Well, after a couple of hours at my local dealer, plunking incompetenly haphazadly on about ten mandolins, I walked out with a custom Weber Gallatin.Yippeee!!!!!! (I played guitar a bit, too, so the guy didn't think I was a complete hack...well, maybe he did anyway!)

It's an F-style spruce maple, with a round soundhole. Has an ebony board, cool adustable ebony bridge and is in sort of a chocolate-maroon color. A most unusual instrument and well worth the money.

He had several more expensive Webers, a couple of Collings and a very cool Breedlove that's styled a bit more radical. I banged a few chords I learned on the spot on each one an the Gallatin was a cl;ose-call "pick of the litter". Anyway, I whacked at it tonight for a few hours, learned a bunch of chords and a a major scale fingering. I then proceeded to pick out "Sugarfoot Rag" an butchered it until I just had to quit!

I just hope this doesn;t start a round of M.A.S..... "Mandolin Acquisition Syndrome", 'cuz I'm just getting over a serious case of G.A.S., "Guitar Aquisition..." well, you get it!

Thanks everyone for your help, I'm really looking forward to finally learning mandolin.