My new (old) toy! Ratliff #8 sept 1983
I'm sure most are aware of my relationship with Audey and Ratliff mandolins. I've played them the majority of my career. I guess I've owned 12 to 15 mandolins since 1983 and 3 or 4 of those have been Ratliff's. Think of me about Ratliff's like Larry Stephenson with his Buddy Davis mandolins. Same situation. I let an older Rat get away years ago and honestly just by luck came across this one. I'm not even sure if the owner knew about Mandolin Cafe. Maybe but I'm not 100% on that. I just got the feeling that he was not. I honestly believe that if it were on the Cafe it would have sold along time ago. Tone of this Ratliff! Well I can tell you It's the best mandolin I've had in my hands in many many years. It's 37 years old and if any of you are aware of Audey's early work then you know just what I'm talking about. Everything on it is original except the tailpiece. Same tuners Audey put on it in 83' and I will be changing them out. Not bad but my older style gotohs will work and look much better. I will post some pic's tonight as soon as I can. I cannot tell anyone just how excited I am to own this mandolin. I was so nervous during shipping I think I lost 4 pounds because of my nerves
Oh a side note to all of this: I actually was not looking for a mandolin (actually not immediately anyway) Sometimes you make sacrifices for other things and then you are blessed for making those sacrifices. I do believe that happened to me in this situation. When I saw it it just could not be passed up.
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Re: My new (old) toy! Ratliff #8 sept 1983
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