Who are builders who, consistently, build clean F5s?

[LoopyBullet]

It's my understanding that although there are some real seriously talented artisans out there, that CNC is a really great way to build consistently clean F mando builds. Which companies out there build the consistently cleanest mandolin builds? CNC or not?

[JEStanek]

Collings is renowned for clean and consistent as it Rigel / Pete Langdell. Once you're into the 5-8K range for small shop builders there are many to choose from. Tom Ellis's work stands out as well. There are so many once your budget is right.

Jamie

[David Smith]

Must give a shout out to Andrew Mowry. His work is beautiful.

[Trey Young]

Robb Brophy (Elkhorn Mandolins) consistently builds mandolins that are very clean and does a great job with his varnish finishes.

[Hudmister]

One builder that comes to mind is David Harvey (Gibson Mandolins) who consistently builds mandolins that are very clean, and are wonderful to own. If we're talking 5 to 8K range this is where you can't go wrong. If when you say "builders" you mean small individually and independently owned mandolin shops, never mind.

[Bigtuna]

Ellis hands down! Collings a very very close second.

[G. Fisher]

Gilchrist, Nugget, Dudenbostel, Brentrup, Brock, Lewis, Heiden, Smart, Hester, Weins, Red Diamond, Prucha, Hamlett, Voight, Northfield.

It's a great time to be a mandolin player and have so many great builders.

[barney 59]

You asked about "companies" Collins and Gibson make fine instruments. The above list from G.Fisher are all hand builders and have a pretty small production output. The prices also reflect the artistry that goes into their instruments.
I was doing a woodworking project recently for a client with a lot of extreme angles(both the client and the project) that had to come back to meet itself and the run out from the woodworking machines involved always added up to a significant error (in that it was visible) at the point when you tried to close the loop. It took a long time and a bunch of corrections to get everything to finally fit and cost me a lot of money-- if time is money, which as it turns out it is! I was just finished when my son came along and said that they had just gotten a new laser cutter. We discussed the accuracy of the machine that he got. Just for fun,trying out a new machine and also to see if they could do it they carved the Declaration of Independence onto a Pringles potato chip! Yah, I know, real nerd stuff, but it could have built my parts in this instance in a flash and been easily more accurate. My design was right and my math was right,I was having trouble with my old school tools! So Yes, You can obviously construct with robots a highly accurate and "clean" instrument. An instrument built that way would be built to a programmable formula and if it's a good formula should consistently produce a good instrument and all the parts are going to fit perfectly. The machines can only know what you tell it to know and cannot differentiate one piece of wood from another for example and a machine has no artistic sense of style or taste. So far instruments that I believe are built with new advanced technology some of them are good,some of them are junk, but none of them are great, at least so far. The above named builders and some others I can think of build great instruments --if by chance they were to build one that wasn't great it will never leave the workshop! Rough carving is rough carving no matter how it happens--by machine or by apprentice or by hand--it doesn't matter and a CNC machine could have a place in almost any ones work shop but it seems the proof is in the final stages of the construct and so far the really best ones are being built by hand!

[Stephen Cagle]

Audey Ratliff certainly fits this category. His mandolins are spot on all the time.

[Ivan Kelsall]

You could maybe shortlist the builders who don't consistently build 'clean' F styles,rather than the one's who do. All the top builders (& i'm not talking top prices here),build superb instruments. Some do use CNC as part of the process of getting rid of the bulk of the waste wood,& some do it completely by hand. My advice - make your choice of any of the top builder's instruments & go for it. Bare in mind that CNC or not,the final carving is done by hand & it's that process that makes or breaks the build standard - not the CNC process,unless it's loused up of course (unlikely),
Ivan

[Jim Garber]

You can probably find a machinist or NC expert who can build a super-clean instrument but the best of the best in Lutheryland are capable of building:

• Aesthetically balanced and proportioned
• Tonally satisfying and responsive
• Physically pleasing for the musician

Frankly, to me the second two would trump the first, on other words, I would prefer a perfectly sounding (to my ears) and playable mandolin over one that is perfect visually. Of course, the best of the best are all those, but I would accept some flaws for the latter two qualities. And of course, there have been some mandolins that look wonderful in photos but may or may not sound or play as well as they look.

[Jeff Mando]

I think the skill level overall has increased significantly over the last 20 or so years. Many have the talent and ability to accomplish this.

