Wha d' y say about this! There are not many of these around, grab it while you can! It's in as new condition, it's loud and resophonicy!! It's a tough business describing sound (awwww poor me). I'm not even going to try with this one. With Rigel rectangular case.

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I bought this from James a few years ago. It's my favorite innovative take on the mandolin. The sound port bungs can be added and removed individually, giving an adjustable sound!

It's French polished with striped ebony sides, looks incredible and sounds wonderful, very loud, rich and complex.

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Martin were not really rivals to Gibson in mandolin making but made some fine flat back bent top models in this period. This is from 1925, style B, in excellent condition. It has Brazilian rosewood back and sides and a mahogany neck with engraved enclosed tuners, fancy cut-out headstock and inlaid pickguard, herringbone back-stripe and a compensated bridge. With a 13" scale it has a sweet tone with very clear trebles, comes with original case in amazing condition, complete with key!

Great condition Flatiron 2K 'pancake' from Bozeman MT with original fiberboard case and warranty card, made in 1984. I can never understand how these little beauties produce so much sound, louder than most flat-top mandolins with some punch and great depth of tone. Its very hard to find this much mandolin for £500!

This is one of the sweetest, richest most complex mandolins I've ever heard. It looks incredible too with immaculate workmanship and the most beautiful quilted maple back and sides.

Unfortunately due to ill health Hans has had to announce his retirement. If he hadn't agreed to finish the Eclipse V6 I have on order I wouldn't be selling this amazing mandolin.

Old Wave A4 from Bill with rosewood back and sides. Simon Mayor said "An initial tickling of the strings gives me plenty of sustain. I find myself playing baroque music on it and it’s delicate, almost harpsichordal quality is well suited. I know immediately that this is going to be an easy mandolin to linger on, its response is reassuringly fast."

Beautiful heritage model from Michael. It has a 100 year old red spruce top and sugar maple back, sides and neck, Waverly tuners and a Calton case.

It has been on consignment somewhere else so its being sold as used but its never been owned or played outside a shop.

Its a tone monster. I have had quite a few amazing mandolins from Michael, this one (as usual) is truly incredible. From banjo assassination to the sweetest lullaby, it has it all.. and the playability is second to none.

This is a fine example of the A+ deluxe in great condition in a beautiful cream finish.

It has the typical Rigel tone which I always think of as deep and resonant, clear and precise with good volume and projection but with great subtlety.

This is a Collings amongst Collings. It has an oil based varnish finish and is in premium Adirondack spruce and the finest flamed maple. It has tone-bar bracing, radiussed ebony fingerboard, Collings ebony bridge, hand-engraved deluxe tailpiece, MoP logo, MoP and abalone etched headstock inlay, adjustable truss rod, bone nut, Waverly tuners, ebony pickguard with black/white purfling and a hard-shell Collings case.

The sound is incredible, its deep and resonant but with power and pop. A fantastic bluegrass cannon for tackling those ban*os with rich and melodious tone in bucket loads for any style you would care to think of. It plays like a dream. A beautiful and very versatile mandolin.

A very nice example of the Hoyer guitar bodied mandolin. Its all original - bridge, tailpiece pickguard, body transfer and tuners - except for one replacement tuner button. Its in very good condition and plays well. With a new gigbag.

I sold Hans' V3 Stealth quite a few years back and still remember it as one of my favorite mandolins ever. This V8 is equally memorable. Its such a shame Hans stopped making mandolins, a great loss to the mandolin community.

Made in Italian spruce and sugar maple with a Jacob Hammerl spirit over oil violin varnish finish, dated Jan 2009.


It has Han's signature sound, full and rich with plenty of pop. With yellow Eastman shaped fiberglass case. I've still got my V6 Eclipse and its one of my keepers.

Great condition early (Backporch Productions) 3K 'The Flatiron' bouzouki/octave mandolin (it says bouzouki on the label, octave mandolin on the string packet). It's had a new nut and tuners somewhere along the way and comes with the original hard case and a set of 'The Flatiron'/Backporch Productions strings (to be treasured not used, gauges .045, .032, .022, .012). Its in spruce and Koa and the scale length is 23 3/8".

This is a 'tight' octave/bouzouki, fantastic deep and focused sound, none of that wallowing around common to some. With McIntyre feather pickup.

