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The instrument actually arrived a day sooner than expected which was a pleasant surprise. It was so well packed in three boxes, each within another, that I was certain nothing could have harmed the instrument I transit. Upon unpacking it I was able to play it immediately with minor tuning tweaks. This mandolin plays exceptionally well and the wider neck is a dream come true. I have now owned, at various times, 4 other mandolins, and this sounds better than all but one of them and is the best playing of all of them. The flat-black finish is very sharp-looking and flawless. This is a performance-quality mandolin for a professional for whom mandolin is not one's main instrument, especially guitar players because of the wider neck. For a mandolin player, especially F-style players, this is a great choice in a second instrument that is A-style. For intermediate students, this is an instrument to keep many years and grow into it.

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Have had the Breedlove Crossover OF Mandolin for about a month now and it just keeps getting better. I bought this to carry with me when I go out of town on my job . Didn't want to carry my F5 with me . First off out of the box it sounded good . Did a complete setup for the way I play . The tone with the highs and lows are great and very easy to play with it's radiuses fretboard. The solid sitka spruce top projects good sound. These are Asian built to Breedlove standards . They are quality checked by Breedlove in the USA finish , setup etc and for the price range you can't find a better playing Mandolin .Recommendation : I also bought the Gator GCMANDOLIN Deluxe Molded Mandolin Case which is a great case.

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Best decision I ever made, was concerned about buying an instrument sight unseen but I would give this an A++ for quality & sound!

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I've actually had to do some work on this mandolin to make it playable. It broke an E string immediately, so I filed the interior of the Tuner to take off the burr that caused the string to break. Both A strings were bottoming out on upper frets from the fifth fret up, so I kept raising the bridge till that stopped. Still has nice playable action. I had trouble with the bottom strap button falling out until I shimmed it with a wrapping of blue (painters) tape. The appointments, ( bridge, tailpiece, tuners ) are nice. Tuners work very well. I love the wider neck and big frets. I can play about 20% faster compared to my other mandolin with conventional string pacing and frets. Juries out on the sound as I'm still adapting to how this plays. I think the newer ( 2015 ) model with all solid woods would sound better. Also note: no adjustable truss rod. I give it 4 stars because it's a $300.00 and I think "B" stock mandolin. I got what I payed for and enjoy it mainly for practice. I'll buy a KF Model when I feel like I'm playing well enough I contacted Breedlove by email with a question and they were very responsive.

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I am a beginner. Thus my review comes from an inexperienced viewpoint. Prior to my Breedlove I had a loaner from a friend. In comparison to that mandolin the Breedlove sounds a great deal brighter but I suspect that dark mellow tone will come with age. The instrument aesthetically looks great. It feels very comfortable while playing. I did experience the E string cutting into my first finger at the head but I attribute that to my only being familiar and comfortable (currently) with the three chords up at the top (namely C, G and D). When I set up a simple shoulder strap on the mandolin I put it just above the nut and thus it solved this issue with no negative impact on playing or sound. I have long and wide fingers so the additional width of the fret board is noticeably better as compared to my loaner. Overall, for the price I paid, I am very pleased with this purchase.

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