I know this is the whistle thread, but I also know that quite a few people here play mandolin too. I’d like to direct y’all to a thread over on the Trad stringed instrument thread regarding a terrific value in an F Mandolin
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=48661
And 10 pages worth over on mandolin cafe:
http://www.mandolincafe.net/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?s=d296f9a2322c9a93271af3b25fda7abe;act=ST;f=13;t=37864;st=0
Current price (which shows up when you put the mando in your shopping cart) is $179 ! This is getting rave reviews.
I have no commercial interest yadda yadda
My wife just ordered me one for my Birthday 
I got one of these recently because of the thread Paul has mentioned.
It is pretty sweet. I’m a beginning mandolinist (who has experience
on guitar), and this is my second mando. I largely ignored my first
mandolin, which was a cheap Stagg, but I’ve taken to this Fullerton
like a fish to water! It is a sweet instrument with a nice low action.
My wife thinks it has a very violin-like look.
I did have to replace the strings that it shipped with, because the top
pair broke as I was repositioning the bridge. So, make sure you have
a set of strings on hand if you order this.
That is a great price for a good instrument!
Well, since this isn’t a commercial but a confessional, I’ll confess to mando mania, too. And I hang out at the Mandolin Cafe. And I play the mp3’s and long for an earlier time and wish I’d gotten more involved in learning to do it right!
And since we can tout other sites, try this one: http://www.greatdividemusic.com/
I used to pick and grin with Sandy before he had the store and even made some sales and purchases before it got Watched World Wide.
Mack, whose middle name begins with M
Ps on mandolin cafe mp3 page scroll to near the bottom to listen to Sandy Munro play