Mandolin
Kentucky KM-140
Price: 460 EUR – 460 EUR
Price history
Cheapest seen
Most expensive seen
Availability: 0/10 (Very rare)
A budget-friendly A-style mandolin from a Korean-then-Chinese-built line long favored by bluegrass and Celtic beginners: solid German spruce top over solid mahogany back and sides, with an East Indian rosewood fingerboard.
About the Kentucky KM-140
The KM-140 is Kentucky's entry-level A-style model, built with a solid German spruce top over solid mahogany back and sides rather than laminate - a genuine step above many beginner mandolins that use plywood throughout. The neck is a slim mahogany profile intended for easy fretting-hand movement, joined to an East Indian rosewood fingerboard at a 13.75-inch scale and 1.12-inch nut width.
Hardware includes deluxe nickel-plated tuners with white buttons, a bone nut, and a polished rosewood bridge with adjustment wheels for intonation and action tweaks. A mother-of-pearl Kentucky logo sits on the headstock. Reviewers consistently describe it as not the loudest mandolin available, but with enough percussive chop for bluegrass rhythm playing and enough sustain for Celtic melodic lines - a balanced, not specialized, tone.
Where to buy
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Reverb Brand New Kentucky KM-140 A-Style Mandolin with Gig Bag 460 EUR Best price View details
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Sound character of the Kentucky KM-140
Solid mahogany back and sides push the tone toward mahogany's characteristic midrange warmth rather than maple's brighter, more scooped voice - reviewers consistently describe it as not the loudest mandolin available, but balanced enough to deliver both percussive bluegrass chop and sustained Celtic melody lines without specializing in either.
Technical data for the Kentucky KM-140
| Top | Solid German spruce |
|---|---|
| Back/Sides | Solid mahogany |
| Fretboard | East Indian rosewood |
| Scale length | 13.75" |
| Nut width | 1.12" |
| Body style | A-style |
Price history for the Kentucky KM-140
Cheapest seen: 460 EUR · Most expensive seen: 460 EUR
Cheapest seen
Most expensive seen
The history of the Kentucky KM-140
Kentucky mandolins (a brand of Saga Musical Instruments, not built in the US state despite the name) have built a decades-long reputation as one of the most reliable budget-to-intermediate mandolin lines, with the KM-140 commonly recommended as a first "real" step-up mandolin.