I use an example from my years working at a vintage guitar shop: Not so long ago, you could tell if a guitar was refinished from 20 feet away. You could also tell if a guitar was sent back for a "factory" refin. Today, many people possess the skill to do a perfect refinish that even the experts couldn't tell. In fact, on valuable guitars a blacklight must be utilized to tell if a guitar has been refinished or touched up or repaired.

I'm not sure the reason why, either. Could be the information age that we live in. (I personally have installed a toilet after watching a 5 minute "how to" video on youtube--I must have installed it correctly--that was 5 years ago and it still works great!) LOL--now, where's that Loar that needs a neckset? Also, I'm sure forums, such as MC and others, contribute a lot of valuable info that would have taken years of trial and error to learn. Also, like previously stated, having the right tools helps, combined with the specific knowledge.

[Cheryl Watson]

I would add Andy Poe to that list.

I have NEVER seen a better scroll than Dan Voight's work. His fit and finish are as perfect as a human can make. I do not know if he uses CNC or not.

[Dave Hanson]

What is a ' clean ' mandolin ? as far as I can tell all my instruments are clean except the Vega banjo on which the head is getting pretty filthy with beer stains etc.

Dave H

[Pete Jenner]

I would add Andy Poe to that list.

I have NEVER seen a better scroll than Dan Voight's work. His fit and finish are as perfect as a human can make. I do not know if he uses CNC or not.

I believe Dan recently finished building a CNC.

[George R. Lane]

I would say the folks at Weber build about the cleanest looking and in my opinion a great sounding mandolin. And yes I am biased.

[barney 59]

I'd second Andy Poe----had one in my hands one time and my thoughts were. "IT DON'T GET NO BETTER THAN THIS!

[Bob Clark]

I would say the folks at Weber build about the cleanest looking and in my opinion a great sounding mandolin. And yes I am biased.

I have to agree with George. Although mine are A models, my two Webers are as good as it gets.

[Mark Christensen]

Must give a shout out to Andrew Mowry. His work is beautiful.

+1 for Andrew Mowry, my Mowry is an A5 but I couldn't be happier with his work. A keeper.

[Dave Greenspoon]

Three names are missing from the excellent list being developed.

Lou Stiver's 40th Anniversary models are exclusives for Acoustic Music Works in Pittsburgh. I understand Lou is using a CNC machine to rough his tops these days.

Olin Davis makes Rattlesnake mandolins. I don't know if he uses a machine or not.

Paul Newsom in Michigan also makes a gorgeous mandolin. More on that at this thread.

[Ivan Kelsall]

Take a look at the beautiful work of Robb Brophy - Elkhorn mandolins,or the work of Jonathan McClanahan & John Hamlett to see some awesome craftsmanship & luthiery skills. Also,if we're talking of 'build' quality,i'd have to include Czech.luthier Jiri Lebeda in the list. His standard of build is second to none that i've seen,including my Ellis,& we all know how good the Ellis' are,
Ivan

[Michael Bridges]

I'm VERY partial to Steve Sorenson's work. He does some amazing things with his instruments! Not positive on the CNC angle, but they are really top-notch.

[Benski]

Tom Ellis' work has oftentimes been referred to on the Cafe here as "mandolin perfection". I wholeheartedly agree...and if you get a chance to play/inspect one, you undoubtedly will also. The build quality isn't just "clean"...its flawless.

Cheers.

[Marty Jacobson]

There are a lot of people doing really amazing work on F-5's these days.

Whether CNC is used or not has very little bearing on how clean the final build will be. Most of what you see as "clean" craftsmanship comes down to:
- Accurate binding routing and fitting (impossible to do much of that with CNC)
- Skillful finish sanding and final shaping of surfaces (impossible to any of that with CNC)
- Perfect fretwork (impossible to do any of that with CNC, except the slots, which you don't see anyway)
- Finish application and buffing (also impossible to do any of that with CNC)

CNC makes life easier (or harder) for the builder, but you don't usually see the CNC cut surface. Inlay is the only instance where CNC really can provide a shortcut to good craftsmanship which is actually visible to the player. But, arguably, the learning curve for CNC inlay is higher than that of well-executed hand inlay, so I wouldn't exactly call it a shortcut.

I've seen some of the instruments Steve Wishnevsky made recently, now using a CNC machine in his builds. They're still Wishneskies, with all the, um, "quirkiness" you know and love.

[mando on the side]

I'll throw in Ben Wilcox's work (BRW). I traded in my Collings MF5 for one of his because his had a better tone. Check out the gallery on his website. His recent work is immaculate.

http://brw-instruments.com/