Venetian Mandolin

 Good to look at - not to play
I had one of these. From the box the action was very high and hard to play. I had a shop asjust it and change out the low grade strings. The tuners aren't that nice either. The strings fall out of tune pretty fast. For a first mandolin I would recommend the Johnson solid top or Kentucky KM140S instead.

If you just want some wall art... well, this mandolin is pretty.

 Not for bluegrass - good for other music though
These instruments are not suited for bluegrass, they do a great job for other european styles though. It is well suited for Italian, Gypsy & other eastern european music. I use mine for Irish traditional & it works well. They do need a little set up, I brought down the action by sanding down the bridge, it took 5 minutes & I replaced the tuning machines which took about a 1/2 hour. This is a steal for a solid top instrument & with a little care can be a great little axe.