I fit solidly in the second group originally mentioned, I try to get one decent instrument of each type, mandolin (f and oval), mandola, and OM, and electric versions of each. I have a few redundancies that should go, but I am too lazy to sell them.
I fit solidly in the second group originally mentioned, I try to get one decent instrument of each type, mandolin (f and oval), mandola, and OM, and electric versions of each. I have a few redundancies that should go, but I am too lazy to sell them.
Davey Stuart tenor guitar (based on his 18" mandola design).
Eastman MD-604SB with Grover 309 tuners.
Eastwood 4 string electric mandostang, 2x Airline e-mandola (4-string) one strung as an e-OM.
DSP's: Helix HX Stomp, various Zooms.
Amps: THR-10, Sony XB-20.
This is a great thread Tony!
Sometimes itīs not a question, that you "want" to collect... Sometimes out of necessity, out of curiosity, out of a change of ability an accumulation of instruments takes place.
I do believe some would call me a collector. My family certainly sees a certain number of instruments that has live in our household.
I canīt bear parting with my first guitar (just yet). I still have my first good guitar and a good guitar it is. My dear departed mother helped me to get my one and only really old guitar. Boy howdy, itīs one of the best guitars I have ever played (including pre war and war time D-28s and D-18s, pre war J-200s [that are incredibly special guitars], L-00 Gibsons, Larsons etc.) Out of sheer greed (there you have it) I bought one of the best modern guitars (37 D-28 recreation), because I was lusting for the rosewood tone and had the funds back then. I bought my first mandolin because I wanted to expand musically. I did with a 30ies Strad-O-Lin. Itīs all the mandolin many would need. It punches way above its paygrade. Again because of sheer greed/lust I bought my pricey mandolin. Itīs a bluegrass machine that does everything youīd need and it certainly gives a pre WWII Gibson a nice chase. Well I wanted to record so I bought a double bass. And to complete it out I bought a banjo. Both bass and banjo are the best that I was able to afford at the time. Doing my homework I bought a great 50ies non plywood bass with a very nice sound. My banjo - that was not too expensive - is one of the best non vintage banjos (I heard vintage banjo afficionados say; they own 1piece flange flathead Gibson Granadas etc.).
Well... the instruments found me. I do play them to the best of my ability. I play the music that I like on them (mostly bluegrass, some country, some jazz, some singer songwriter stuff). Thatīs what the instruments are for and thatīs what I like them for.
So itīs not really collecting, right?
Olaf
My collection is limited to two:
One F and one A...
"Keep your hat on, we may end up miles from here..." - Kurt Vonnegut
I have one mandolin--an Eastman MD 305. Tomorrow I will also have an Eastman MDO 305, an octave. Those two instruments comprise my collection.
I can spend 15 minutes selecting a polish color at the nail salon--a commitment measured in weeks. I can't imagine how long it would take me to decide which instrument to play if I had several to choose from.
Phoebe, my 2021 Collings MT mandolin
Dolly, my 2021 Ibanez M522 mandolin
Louise, my 193x SS Maxwell mandolin
Fiona, My 2021 GSM guitar-bodied octave resonator mandolin
Charlotte, my 2016 Eastman MDO 305 octave mandolin
And Giuliana, my 2002 Hans Schuster 505 violin, Nehenehe, my 2021 Aklot concert ukulele,
Annie, my 2022 Guild M-140 guitar, Joni, my 1963 Harmony 1215 Archtone archtop guitar,
Yoko, my ca. 1963 Yamaha Dynamic No.15 guitar, and Rich, my 1959 husband.
I want variety in my instruments. I also like kind of obscure instruments. I also like buying from small (one person) shops.
That's how I ended up with a custom F5, F4, 10 string mandola, custom F4 octave mandolin, custom F4 10 string mandocello, old banjolin, old resonator mandolin and Mandobird VIII.
I have a few more guitars and fiddles as well, no two alike.
I'm definitely in the second camp. I see no point in having 5 "different" F5's.
We do it......because we can.
There is no justification. Especially if you are single.
I had to buy them, to find out what it was like, since no one was willing to lend me theirs..
writing about music
is like dancing,
about architecture
My collection is basic. My good mandolin is an Eastman 815 oval hole f style. Then I wanted a campfire/airplane mando and I made a saga kit. I enjoyed the process of making it and decided to make a flat top. That led to a Don Kawalek kit. Then a Music Makers kit. I love the moment when I finally hear each mandos voice. Ive also made up kits for two banjos and a ukulele. I dont know if anyone else has this form of MAS but Im having fun and play them all.
