dealers are selling them for $299. There has been speculation that Breedlove may be discontinuing them, but nobody knows for sure.
The Crossover is an A style mandolin available in black (matte) or natural, F holes or round. They’re made in China with laminated back and sides, to Breedlove’s exact specs. Laminated does not mean thick, clunky plywood. This is instrument grade stuff with excellent acoustic properties.
I got my black round hole yesterday and so far I’m really loving it. The fit and finish is much better than you might expect- I don’t see any flaws at all. I’d recommend you snatch one up while they’re available at this price.
Wish we had the dough.
http://www.zzounds.com/item--BRECRSOO
BTW, no set up on these so be prepared to diy or pay a pro.
Also, no case, or bag.
Don’t worry about setup-- mine arrived just fine right out of the box. Really.
Then that’s a real bargain.
That’s an outstanding price for a solid-top instrument from a reliable company. I’m aggressively downsizing my instrument collection due to health issues. Otherwise, I’d be all over this.
Wish I had the spare $$$, but with kids and Christmas around the corner…
Seriously, this looks about as good as the Fullerton deal from a few years back.
My other acoustic mando is one of those Fullerton Gloucesters. I like’em cheap and good 
I am thinking my son needs a new mandolin for Christmas.
Then maybe he’ll give me my good old Harmony H8025 batwing mando back.
Feadoggie
Looks like a good option for someone starting on mandolin, coming from guitar. Like me.
Unfortunately it looks like the very low price option is only available from shops which don’t ship outside north america. Still searching though.
-Tor
The Oval hole model is down to 260 now at zzounds. I am tempted, but the lack of truss rod is a real issue for me. I can’t help but wonder if Breedlove is blowing these out because they’ve decided to add a truss Rod to the Crossover for 2015. Hard to imagine the dealers were going to have much luck selling them at $500-600 with no truss rod when the other manufacturers in that price range virtually all have truss rods.
Has anyone else besides Paul picked one up? Paul, when you can type again, how would you describe the differences in tone and playability between the Fullerton and the Crossover?
It ain’t the typing that’s the problem. It’s the picking 
I recall that they’re different, but haven’t played them side by side in a while.
I played a little bit yesterday, resting my right forearm on my knee so as not to use my biceps which was part of the repair. That position didn’t do much for my playing style but it was nice to pick a bit. I’ll get back to you on this.
Hope the recovery is going well Paul, surgery kinda sucks, at least when you’re on the receiving end 
I’m due for some surgery myself (again) in 2015, and not looking forward to it 
Anyway, whenever you’re truly healthy enough to play them side by side I’ll be interested. Also curious how the neck profile on your Breedlove compares with the “standard” mando neck profile: I had a Breedlove Quartz some years back and the neck was definitely very different from a standard mando neck. Didn’t work so well for me, too wide and chunky, but the mando sounded very nice.
I’m back to playing normally. The shoulder is pretty near pain free, although I do have to take it slow and not lift any heavy weights as the tendon to bone connection still needs time to reach full strength.
The neck on the Crossover is definitely more chunky, and I like that. I find it very comfortable to play. Tone is hard to really compare since one is an oval hole and the other is an F hole. I have very different strings on them too-- flat wound on the Fullerton and the stock bronze on the Crossover. I’d say the oval hole sounds a bit more “open” than the F but it’s hard to know what to attribute that too. All in all, the two complement each other and they’re about all the mandolin I can ever see needing.
Glad to hear you’re healing well and back to most activities Paul.
Thanks for the follow-up. Yeah, those are very different strings, certainly would confuse sorting the real differences in tone between the mandos.
I’m still looking for a “beater”, so I’ll look for one of those Breedloves in-store to try out because I am unsure about the chunkier neck. I bought a used Collings MT in the mean time, for my main mando, but that has a very different neck size/profile - narrow with a significant V - which is what I am more used to at this point as I had another Collings MT in the past, before I had to take a break from playing due to some physical issues.
Hope you’re enjoying getting back to playing Paul, plenty of indoor time with all of this snow…
If you want a cheaper mandolin that is high quality and with the neck profile you are looking for- check out one of Sonny Morris’ cheaper level mandos. I think the cheapest ones run somewhere around $600. I got one of his vintage gibson-esque oval-hole A-styles as my first mandolin, and I still play it equally to my Weber that I “upgraded” to (two very different sounds, both of which I like equally). He’s a very underrated luthier, and I’d highly recommend his Mandos to anyone who is just starting or wants a high quality secondary instrument that isn’t very expensive. Not to mention, you can have it customized however you like.
Thanks for the suggestion. At this point I probably don’t want to invest that much in a knock around mando, but I’ll keep an eye out for a used Morris at a good price. You never know…