Poe Mandolins - Andy back to building full time

**Steve-o** · Jun-21-2015, 3:12pm

I was delighted to learn after purchasing a used Poe mandolin - the F5 Fern pictured below - that Andy Poe has returned to full time building. Those of you who have been around the Cafe for a long time know that Andy's instruments were the subject of many enthusiastic posts between 2004-2010. When Andy cut back to part time building and stopped taking custom orders, I'm sure I was not the only one missing the steady release of new eye candy.

Well now he is back full time and appears to be taking custom orders again. I commissioned him to build the A5 you see below and thoroughly enjoyed working with Andy through the build process. What a wonderful guy and gifted luthier. I can't wait to see his new creations. (NFI)

Here's my pair of Poes-ies (MAS cured for now):

**jim simpson** · Jun-21-2015, 5:54pm

Nice Poes. I think we could start a "show your Poe" thread.

**pheffernan** · Jun-21-2015, 6:33pm

Excited by the sight of his new Scouts, I contacted Andy about the possibility of a custom build. Would that be Alrite?

**LongBlackVeil** · Jun-21-2015, 7:10pm

I really love the look of those new scouts as well. Coolest pancakes I've seen. Can't hurt to have more quality builders around

**Mandoborg** · Jun-21-2015, 9:06pm

I'm so glad to hear Andy is back !! His earlier work was an inspiration. Beyond clean workmanship on every instrument ! This is good news !!

**OldGus** · Jun-23-2015, 6:04pm

(double post deleted)

**OldGus** · Jun-23-2015, 6:05pm

Beautiful! How do they compare? There are also three Scouts in the classifieds right now...

**Steve-o** · Jun-23-2015, 8:35pm

Thanks guys. OldGus - I cannot correctly A/B them yet, since the F5 came with Thomastik strings and my A5 has EXP74s. I'm not ready to take off the Thomastiks yet, since the are very expensive and so silky smooth. I can tell you both mandos are pretty even across the fretboard and have very good punch. The A5 is probably a better grasser, since the very dense sugar maple back really projects. I hope to take them to Elderly soon to compare them to other builders. It's been quite some time since I played a Collings, but if memory serves me correct, my Poes sound a bit like a Collings.