Thanks for all the feedback everyone. Mooh your right, it comes right down to economics, that and a good ear for superior quality maybe. Neither of which I have in abundence. I'm really not a great mandolin player so I guess the question is could I even do a good instrument justice anyway. Micky Cochran from Folk of the Wood, who appears to be a fair authority on the Octave Mandolin gave the TC a decent rating. Now maybe his mandate is to sell instruments. He seems to be a decent guy though from what I can tell. Maybe I'll get lucky and get a good TC. Hopefully I will have fun with it either way. Thanks again folks.