The Black Beauty is back! From my original listing "Bret, Bruce's genius man with the finishing got in touch wanting to try something new so I got together with him and Rick and some spectacular quilted maple and we came up with the Black Beauty." Its a Gallatin A with snakehead headstock, tortoise bound top and soundhole, quilted maple back and sides, Brekke bridge and high gloss finish. It has a really deep and warm tone with strong bass, rich and complex mids and bell-like trebles. If it wasn't for the fact that I have ordered a Custom Elite A based in this mandolin I would be taking it home!

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The Rigel Q95 is also known as the Gypsy Q. It was designed by Ted Eschliman of JazzMando.com. They were voiced by Pete to have the sweet sound of vintage oval-hole mandolins. This is the "Espresso con Pana," cream top with ‘Petite Bouche’ sound hole. It is a wrench to let it go from my collection but sometimes needs must. It is carved from select, highly-figured Vermont rock maple and Adirondack spruce with a maple neck with graphite reinforced truss rod, radiused ebony fingerboard, gold Grover tuners and Rigel tailpiece, abalone diamond-pattern inlays’ internal piezo pickup and hardshell case.

I'm thinking of going back to oval hole mandolins after playing this beauty from Hans. It has the thickness of a good oval hole mandolin but with incredible volume and clarity at the high end. Spruce top, flamed maple back and sides, McIntyre feather pickup, James tailpiece, 1 3/16" nut width, ebony fretboard and bridge, tortoise bound top and back, ebony sculpted pickguard, twenty one frets, abalone inlaid logo, tortoise bound soundhole with white coach-line and hard case.

I had my eyes on one of these when Ted Eschliman of Jazz Mando first worked with Pete langdell on it, I couldn't afford it at the time but it eventually found its way here. It has an amazing brassy kind of tone, the deep growl of a dola but with amazing focus, no stray tones whizzing about. If you are thinking of coming to see it let me know because it's in no man's land at the moment, or to be less obtuse, on my wall (when I'm not playing it) at home, therefore at any moment it might get marked sold...

Ken made this for me in 2007, it's a stunning looking instrument tho' some of the detailing is not perfect. The sound is incredible.. it's loud and very focused, amazing warm and cutting chop with strong bass and clear trebles. With lightweight hard case.

Custom built for guitarist Terry Clarke, this is a rare and beautiful mandola in spruce and birdseye maple. The last one of these I saw was at Simon Mayor's house and needless to say he made music in a way I struggle to dream about. I have long been a fan of that special and inexplicable deep rumble of the mandola, Mr. Vanden takes it a step further, it's dark, subterranean and mysterious... (end of ramble). With hard case.

This was made for Wurlitzer for their catalog and shop sales by Weyman of Philadelphia, probably in the 1920's. Weyman called their mandolins "mando lutes". Thanks to Dan Beimborn and Paul Brett for information on this little gem. I think the back is figured walnut though Dan is convinced it's Koa. It's a very beautiful mandolin and a great player for folk and classical.

I am going to take some persuading to part with this one, its the ugliest, worst sounding mandolin I've ever heard

Simon Mayor's Evaluation

Walnut is the dark horse of these four woods. Similar in looks to mahogany but quite a different sound. The treble is brighter but sweet rather than harsh. This is a very well balanced mandolin with good volume. My immediate reaction to Mr Bussman’s walnut A-model was to want to keep it (and remember, I’m generally not a fan of oval-hole mandolins). Of the four, there is no doubt that this has the most immediate appeal: loud, beautifully balanced across the entire fingerboard, a very fast response and a wonderfully mellow but penetrating tone. This seems to do it all, lots to give when played hard, and I can tell from experience that it would be equally good in a studio situation. I’d suggest it’s a little less suited to single note melody playing than the maple model, but for chordal work the sound is homogenised yet remaining clear as a bell.

I couldn’t resist laying the four Bussmans on visiting friend Andy Irving? Even before he’d played a note he remarked that his style was so different from mine that he may not choose the same mandolin, but after a due consideration went for the walnut. There’s no question that its fast response and very full sound suited him well.

Dan Beimborn's Evaluation

This one was my favorite of the 4, which surprised me. I was expecting that this one would sound "odd" because it's not a commonly used back wood. The tone was very much "Snakehead" which means nice rounded midrange and good volume to me. When I played with different picks, I could bring out the high sparkle and attack with a thinner one, or get a nice growl with a heavy one.

