I've had one of Strad-O-Lin's better mandos since around 1958 or so. Re-worked the bridge and thinned the top a little back then. I love the "meaty" tone, and desire no other mando. Unlike a lot of Gibsons, it actually has some bottom, and is quite loud.

I also have a couple of their lower-quality mandos - still solid wood top, but painted binding, stencil-painted peghead logo, and aluminum (!) dot inlays. These both sound good, but not like my better one.

As someone noted above, if you find one of the solid wood Strad-O-Lins, it's worth buying - they're usually relatively cheap.