The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #78993   Message #1427804
Posted By: Bee-dubya-ell
06-Mar-05 - 01:11 AM
Thread Name: Buying Mandolins
Subject: RE: Buying Mandolins
Elderly Instruments carries Michael Kelly mandos. Click. Their prices seem pretty comparable to what Jeff is charging for the ElvenWood brand considering that he's probably buying them directly from the plant in Korea or China whereas "Michael Kelly" (there is no real Michael Kelly, just a company name) is importing them and selling them to Elderly so your getting two markups instead of just one.

Odd thing about it, though, is that the instrument Josh plays has "Kelly" inlaid in script on the headstock whereas the Michael Kelly instruments have an "MK" inlay. Maybe his is just an older instrument. I did a Google search for "Kelly mandolin" omitting "Michael" and found no other builders named Kelly.

All I know for sure is that Josh's instrument sounds great and he loves it. Gibson gave him one of their top-of-the-line mandos with the stipulation that he be seen in public playing it. He liked the Kelly so much more that he wound up sending the Gibson back because he couldn't fulfill his end of the agreement.