Resource Allocation

[Petrus]

One thought I've had is to arrange one's various instruments around a large empty room on the basis of their voicing and other qualities that one considers important. For instance, arrange them clockwise around the perimeter in order of most bass to most treble, and maybe add an extra dimension for loudness -- say, towards the center of the room for the least loud and around the edge for the most loud. Then look for clusters where you have multiple instruments occupying the same space, versus large gaps. That will show you if you have redundancies in your sound where you might possibly eliminate an instrument or two.

[Eddie Sheehy]

Shaun,

If you're talkin to me, you're right, especially the "Derriington" Flatiron Perf A...but I gots to have at least that sound or greater in an F5 made by Gibson Brotha!.....LOL!

How about a nice R.L. Givens F5?

[DataNick]

How about a nice R.L. Givens F5?

Naah, but thanks for the thought!

It's a Bluegrass thang! (Gibson F)...you bringin the Sam Bush to The Great 48?

No promises but I wouldn't mind seeing it again...

[Eddie Sheehy]

For you, Nick, abbalutely...

[sgarrity]

I hear ya Nick. When you find it, it's hard to beat a good Gibson F5. You just gotta dig through them until you find a good one.
If I were you I'd be playing that Flartiron Performer everywhere you went.

The OP has a nice collection of mandolins. There's nothing wrong with a nice Collings and a snakehead. But I do understand the lure of the scroll! ;-)

[DataNick]

For you, Nick, abbalutely...

Thanks!

It's gonna be epic! Shaun, Eddie, and The Barrangatan!

[bluemoonofky]

I'd just waste it all on hooch and crazy women.

"Crazy Women" – by Brandy Clark

Who’d-a guessed that Aquanette
Could start a fire with a single cigarette
She wasn’t drunk, she wasn’t stoned
Just sick and tired of wonderin’ when he was coming home
So she drove around
She found his car
They heard a boom from in the bar
He called the cops
She called his bluff
They hauled her off in high heels and handcuffs

Crazy women, ex-wives and old girlfriends
Keep their crazy hidden till they’re pushed off the deep end
Oh yea, God forgive them, they weren’t born like this
Oh no, crazy women are made by crazy men

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTUQOyiD0KM

[pheffernan]

The OP has a nice collection of mandolins. There's nothing wrong with a nice Collings and a snakehead. But I do understand the lure of the scroll! ;-)

It's not so much the lure of the scroll as it is the lure of the Classifieds. My investment to date exceeds the cost of this Ellis A5: http://www.mandolincafe.com/ads/72663. And with a little additional capital I'd be in range of this Gilchrist: http://www.mandolincafe.com/ads/72713.

[DataNick]

I think you'd probably be happier with your 24 Snakehead, Collings MT and Redline than having the Ellis A5 instead of everything...
The Mid-Missouri and Flatiron are tres similar, oui?

[pheffernan]

The Mid-Missouri and Flatiron are tres similar, oui?

While all of the flattops are similar, the Redline and Flatiron are the most akin as true pancakes. The Mid-Missouri has a slightly different body shape and, with mahogany back and sides, sounds warmer. The Gypsy, with an induced arch and deeper body, is more resonant.

[belbein]

How about this, as one approach you could take:

I just love the duct tape.

[DataNick]

Thread bump:

FYI Pat,

I closed the deal with a friend of mine Thursday night to buy his 2001 "Derrington" Flatiron Festival F. As every other "Derrington" Flat I've played, including my Performer A, it's got the goods...a period equivalent F5G in Flatiron label "clothing".

What's nice is that he's "holding" it for me, as it will take me about 3 months to put together the dough to cash it out.

So I'm definately in acquisition mode with no plans to sell any of my herd; and I do consistently play them all over the course of a week, except for the JBovier. The JBovier is gonna need a re-fret within probably 30 hours or so of playing time, so I'm limiting it's usage till I get the new Flat; just in time for our first festival gig this year in May...

Late Bro!

[roysboy]

Thread bump:

FYI Pat,

I closed the deal with a friend of mine Thursday night to buy his 2001 "Derrington" Flatiron Festival F. As every other "Derrington" Flat I've played, including my Performer A, it's got the goods...a period equivalent F5G in Flatiron label "clothing".

What's nice is that he's "holding" it for me, as it will take me about 3 months to put together the dough to cash it out.

So I'm definately in acquisition mode with no plans to sell any of my herd; and I do consistently play them all over the course of a week, except for the JBovier. The JBovier is gonna need a re-fret within probably 30 hours or so of playing time, so I'm limiting it's usage till I get the new Flat; just in time for our first festival gig this year in May...

