Apitius #117 Review (Long)
In November of 2016 I saw Dave Benedict’s video of him playing Waltzing Matilda his new Apitius. I was blown away by the tone, and try as I might I could not get it out of my mind. I had no real need for a new mandolin, my Gibson F5-G custom from The Mandolin Store is a cannon, everyone who plays it says the same. But there are a few things I would do differently if I were ordering from scratch, and I saw this as a chance to get a great sounding mandolin, built the way I wanted, at what I considered to be a very fair price. It was a big leap of faith ordering it without ever playing one, but I figured if they were good enough for players like Dave Benedict and Dan Tyminski, that it was worth the risk.
The relationship between buyer and builder is a critical component when ordering a custom mandolin, and Oliver receives straight As in this area. We exchanged multiple emails at first, then had a phone call before he started the build. He sent me regular updates and was very upfront throughout the entire cycle from ordering to delivery. Early on he wrote to say that a spot ahead of me had opened up, so my ship date got bumped up a bit.
When it came time to ship the mando in late June, I knew I would be on vacation the week of July 4th. Of course I didn’t want it sitting in the hot Texas sun, either on my porch or in a warehouse, so we decided that Oliver would ship it on July 5th. Well, as luck would have it, it cleared customs in record time, and was showing to be out for delivery on Friday the 7th. I called UPS and had them hold it at the warehouse.
Unfortunately, when I opened it on Monday the 10th, the top had a couple of dime sized blemishes in the finish, what I thought were scratches from the packing material. I immediately contacted Oliver, and when light buffing did not remove, he got on the phone and after several attempts found someone local he trusted to touch up the French Polish. I got it back a few days ago, and I can’t see where the repair was. Hard to beat that. Even though Oliver offered to pay, both he and the repair guy seemed to think the damage was from the heat, so I paid for it. It was only $100, very reasonable for the time and skill, IMHO.
Now for the actual review of the mandolin. As for fit and finish, I give it a 98 out of 100. Oliver does great work, and I really have to be nitpicky looking for flaws. The worst thing I can find is that the fret dots are not perfectly centered on the purling. To me, that means is it was made by a human, not a robot.
The sound? Well, it simply blows me away. It sounds very similar to Dave’s in the above video. The difference between this and the Gibson is that while the Gibson may be just a hair louder, the Apitius is way ahead on midrange clarity. It’s hard to me to describe, but the midrange is more bell like, instead of being a bit muddy. That was what impressed me the most about Dave Benedict’s video, and this one has it in spades. And of course this is while it’s still brand spanking new and not even settled yet. I’m sure it will improve with age.
I also like the neck, we discussed having a slightly lesser V than the Gibson, and that’s what I got. The top is 20 year old stock that he bought from Roger Siminoff’s private stock when he retired. Oliver said “this has got the best strength to weight ratio of any spruce I have ever had.” Other than that, it’s the standard Vanguard model, with Waverly tuners added. I had to order the pearl buttons separately from StewMac because they don’t ship to Canada, but to me they were a must have item. The tailpiece in the picture was one I already had from Weldon Lister, I took it off the Gibson and sent it to Oliver early on.
I wish I had the means to record it to give it justice. I don’t, but it sounds just as good, if not better than Dave’s. But I can definitely say I’m a happy guy.
The one thing I wish I had changed is to get a different case. This is a fine instrument, and in my mind, it deserves a fine case. It came in a TKL Professional, it’s just an average case, and it’s got a bit too much slop in it for me. I’ll probably end up selling it and get something else. If I could go back in time, I would have probably paid the extra money to ship in in a Thinsulate lined Hoffee with a Colorado insulated cover.
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Play it in good health!
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