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Anyone have knowledge of values of these instruments? I have a friend who has inherited one from 1916 in fairly ruff condition. He's gotten a quote of around 800 to 1000 dollars to recondition it. What might it be worth after all is said and done.
Thanks Willjo |
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it depends very much on who does the work (there are guys like dave harvey at gibson who specialize in this work, randy wood, george youngblood, joe vest.........to name a few) and what is done.
best to go over to the mandolincafe.com and poke around. GADZ-Ukes!!!! |
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Willjo. As Mary says it depends on what the nature of the repairs are. In general F4s are sought-after instruments. Some cool features on F4s are blacktop finish, inlaid Handel tuners, and (my favorite) the double flower-pot inlay. F4s have a beautiful voice. Bill Monroe used one on some recordings while his F5 was being repaired. Jimmy Martin always had mandolin players in his band play his F4. It is one of the instruments on my wanted list. Depending on condition whey seem to be in the broad 5-8K range. They are definitely worth putting $ into for repairs.
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cremona brown finish double flower pot means big bucks- there are just a few of these around now. one went on ebay at around $15k in better fiscal times.
that said, you need to do some investigating before touching this one. a bad repair/refinish will plunge the price dramatically. remember, these were french polished instruments....think really good varnish, hand rubbed.......and the finish is very thin compared to most of today's varnished instruments. GADZ-Ukes!!!! |
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The F4 that went for $15k was a Loar period (meaning 1922-1924) mandolin. totally different beast than a teens F4. And the only reason it went that high was two bidders got in a war over it and drove it to that record price. Not likely to happen again anytime soon.
A teens F4 in pretty good shape is roughly worth ~$6k. You'll find some music stores asking more for them but they are sitting for a LONG time in the $7-8k range. As has been mentioned, someone knowledgeable needs to do the work on it. Don't take it to a guitar tech that has no vintage mandolin experience. |
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