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Back when I was still playing in public (pre-covid) I always used my A-1. It is louder than my F-4, but the F-4 has a better sound for playing to myself. The A-1 could fill a room with sound, but...

Here you go:
http://www.mandolinarchive.com/gibson/serial/22227
It’s 1913 according to Spahn, but I was told by Gryphon’s that it is from 1915.

Sorry to take so long to answer: I've been traveling.

According to the son, (Actually the grandson of the original buyer) His grandmother bought the mandolin for her daughter. She played it...

One thing about "music theory" you should know when you start is that what we call "music theory" is mostly nomenclature for the the actual performance of music. For example, in music theory we talk...

Very nice. I have a 1916-1917 H-1 myself.
Have you noticed that the beat up old mandolins (and mandolas) seem to sound better than the same make, model, and year, that are more like museum...

All fixed



194976

I'm just the opposite. I dearly love to own really old instruments that look like new...

I've never bought a mandolin with its market value, now or potentially in the future, as a factor in my decision making. I bought an F-4 after playing it for about 6 months when it was on loan to me...

Oops, yeah. A-1!

This is the "Jeanette Greene" mandolin. It was purchased in over 100 years ago by Meredith Green in San Diego, CA, and went to her daughter, Jeanette, when she was in her 'teens. Jeanette stopped...

It has been in its case most of the time for the last 100 years, but I think I am more likely to damage it pulling it out and putting it back than if I keep it on the wall.
191924

In 2002, when I first logged onto Mandolin Cafe, I had just started my little business designing and building underwater cameras for the nuclear power industry. I started playing mandolin to help me...

https://youtu.be/_7xGI0uy36g

As I sit here watching the smoke from the wildfires upwind of me, and see the wind getting stronger, I think of what I need to take with me if I should have to flee.
In no particular order: my...

Hello, everybody. I just started on "First Night in Leadville", Ryan's Mammoth p42. Norman Blake does a version of this delightful tune (on guitar) on his album "Far Away Down on a Georgia Farm" ...

According to Phil Salazar, the story goes that in the bow workshop, they build them first, then a violinist comes in and sorts them by how they play. They can look exactly the same, and be made...

I have the same on my '57 A-5.

The best money I ever spent in my life was a wedding ring for my wife. Second best was my F

I've bought "Alternative woods" both from Joe and another builder. I doubt I would have any trouble selling Joe's instrument, although I don't think I ever would, but I have had bad news about the...

The simplest method I know is to start with tuning by 5ths, then fret a 2-0-0-2 D chord and tweak from there. The A to D sound should sound like the "A-MAY" in "Amazing Grace", the D to A is...

I've been ignoring my mandolin for the past few weeks in favor of a hand-built dulcimer. I've been trying to figure out the dulcimer, which is almost completely, but not quite, not the same as a...

A month ago I built a mountain dulcimer. It's only 3 strings, but it is almost, but not quite, exactly the opposite of playing a mandolin, violin or guitar. It's supposed to be easy to play, but...

"I read music so good, white folks think I'm fakin' it."--Coalhouse Walker, Ragtime, E.L. Doctorow

Lamplighter's Hornpipe. p. 185 of Ryan's Mammoth, p. 17 of Mandolin Player's Pastime.

(As an introduction to Old Time Mandolin, MPP is a great resource if you can find it. The photo below is...

I stopped buying after I bought a beautiful F4 years back. But that doesn't mean I don't lust after every quilted maple backside I see...