New Kimble A5!

[mcgroup53]

I never thought I'd own another A5, and certainly not one in a tobacco sunburst. But a brand new Kimble A5 from Cotten Music has jumped to the top of my mandolin list. I took it to the Hartford Festival at Bean Blossom and Mike Compton, who owns and plays a couple Kimbles, was mightily impressed.

Nothing special in the recipe. Sugar maple back and sides, two-piece back with some nice figuring but nothing wild. A slight radius to the board, banjo frets, varnish with a French polish cap. Mike picked it up out of the case and, "Light as a feather."

Brand new, this A5 is explosively loud with the dark, deep crunch of the best Loars and Australian builder mandolins. My Ellis F5 is prettier and sweeter sounding, but the Kimble just sounds like a runaway coal train, a true-blue bluegrass powerhouse.

Can't wait to play it in and get the Tonerite on it for the next few months. Once that adirondack top breaks in a bit, the tone should open up and sweeten up even more, while becoming even louder and punchier. I owned the Kimble 2-Point that Andy Statman played for 18 months and it was a fabulous mandolin. But at #236, I think Will has totally hit his stride as a builder.

I STRONGLY encourage anyone looking for a powerful, traditional sounding mandolin in the Loar aural spectrum to investigate Will Kimble/s work if you haven't done so already. I'll be profiling Will for Fretboard Journal in an upcoming issue.

[sgarrity]

Will makes a fine mandolin!

[Glassweb]

"Anyone who doesn't play a Kimble is wrong!"

2012 Kimble 2-point mandolin
2008 Kimble H5 mandola

[Perry]

Congrats on the new mandolin. I like my Kimble A #187 just fine and it has developed quite a bit over the last several years.
To me they are voiced as a very specific ensemble type instrument with a focused pronounced mid range honk aka runaway coal train

Playability and intonation first rate.