I'd be interested in putting it up against the new Fender model this current thread discusses. It seems to be a big jump over the poly-dipped lower-end Washburns, MK's, Epiphones etc. The Kentucky is a lower-range F-model mandolin, competing with the Rover RM-75, the Eastman MD-315, similar instruments. Pray, would somebody please show me a Weber Gallatin with sanding marks like that? Bruce would have been embarrassed to death if something like that left his shop.Yeah, but I can't show you a Gallatin with a $695 manufacturer's list price, either. Some have compared it to the Weber Gallatin. My major turn off is those sanding marks. Yes, but why can't you have good sound and pleasing aesthetics, both? Not my cup of tea, but of course it may be yours. Life is too short to play an ugly instrument, I always say! Some say, the sound is the thing. But I do care what an instrument looks like.

Roberts points about build quality, sound, and inferior instruments at the same price point are well taken. Some finish flaws sometimes, but no sanding marks I can see. But the Eastman has brown finish, figured wood that actually shows, and great build quality. More than the Gallatin, I think it would be fair to say this model is going up against the Eastman 315, at approximately the same price point, perhaps a little lower. If that's what they were going for, why not a brown that would show the wood more? The success of the Eastman 315 shows that it doesn't have to be sunburst to sell. Pray, would somebody please show me a Weber Gallatin with sanding marks like that? Bruce would have been embarrassed to death if something like that left his shop. My major turn off is those sanding marks.

But I feel like some poor decisions were made here. I see what Kentucky is trying to do, and where they are trying to compete. Well, I can honestly say, definitely not for me.

Kentucky mandolin km 606 review