Tyler White Mandolin, #23

For anyone one interested in Tyler's work...

I was able to acquire #23. I became aware of Tyler's work last fall when trying to find someone local to me to set up some mandolins I had. From the forums, I found a suggestion for Tyler, and quickly found his website and a Bluegrass Unlimited article from December 2021. I contacted him to see if he did repair work. He stated he did, and would have some time in December (2022) when he was at the point of applying finish to two current builds.

I would recommend to anyone to go to Tyler's website. It shows incredible pictures of past builds, wonderfully photographed by Tyler...who is also a photographer. It also shows that he has a current 2 year backlog based on existing orders...for good reason. More on that in a second.

I've had the opportunity to go to Tyler's shop a few times, and speak to him by phone and text. He is an incredibly gracious guy, and is extremely passionate about his builds. When I've had other instruments in his shop, it feels like he is studying them to see how other builders addressed aspects of their builds in order to use the information in his future builds. He's also a perfectionist. You come to the understanding that "good enough" is not something he easily settles for. His workmanship is simply incredible.

White #23 came up on the classifieds twice in about the last 6 weeks. I missed it the first time who confirmed I had just missed it (the seller is a great guy!). The second time I was able to speak to the new owner, who had just had the original pickguard removed, and had the extension scooped...by Tyler. Like me, he knew that Tyler was on a two year backlog, and that drove his purchase. I spoke to Tyler about the instrument, and apparently the issue other than the extension was that the top was red spruce, and the owner was looking for Engelmann. In talking with Tyler, he had high praise for this instrument...not just because he built it, but because after getting it back and playing it while working on it, a few hours of playing had the instrument opening up into something truly wonderful. And the added bonus...the instrument was for all intents and purposes brand new and unplayed.

So...White #23 is now in it's new home. I can't express enough that if you have the chance to play one of Tyler's instruments, or better yet order one, you won't regret it.

Pics or it didn't happen. :grin:

Snakum, fair enough. But I'm having a heck of a time getting pics to load.

Here's the Reverb listing prior to my getting it with pics.

https://reverb.com/item/65373207-tyl...show_sold=true

That sure is a pretty mandolin. Hopefully it sounds as good as it looks!

Gorgeous.