Rigel and me

  1. Mandoelmar
    Mandoelmar
    Hi Rigelisti,

    as I was mostly playing banjo before, I "only" owned a 1918 Gibson A mandolin for a long time, which I sold last year. When starting to play more Bluegrass mandolin, I acquired a Chinese Loar LM-600 in 2006, which I upgraded to one of their first generation LM-700's in 2009, which was really a loud beast. Both have been sold, too.

    Reading about Rigels in Mandocafé and Jazzmando, I decided to give them a try, so I imported one of the last-numbered A+ Deluxes from Norway in 2007. Having played it continuously, it became quite woofy over the years, which has been noticed in my monthly jams too.

    Next I had myself built from Virginia tone-woods in East Tennessee a nice and green Blevins F5 with one-piece back in 2014, which sounds dry and woody, and therefore is a nice Bluegrass mandolin.

    Still, my thirst for more Rigels has never completely died down. Specifically, after listening to Jake Joliffs early videos ever so often, I started to hunt for a G5, which I then was lucky to find.

    As this one is not yet in my hands, but rather with relatives overseas, I jumped on a R100 Deluxe from France, sporting a Virzi, in what I had been taking an interest for quite some time. This instrument was owned before by the late John Pearse, an Englishman, who is quite well known in Europe as a music teacher and endorser of his own brand of strings.

    Wow, did that thing sound differently, after taken out of the case. The Virzi obviously comes with a 30% longer sustain and therefore produces a church-like, stately sound, although the A+ is louder, for sure, and thus better for jamming. Still, the R100 is my favorite parlor type mandolin.

    Elmar
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