With both our anniversary and my birthday coming up, and having my wife's approval, had started looking more seriously for my first F style mandolin. Was thinking would wait longer when this one showed up on The Mandolin Store's website. A 2008 Weber Gallatin F. No, it's not a traditional F and it has mahogany sides and (one piece) back. So I quickly emailed TMS and asked them to please hold it for me when it showed up. By last Thursday, it was mine. Failed delivery on Saturday lead to a phone call and a Sunday morning delivery from FedEx. Which was a huge surprise. Unpacked it, tuned it up and started practicing. About an hour or so later, we headed out to an outdoor band practice. Yes, I brought this one along. Now, this is the band where the fiddler prefers the volume and tone of my Flatiron Performer over the Collings MT. So I figured she's not going to like this. Nope. Enough volume and good tone. Even my mentor, who really likes Gibson oval holes, was impressed. No, it's not a bluegrass machine. But for Finnish, Nordic and hopefully French Canadian tunes, it's great.
Why this one? Two friends who had a great influence on my mandolin interests both have mahogany backed Gallatins. One an oval hole and the other an F hole. Have always been a fan of the design. Both the scroll and headstock.
It's not mint. Someone had a capo or something on the headstock that burned into the finish on both the front and back. The original Brekke bridge has been replaced by the Traditional model. Case is the Weber model in black, not grey.
Here's a couple of photos from when I first got it, and then a video from when we were out and about today.
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