Questions for Silverangel owners...need help

  1. Matthew Carver
    Matthew Carver
    Hi everyone, this is my first post....

    I talked to Ken today about placing and order. I am going to get one of his A "no frills" mandolins.

    When you ordered yours what did you specify?

    Right now I know I want no fretboard inlay. Is your mandos X-braced or tone bars? What type of top wood did you get?

    What about the nut width?

    Since I have never owned an A model do you prefer a strap button on the neck or do you put the strap on the headstock?

    Any information you could give me would be great.

    Thanks
  2. Patrick Sylvest
    Patrick Sylvest
    I got the econodistressed A which came with a nice cast Orrico tailpiece, European Spruce top. I use a strap around the headstock, but I have a nice custom Strap from Bobby Poff in Wyoming and it works great there. I didn't specify bracing; left that to the expert. Nut width, I went with the slightly wider 1 3/16ths and I'm glad that I did. It seems to clean up my playing a little bit.

    Mine seems to be opening up nicely, to my ears and to my closest mandolin playing buddy. I took ownership at the end of July and have been playing her several times a week. We were playing it on Saturday night and he is thinking of ordering one now. He owns a Gibson Goldrush, a Weber Bitterroot F, and a Collings MF5. He liked the tone of my little Ratcliff! Not surprisingly to me.
  3. D C Blood
    D C Blood
    Hi Matthew...Welcome to the wonderful world of Silverangels...I don't have an A-model now but have in the past. My preference for strap is a button on the bottom side of the heel. It just doesn't hang right for me tied at the headstock. Other people have other opinions ...Spruce is usually the top wood, but I'm sure Ken would do whatever you want. I know he does use Cedar and Redwood for tops sometimes. I don't know if he will do that on the Econo model. Whatever you wind up with, I know it'll sound great and you'll love it.
  4. Patrick Sylvest
    Patrick Sylvest
    He offered me Cedar, but I chose Spruce since I already have a cedar topped Weber.
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