Thanks for those hints. Music Room sounds like a good place to look, at least to find out what a "good" mandola sounds like (their prices start at a bit more than I can probably afford!).

The problem with my cheapo instrument was that (a) it was set up badly, (b) turns out that the bad setup was concealing a serious flaw in the instrument (no neck relief), and (c) the staff on the stand at the festival I bought it from didn't give a shit. I've also heard other people unimpressed with how they treat the instruments they bring to festivals (or rather, how they don't treat them). Maybe their shop is different, I don't know - but my feeling is that if they're slipshod at events where they're trying to build up custom, they're going to be slipshod back home too. Trouble is though that it doesn't look like I've got much choice.

Maybe I'd better just talk to a local luthier and see how much he'd charge. I know of a couple round here, but again it's running into the rarity aspect of mandolas - I'd rather buy off someone who's built a few before and knows what they're doing, rather than someone who'll just scale up a mandolin or scale down a guitar or just use a pattern out of a book.

Graham.