Washburn has been hand crafting folk instruments for 120 years. They build quality and performance into each of their mandolins. This F style Florentine piece is crafted with a carved solid spruce top and book matched solid maple back and sides. Elegant styling. Includes MC92 hardshell case, a $140 value.
For the past several years I had been itching to get a mandolin of my own. I didn't want anything too pricy, but I also wanted a mandolin of good quality. Sounds out of reach right? Not with this mandolin. It has a few blemishes as labeled by the seller, which I was very alright with (sometimes the scuffs give extra character). The sound is warm and mellow, but also gives the perfect, broad sound of "real" mandolin. I had to do some minor adjusting to the bridge to put an end to a buzzing sound in the A strings, which is no big deal. Perhaps it was just my specific mandolin, but regardless, I would recommend getting a new set of strings. My E strings broke as I was tuning it for the first time, but a new pack of strings isn't too much of an issue. Overall, a great instrument with a beautiful glossy finish and sleek neck and has wonderful tone as well.
This is a B graded mandolin at therefor a big discount. It only had a few minor issues which I have easily fixed. On mine the neck screw for the scratch plate had pulled out and someone had tried to glue it back. I cleaned off the glue, drilled the hole a little deeper and securely reaffixed the scratch plate. A couple of frets had worked loose and risen up slightly causing a buzz. So I carefully tapped them down using a small piece of dowel so as not to damage them and they went back in perfectly. Result, a now perfect mandolin at a bargain price, great fitted hard case too.