A models

[9lbShellhamer]

One day I'll have that Heiden A5 I fell in love with at Carters! The prospect of selling my current herd is daunting, to be left with only the Heiden and my beater KM162, but I think the Heiden will be worth it! I'm at least a year away from that though.

Congrats on the Gil! What a treasure.

[cayuga red]

Very nice! And your Ellis sounds great.

[Nick Gellie]

Why not stick with the Collings MT? It is as good a mandolin as any out there.

[Mark Seale]

I love A models, but I only have a B.

[JeffD]

Now I'm just playing an Ellis A5 that I like tone wise

Very nice playing it is sir! Very nice.

[Josh Levine]

Very nice playing it is sir! Very nice.

Indeed, what year is your Ellis.

[nickster]

I contacted Ellis and they said it was originally shipped on 9-1-15 to Carter's. I purchased it used from Dennis Vance at the Mandolin Store where it was on consignment just over a couple weeks ago. The original owner had not played it much. No fret wear at all just like a brand new mandolin. It has a very good tone but I can tell it hasn't opened up yet. Looking forward to the tone it will have six months from now if I keep playing it like the last ten days. I have already added some fret wear. It had new strings (EJ74) on it when I received it and I just changed them yesterday to EXP74's but took the 2nd strings from a EXP75 set (experimenting).

[Mark Christensen]

Nickster, after experimenting with various brands and gauges on my Ellis Mandolins I really like the D'Addario EXP74CM set the best. Give them a try and see what you think.

[nickster]

Nickster, after experimenting with various brands and gauges on my Ellis Mandolins I really like the D'Addario EXP74CM set the best. Give them a try and see what you think.

Thanks for the info. I will give them a try. When I get a new mandolin I like to experiment with strings trying to find the best for that particular instrument. I like coated strings because I kill uncoated very fast. I use fast fret applicators with wd40 applied to help extend the life and also makes it easier on the fingers.

[Josh Levine]

Thanks for the info. I will give them a try. When I get a new mandolin I like to experiment with strings trying to find the best for that particular instrument. I like coated strings because I kill uncoated very fast. I use fast fret applicators with wd40 applied to help extend the life and also makes it easier on the fingers.

I also like the exp74cms on my Ellis. I think I remember seeing that Ellis at TMS major steal. If I see another else a for <4K I may not be able to restrain myself.

[michaelcj]

All A's in the house; Ratliff RA5, 1919 A2,….. Oh and a garage sale find, Mahogany "Blue Comet" Flattop.

You Ellis and Gilchrist folks are waaaayyy outta my league…

[nickster]

I also like the exp74cms on my Ellis. I think I remember seeing that Ellis at TMS major steal. If I see another else a for <4K I may not be able to restrain myself.

You may have not seen mine because Dennis knew I was looking for one and email me before it got posted. As soon as the images got loaded I purchased it. It was up on the site less than an hour. You don't see many Ellis A's for sale. When you do they go fast especially if they're around 4000.00. I'm ordering some exp74cm's.

[nickster]

You can tell I like A style Mandolins!

Mark,
How does your Mowry compare to the Ellis A tone wise? He makes some beautiful mandolins too.

[TEvans]

Joe acquired a Nugget "F" style a few months back and has definitely been playing it in public.

Joe's new nugget is an A!

[Mark Christensen]

Nickster just caught your question, the Ellis has slightly more bass response and is louder, the Mowry is even across the strings and is sweeter, both great build quality, thought I would sell one over the other but they sound and feel different enough that there's no need to sell either. The Ellis oval is really exceptional and I play that one alot. It has a great ringing voice.

[ferrousgeek]

Joe's new nugget is an A!

Sure is. My bad!

[TEvans]

On the note of A models, and specifically Joe's Nugget, Peghead just put out this video of him talking about it, and then playing a tune with Scott Nygaard. Great sounding mando!

https://pegheadnation.com/instrument...dard-mandolin/

[Ron McMillan]

I've owned 4 different F5's over the past 10 years. Now I'm just playing an Ellis A5 that I like tone wise.

Wow that sounds dreamy.

[nickster]

Nickster, after experimenting with various brands and gauges on my Ellis Mandolins I really like the D'Addario EXP74CM set the best. Give them a try and see what you think.

I finally put some EXP74Cm's on the Ellis A5. I do like them. They seem to have a more balanced tone on the Ellis.