Ok, there are 17 or 18 of them out there. Who has'em. People on this board have GOT to know. I'm looking at one myself! Dave C.
Well Rigel G5 #2196 belongs to me now! What a phenomenal piece of lutherie. This is absolutely the instrument of my dreams and the sound I hear in my head. No kidding, it's a sweet machine. The fit and finsih is just about perfect. The tone is very flexible according to right hand technique. The volume is seriously powerful. I have had to learn to strum a little differently as the dynamics can suffer a little. It doesn't break up at max volumes, and still maintains great tone. It's very sweet at low volumes, too. The G5 is definitely not a typical BG instrument, and I am glad for that. It's more flexible than that. It can chop, bark and growl, but the jazzier side of things is just right there, too. It really blends well with other instruments, and you can definitely step up for solos easily.
Brian Woodruff from the Oregon Mandolin Orchestra owns a G5 that is all black. He says it looks pretty cool with the block inlays and such when he's all dressed up and performing. Cool!
Fuzzy Purcell owns G5 #2147 Black Brian Woodruff owns G5 #2209 Black David Coventry owns G5 #2196 Sunburst Jake Joliff ownd G5 #????
Fuzzy Purcell owns G5 #2147 Black Brian Woodruff owns G5 #2209 Black David Coventry owns G5 #2196 Sunburst Jake Joliff ownd G5 #???? Steve Smith owns a newly made G-5 Special #2563. It's up for sale as of 4/25/11
Fuzzy Purcell owns G5 #2147 Black Brian Woodruff owns G5 #2209 Black David Coventry owns G5 #2196 Sunburst Jake Joliff ownd G5 #???? Steve Smith owns a newly made G-5 Special #2563. It's up for sale as of 4/25/11 The Instrument Collector has #2174 http://instrumentcollector.com/Rigel_G5.php
I bought G-5 Special #2563 from Steve Smith few years back and LOVE it. Not for sale. :-)
Luke, that was a real nice looking mando, and I'm glad it found a good home. Some pics would be great!!
I just got rigalG5#2173 WOW all black beautiful workmanship and sounds and plays like a dream
Wayne, Most of those black ones traveled through the northwest via Ken Cartwright who we know as MandoMedic. Please post some pics and give some more details. You are part of a very small club. Where did you get it? From whom? Dave
Two years ago at River of the west Mando camp met Brian Woodruff and saw he's black G5 Rigel. It was love at first sight. Since then have been keeping my eyes out on the internet for one. Found mine at Randy Woods shop in Ga. Was not sure about buying sight unseen on line but Randy has a good name and after talking to people in his shop on the phone went for it. They said a fellow in the area had traded it for one of Randy's mandos. ON arrival found at looked brand new and far exceded my expections. All black the Rigel name in abalone on headstock an abalone eagle on headstock where a truss rod cover would be and abalone diamonds fret markers. Plays like butter, sounds out of this world, and works perfect for swing and choro, what I mostly play these days.For years my main mando has been my 84 Flatiron artist and while i still love the sound of it mostly it sits neglected on it's stand. Will put up a picture when I figure out how. I think my MAS may be cured ! An honor to join the small club. Looking forward to seeing Brian at camp next spring and we can have dualing black beautys. Wayne
I would love to play a G5 and see how it compares to my "The Gaugreau". Does anyone in the MD/PA/VA area have one?
I believe this refers to Jimmy Gaudreau who was a Rigel enthusiast and who Pete built a nice F5 Loarish replique for? What is the Gaudreau model? There is the CT for Chris Thile, but I have not heard of a Gaudreau.
That's correct. Sorry for the brief hijack of the G5 thread. Pete Langdell built Jimmy a copy of his old '27 Fern, and had John Paganoni finish it because he has (or at least at that time had) Jimmy's old Fern. The headstock is a recreation of a Fern inlay but says "The Gaudreau" (for obvious reasons). I purchased it from a Charles Johnson in VA who had it on consignment for Jimmy. That mandolin is an absolute killer, and I'd like to see if Pete's G5's have the same qualities (or perhaps even better, since he gets to take the tops off and re-tune them in the white).
FWIW, my G5 is a BG cannon, and flexible much beyond that, too. I had to learn how to play it so much differently than anything I had ever owned. My family kept telling me to turn down my amp. I was not playing through an amp. I have yet to exceed it's headroom even when seriously digging into it. It always has another gear.
There's a G5 on eBay right now, item #191116915863. No affiliation, just thought I'd let the group know since these don't come up for sale very often. I'm much too broke for the $6500 they're asking, and can't tell what the s/n is. Perhaps the owner/seller is on the group?
Yikes!! Unless that is a brand new one, that price is just crazy high. Mine was quite literally half that. I do wonder what the s/n is now! It's #2394 as per our classifieds
2394 just came up for sale again. I happened to be online and had some room on my credit card. I'm driving up to Palo Alto to pick it up tomorrow. Of course, this will mean fair winds and following seas for my CT-110, but... Pete
Pete, Since you just live in CV, we have to get together and compare notes on G5's! Out of the 17, 2 are must mere miles apart!
Hey Dave, Yeah, we need to do that. Pete
Well, besides my other two Rigels, I own G5 #2358. After a 20 month wait, it was finally brought here in Jan. 2022. I had it blind tested against my other two Rigels by seven musical friends, and it turned out 6 times 1st place and once on 2nd. This mandolin can be a beast, but when struck softly it almost emulates the "church tone" of my R100 w. Virzi. Quite untypical for Adirondack spruce, this G5's top has a very tight and narrow grain, so the sound board must be from a tree, which grew quite slowly, and therefore up North and/or at a high altitude.