I was shopping for a good cheap mandolin about a year ago, & wound up getting one from the "Mid-Missouri Mandolin Company" which from its pamphlet is a relatively recent company that exists to make inexpensive non-plywood mandolins. Mine was about $400 and I've been pretty happy with it. They have a couple of different "models" in different woods, but all are shaped about the same, with flat back & top and a round soundhole. I've been told that the flat back & top produce the ringing, sustained sound that I prefer, while the curved top gives the plunkier, less sustained sound that a lot of other folks like. But I don't have enough experience of different mandolins to know how true it is ...

And yes, more people should play mandolin.

JZG