Vintage Gordon Giltrap D-Day Mandolin

[Karli]

Hey Folks at the Mandolin Cafe,

has anyone of you heard of the new Vintage Gordon Giltrap D-Day Mandolin? Or maybe testet it? At least got his/her hands on it?

It looks realy nice, but I don't know much about the Brand "vintage" and so I am not sure if it is useable mandolin for the price (300 Euro/280 Pounds).

Here is a link to some info about it. The history behind the original Mando is nice though!

http://www.acousticmagazine.com/feat...regal-journey/

And a Link to the actual instrument by vintage:

http://www.jhs.co.uk/news/2016/06/07...-day-mandolin/

All the best
Karli

[MikeEdgerton]

It's a nice story, thanks for posting it.

[Dave Hanson]

' Vintage ' are Far Eastern factory made instruments.

Dave H

[Tavy]

I like the idea of a "zero gravity" case - has anyone told NASA?

[Karli]

I talked to the german distributor. And in 2-3 weeks I might get my hands on one of those mandolins. I realy want to hear that thing.

It seems like there are not many of them made (limited run). And they might not be availeble everywhere.

Karli

[Karli]

Attachment 149448

[MikeEdgerton]

The originals are available daily on eBay in the US. Honestly, they weren't really great instruments to begin with. I own one that my uncle played for decades. I'm happy to have it but it isn't anything to write home about.

[Ray(T)]

Currently sitting in a coffee shop 250 miles from home so I haven't time to study this at the moment but I can say that I've never seen Gordon Giltrap play the mandolin. His mate Paul Brett, on the other hand, does have a tie-up with Vintage for a range of guitars including the Gordon Giltrap model ........?

[Ray(T)]

Having now returned home, I've had chance to look at the links and I see that Paul Brett gets a mention.

An interesting story; I remember Ken Small sitting in his car next to the tank selling the book some years ago. Hopefully sales of the mandolin will contribute to the fund but I can't help feeling that the story is being used as something of a marketing exercise. Personally, having played one of the Brett "Vintage" series guitars, I don't hold out much hope for the sound of the mandolin. I'm sure that it'll work and play in tune but that's about all I'd expect.

Wasn't the Pink Floyd record "A Momentary Lapse of Reason" supposed to be inspired by the Exercise Tiger disaster? The wiki article on it makes no mention though. Its quite a few years since I last visited Slapton sands and there was a proposal to close the road across the bay and let the wetlands re-generate.

[Oliver R]

Hello,
I had the chance to play one in a shop a while ago..they are just ok.
The fit and finish was pretty good and it looked nice which is why I had a go on it. The action was a bit high so it was not the easiest thing to fret but of course this is a simple job to rectify.
The build seemed heavy to me.
I found the sound lacking in volume, the tone was quite sweet but did not do it for me at all.
OK for noodling at home and an unusual looking instrument to be sure but for that price I have played better sounding simple pancake style mandos.
Cheers
Oliver