1. A friend lent me a cheapo Ibanez A model and I was hooked...
2. felt like I'd should give the Ibanez back, so I bought a cheap $50 laminate topped thing off Craigslist, followed the Meldrum self-setup guide and made it sound decent. And played it for a while... started to recognize its shortcomings and wanted something nicer.
3. Saved up a little money (tight budget) and bought an Eastman MD305... love love loved that Mando and played it a couple years. With this instrument I grew a lot in my ability and learned a good deal. I made an armrest for it and when someone saw it, they asked for one of their own and lo and behold a small business developed to help me pay for mY MAS and not effect the household budget.
4. I started to think I wanted to step a little bit higher in the food chain and that I would benefit from an Oval hole instrument, I gave serious consideration to custom ordering a Crystal Forrest Flattop, and after some deliberation and advice from Cafe members, I settled on a Flatiron 1N (again from Craigslist) to give the Flattop a trial before custom ordering something. I liked it a lot, but felt like it wasn't quite right for me, so I sold it here on the classifieds. But still wanted to step up.
5. I was pretty sure I wanted something a step up from the Eastman and still thought I wanted an oval hole. I didn't want to have to save forever so I started to investigate Silverangel Mandolins by Ken Ratcliff. I wanted to give one a try so I met up with David Mold (Oldsausage) and gave his a try and LOVED it. Also went up and spent a weekend in Nashville and played an SA at Carter's to confirm my wants. With armrest production in full swing, I had worked and saved for about 18 months to 2 years and made enough to custom order a Silverangel Econo A with a Red Cedar top and maple back and sides paid for completely by money made selling Armrests in the Cafe Classifieds. I decided I wanted an F-hole instrument after all as I mostly played BG, and that just made more sense.
6. Over my time of playing and immersion into the mandolin culture, I became pretty well acquainted with Marty Jacobson and while having him check a fret on the SA last year I mentioned that I'd still like to have an Oval hole A. Long story short, him being so generous, he gave me a first-run Nautilus Oval hole mando that he felt he could not sell. It has a crack in the top under the fretboard extension that you can't see. For all intents and purposes it is mine to do with as I please on the condition that I not ever sell it. If I end up not wanting it, I'll just give it back. It needs a little fret work and I intend to do that here soon.
7. Being a woodworker and cabinet maker for the last 20 years, I am hoping to make the natural progression into building. I have been feverishly working to get my shop suitable for Luthiery and am on the verge of my first build. I do miss the Flatiron 1N so my intent is to build a pancake mando as my first. I have plans from Terry Majewski from Crystal Forest and hope to start soon.
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