Well to find mine i was just looking at musiciansfriend.com for the cheapest solid wood construction I could find. I wound up going with a Kentucky brand A style in the 600 dollar range. They had one slightly used for 400 some. When I got it, it had some buzzing frets where they hadn’t been detailed properly and the neck needed a set up so I tweaked the truss rod and filed down some sloppy edges myself and wrote them an email complaining that the condition should have been listed as needs repair. They offered to send me a completely new one or refund me a hundred bucks on the repair costs. I took the latter, so all in all I got a solid wood beauty for nearly half price. I think F style mandos look a lot cooler but they’re also a lot more expensive. One of the greatest living mandolin luthiers lives in my neck of the woods and it’s not uncommon for his creations to go for 3, 4, 5 grand a piece. Ratliff mandolins are no joke though.

@Wurlitzer Thanks for the info, don't know If I want to spend that much on one being that I don't even know if I'd like playing it. But solid wood would be a logical choice I would assume. I don't buy crap.

@nvrnuff yeah that was my minimum criteria; you can get the composite starter one for like 20, 30 bucks to see if you think you can learn the basic chord shapes on, but it will make even the most calloused dockworker sweat to play one of those for long lol. Michael Kelly makes really nice mid price range models too, keep an eye out for a used one in FB marketplace, Craigslist etc. if I had a similar amount to spend again I’d go for something like this: [musiciansfriend.com]

The one I actually got for 300 was this one, not bad at all. Once I fixed the action and buzzing it rings like a bell: [musiciansfriend.com]

I suggest starting out with an A model duplicate like an epiphone. You can find one for around 100 used. That way if you don't like it you can dump it and get your money back. On the other extreme would be a Gibson Bill Monroe limited F model for about 9,000.

[ebay.com]

@kensmile4u Don't believe I'll be spending 9 grand on ANY mandolin,lol.

@nvrnuff Lol I would only do that if i were as good as Sam Bush!

@kensmile4u LOL, don't think I need to worry about that.

@kensmile4u What got me interested was listening to the Punch Brothers

@nvrnuff I checked them out. They are really good.

Damn straight, I was a folky up until I hooked up with a legendary rhythm section. once you hear a solid drum n bass groove and a horn line kicks in with you, it really transforms practice into a spiritual experience. Nothing like passing the groove, picking up the pieces, takin it to the bridge and blaming it on the boogie.