I used to know a Dorset -based player (Clive Jennings, good Hammered Dulcimer player,too) who always used a "Vintage" (the maker) mandola,and very nice it sounded too ! My former "partner " in Dorset,whom I used to accompany on guitar, had a very pretty & sweet-sounding mandola by Phil Davidson, but it wasn't cheap ; nearly 1k£ ,if I remember rightly ! (worth it,though).