Overall a nice bell-like tone, good punch, and I could really control the volume with my pick. The sweet spot for picking was quite wide, this one seemed to me to have the most different sounds possible on it, all with a nice tone. Probably the most flexible of the bunch in terms of sheer variety of notes you could pull from it, and to my ear the most interesting tonally. This one really got my attention because it was very nice and had a lot of interesting tone available that I haven't ever heard before in a mandolin, it's a very refreshing tone and not quite like what you'd expect to hear.

I played one of the first Rigel Jethros in a tasty blue in LA in early 2004. The sound has haunted me ever since. It was Rigel's first model with binding but still made with solid carved rims. With its asymmetrical two point body in gorgeous dark cherry sunburst, block MoP fretboard inlays, gold fittings and a beautifully flamed maple back its stunning to look at.

It sounds incredible, if you thrash it with some chords the sound comes in big fat chunks, lots of volume and rich, warm, dark and deep resonant bass tones. The mids are warm and complex, the trebles sweet and clear with great projection. With a lighter touch it responds like only a Rigel does, great balance and projection from the open G to the high D at the 22nd fret.

Reluctantly I have decided to let this beauty go from my personal collection. It may be the only oval hole Jethro made.

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A contemporary classic, in great shape with original case and non original bridge pickup. Even in the days when I only had ears for oval sound hole mandolins I loved the sound of the CT110 f hole. It's loud and chops beautifully but has a richness in the mid range that is typical of the CT110, yummy.

We liked the DG1 so much we had one re-finished with a black top. Nice!

A great Flatiron F5 from their best period. Signed by Bruce Weber, it has amazing tone, rich but loud and cutting mid ranges, just like an great F5 should be, with strong bass and clear trebles. It is in great condition, tone bar braced with Ebony (flat) fretboard (with 24 frets) and bridge, 28 mm nut width, spruce top, flame maple back and sides and a shaped hard case.

Wow! I have never seen one of the beauties in this condition! Appears to be all original tho' I'm not too sure about the pickguard take a look at the pearl effect bracket! Comes with original gigbag too. I am very tempted to keep this one.

Very playable and very collectable, these Montana made 'pancakes' out-perfom their diminutive size. This 1984 2K in spruce and Koa has very strong and well defined bass, similar to vintage Gibson oval holes, with warm mids and ringing trebles. With original fibreboard case.

A German blonde in her fifties well preserved, the usual crazing in the top finish, gorgeous original pickguard, a couple of bent but working well tuner shafts and some very nice flamed maple on the back. Plays very well after a little set-up work after arriving with original (probably) strings! No case.

This is a gorgeous 1920's cylinderback with mahogany back and sides. It's in excellent condition with original case in great condition, with key!!! The sound of these unique instruments is fantastic, great bass (that's why the cylinder is there to increase the volume of the sound chamber) but amazing balance and projection. There's not a lot of these around and fewer in this condition, a true collector's item that is also a great player.

Vega cylinderback mandolins are hard to find, mandolas very hard to find, there are very few mandolin/mandolas. With a 15" scale length, in-between mandolin and mandola, it is tuned CGDAE, so you have a mandolin and mandola all in one, great for chords as you get an extra note giving a fuller sound. Why more instruments aren't made in this format is a mystery to me. The cylinder back increases the volume of the sound chamber, this increases the bass response and resonance giving a throaty sound without losing the mandolin sound at the top end. It's in fantastic condition, there's a small (1/8") ding on the bass point and a professionally repaired short split on the back. The case appears to be original, my only doubt is that it's in such great condition, but as they haven't made them like this since the 1920's I can only assume it's the real McCoy.

Pete Langdell is now back at work at Rigel but working alone. Mandolins from the time when there was a small team don't come up used very often (perhaps because I've got so many at home). This is a fine example of the A+ deluxe in great condition with original case and pickup. It has the typical Rigel f hole tone which I always think of as creamy, clear and precise with good volume and projection but with great subtlety.

Ibanez F5 model 524 early 1970's

We are selling this beauty for Simon Mayor (see photo of Simon playing it). It's from the early 1980's with Fishman bridge pickup and fibreboard case in spruce and flamed maple. Mike is considered by many to be one of the world's top bluegrass style mandolin makers (probably the only one from the UK with such a reputation in the USA). It's in good condition with the usual playing wear, a few nicks and marks on the top and back. It has a fantastic rich and complex tone, deep and warm bass with full and vibrant mids and clear, sweet trebles.