Late Bro!

I'd buy a Kentucky Km-150 and send my boy to college .

[pheffernan]

So I'm definately in acquisition mode with no plans to sell any of my herd; and I do consistently play them all over the course of a week, except for the JBovier. The JBovier is gonna need a re-fret within probably 30 hours or so of playing time, so I'm limiting it's usage till I get the new Flat

Thanks for the update, Nick, and congratulations on the new acquisition. As a fellow Flatiron owner, I admire your devotion to the brand. And as someone who shares your interest in new instruments, I envy your discretionary income.

[DataNick]

I'd buy a Kentucky Km-150 and send my boy to college .

No wife, no kids, no dog, no cat, no car payment...

[DataNick]

Thanks for the update, Nick, and congratulations on the new acquisition. As a fellow Flatiron owner, I admire your devotion to the brand. And as someone who shares your interest in new instruments, I envy your discretionary income.

Thanks Pat!

In this case it's more about an economical way to get into a Gibson F5 model vs. devotion to the Flatiron brand however...

[roysboy]

No wife, no kids, no dog, no cat, no car payment...

oh hell ....go nuts then !

[delsbrother]

Right now, I have way more instruments than I know what to do with. As I get older and my health gets worse I would love to cull the herd down to two or three. My problem is my "collection" is either fair-to-middlin' in quality or it's really oddball stuff that is basically unsellable.. IOW I'm pretty much stuck with them all unless I want to take a massive loss. As I was amassing the collection I stoked the MAS fires by saying I'd want one of this and one of that for the different things I could play/different tones, etc. Now up to my ears in cases and with less and less time or ability to play, I think I would've been better off just saving the $ and buying one Gilchrist. So I guess what I'm saying is your answer now may not be the same as your answer a few years from now.

Another thing I think about (now): had I saved the money and bought the Gil, it would've increased in value (or at least kept its value). I bought cheaper instruments (by cheap I mean less than $2K) and they have all decreased in value - some to the point where they actually would cost more to ship than they are worth to sell. If I add up all of those... YIKES.

One good thing to come out of this is my MAS is completely cured.

[pheffernan]

In this case it's more about an economical way to get into a Gibson F5 model vs. devotion to the Flatiron brand however...

From your descriptions of production during the Derrington era, I inferred such was your motivation. You still need one with Gibson on the headstock, however...

[Petrus]

My MAS is levelling off a bit (as is my bank account!) I'm a neophyte of a couple of years on the mando, but I am more of a multi-instrumentalist and trying to maintain that puts a ceiling to my mando acquisition. I avoid anything that too closely duplicates anything I already own in terms of timbre or style. The point is, if its sound is not substantially different from what I already have, there is little point in having it. My mind is also turning to ethnic and folk instruments like the cumbus, dulcimer, psaltery, rebab, oud, Irish wooden flute; and modern experimental things like electric violins, eigenharp, etc.

Prospective instruments also have to be unique or unusual in some fashion that can be heard. I try to avoid the collector's mentality of just wanting something because of a serial number or minor variation (I went through that with other things years ago.)

Also, as others have pointed out here, even if I were rich and could buy anything I wanted, I can't buy more hours in the day. An instrument that just sits around gathering dust is a waste. Right now I'm refocusing on what I already have, and discovering that a good instrument can take a long time to explore all its possibilities and potentials, like my Trinity College OM. (Which I just ordered a custom soundhole cover for!)

[JeffD]

I'd buy a Kentucky Km-150 and send my boy to college .

As long as your fortune is tied up in mandolins, you are eligible for financial aid. Cashing out the herd will screw up your FAFSA forms real bad. Just sayin...

[DataNick]

From your descriptions of production during the Derrington era, I inferred such was your motivation. You still need one with Gibson on the headstock, however...

Thread Bump:

OK Jedi Master LOL! You were right and you're original premise is where I'm ending up, from a combination of wanting to get into a much better instrument, jumping when the chance came, and $$ (can't afford to keep them all!)

In fact I'm down to 2: one A, and one F.

[pheffernan]

Thread Bump:

OK Jedi Master LOL! You were right and you're original premise is where I'm ending up, from a combination of wanting to get into a much better instrument, jumping when the chance came, and $$ (can't afford to keep them all!)

In fact I'm down to 2: one A, and one F.

Since starting this thread, of course, I've added the Pava and the National while you continue to do this thing I don't understand called subtracting. I saw your JBovier in the classifieds and wish you good luck on the sale. I'll leave you with the following quotation from upthread that we are both pursuing in our own ways:

I'm dead set on a one-way course to go broke but live happily ever after with the mando stable of my choosing...LOL!