Gibson F-5 Distressed Master Model Mandolin  

This is a great mandolin, its finish is beuatiful but i dont agree with the price AT ALL! defentaly not worth that much.

Over the past few years ive been searching for the perfect mandolin. One day i walked into a music store and asked the guy for his best instrument. He then brought me this piece of amazingness and asked me to try it out. I played it and sounded like better than i ever have in the past. The only reason why i cant purchase it right now is because of the huge price. I definitely suggest this to anyone who knows how to play the mandolin and has a few extra thousands. Overall, an AMAZING instrument.  

I am willing to wager that 99% of the people that have written reviews for this mandolin have never even touched one. Probably just some bored kids surfing the internet. With that said, this mandolin is fantastic. Most may not understand spending over 20k on this but then I don't understand why someone would buy a new Cadillac either. The fact of the matter is, it's all about perception and your passion for the instrument. The tone is phenominal. As to whether it's worth an extra 20k dollars, that's subjective to the person throwing down the cash. Lastly, consider the case. In particular, look at image #5! That is just gorgeous. If you're a serious mandolin player and you have the money, consider this one. If you buy it, write an honest experience-based review like mine and post it to balance out all the fake ones on here.

I played this at a local music store. (i did not notice the price at the time, so review here is based strictly on the instrument itself)The Gibson F-5 distressed mandolin is an absolutely horendous peice of company hype. calling it the "masterbuilt" is a disgrace on the company. This mandolin refuses to stay in tune, emits a horrible buzzing when played, and the tone overall just isn't as nice as their cheaper models. When i stopped playing i turned it over. Then i noticed the price tag. I almost dropped it in shock. i actually went to one of the guys working there and told him he'd priced it wrong and he told me "no, Gibson priced it wrong man." You could buy a care for the price of this terrible peice of work. If you hold Gibson in high standards like i do, stay far, far, far away from it, so you dont have to experience the pain i felt when i played this mandolin.

I have played this at a guitar showroom last year. It's sounds pretty good, but it's way over priced. You can buy like 4 vans with that kind of money. I have a cheaper gibson verson and it plays just as good as this one.