Thank you for the feedback, RS. Don't know if the guy's asking price is negotiable, but perhaps the info you gave me might convince him to lower it. He says he needs the money for room and board to send his son to a big mandolin conference, so I might get a sob-story about that. The son's a 15-year-old child prodigy (I've seen him and heard him play -- he's phenomenal!) and the mando is his, but he never plays it anymore since he upgraded. I'd love to know what he upgraded to!! Anyway, the seller says his son put "thousands of hours" of playing time into the Holoubek so there are scratches and such in it.

I am indeed looking for an F model or an F-hole A model.

Sharon