Eastman 815 f
Northfield Calhoun
Saga kit campfire/travel mando
Music Makers Dakota
Eastman 815 f
Northfield Calhoun
Saga kit campfire/travel mando
Music Makers Dakota
There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats. ― Albert Schweitzer
1925 Lyon & Healy Model A, #1674
2015 Collings A (MT2-V)
That's a really good distinction, although I think that buying "instruments with reputations [or] pedigrees" borders on collecting. Everything else that you mention seems like the musical equivalent of expanding the box of crayons. Starting out, that box of 8 colors works well, but the more you draw, the more you realize what you could do with that box of 16, and then ...
I think that when you're an "accumulator," you are accumulating experience along with the instruments. You grow musically as you see what you can do with that F4 after extensively playing your F5, or taking on octave mandolin after playing mandolin and guitar, or playing a jazz-voiced mandolin after playing a bluegrass-voiced mandolin. You don't get rid of the royal blue crayon when you get sky blue, but you start seeing what you can do with each color.
still trying to turn dreams into memories
Jim
My Stream on Soundcloud
19th Century Tunes
Playing lately:
1924 Gibson A4 - 2018 Campanella A-5 - 2007 Brentrup A4C - 1915 Frank Merwin Ashley violin - Huss & Dalton DS - 1923 Gibson A2 black snakehead - '83 Flatiron A5-2 - 1939 Gibson L-00 - 1936 Epiphone Deluxe - 1928 Gibson L-5 - ca. 1890s Fairbanks Senator Banjo - ca. 1923 Vega Style M tenor banjo - ca. 1920 Weymann Style 25 Mandolin-Banjo - National RM-1
I just today sold one of my mandolins. My John Jorgenson Paris Swing. I sold it to a friend of mine who will enjoy it immensely.
I so rarely sell any of my mandolins. I think this is the third sale in more than ten times that in years. And yea, I do feel the loss.
No I am not going to cry, don't try and hug me, arright? But there are feelings involved in parting with objects you have desired and acquired.
I've only got 1.
It's a very small collection.
1933 Gibson A-00 (was Scotty Stoneman's)
2003 Gibson J-45RW (ebony)
2017 Gibson J-15
The Murph Channel
http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkomGsMJXH9qn-xLKCv4WOg
What I've learned from pretty much a professional collector I once knew,,1. A collection is a minimum of 3 items.2 items does not make a collection. 2, a true collection is specific.just because you own 19 mandolins,does not make it a mandolin collection,it's just a bunch of mandolins,,I collect only 1950''s Gibson A-50 mandolins, for example,being very specific makes a legitimate collection..
One person's opinionated definition. A "professional collector" is what? IMHO someone who makes money collecting is a dealer. Otherwise how is that a professional?
And that person's definition is a load of BS. I happen to know a number of upper-echelon collectors of various instruments. Yes, there are some who concentrate on specific eras of makers of instruments but there are others who have a more universalist approach.
In that person's definition the musical instrument section of the Metropolitan Museum is not a collection? They have a large assortment of various instruments.
BTW a collection of only 1950s A-50 mandolins sounds like someone who only wants the objects and really doesn't play them. How truly different would that be? The alternative "non-collection" mentioned above—having 19 different mandolins—sound so much more interesting to me as a collection. I would visit that guy to play those mandolins and discuss the differences, but not the guy with all the A-50s.
Jim
My Stream on Soundcloud
19th Century Tunes
Playing lately:
1924 Gibson A4 - 2018 Campanella A-5 - 2007 Brentrup A4C - 1915 Frank Merwin Ashley violin - Huss & Dalton DS - 1923 Gibson A2 black snakehead - '83 Flatiron A5-2 - 1939 Gibson L-00 - 1936 Epiphone Deluxe - 1928 Gibson L-5 - ca. 1890s Fairbanks Senator Banjo - ca. 1923 Vega Style M tenor banjo - ca. 1920 Weymann Style 25 Mandolin-Banjo - National RM-1
Jim
My Stream on Soundcloud
19th Century Tunes
Playing lately:
1924 Gibson A4 - 2018 Campanella A-5 - 2007 Brentrup A4C - 1915 Frank Merwin Ashley violin - Huss & Dalton DS - 1923 Gibson A2 black snakehead - '83 Flatiron A5-2 - 1939 Gibson L-00 - 1936 Epiphone Deluxe - 1928 Gibson L-5 - ca. 1890s Fairbanks Senator Banjo - ca. 1923 Vega Style M tenor banjo - ca. 1920 Weymann Style 25 Mandolin-Banjo - National RM-1
"your posts ... very VERY opinionated ...basing your opinion/recommendations ... pot calling ...kettle... black...sarcasm...comment ...unwarranted...unnecessary...."
I seem to be getting dangerously close to threading the needle between these two approaches, with two of every kind: two A5’s, two carved ovals, etc.
I am well aware of my tendency to collect, extending back to my childhood packs of baseball cards and through my adolescent boxes of comic books. And that tendency has certainly followed me into adulthood and my fascination with mandolins.
It started with my very first flattop, a Mid-Missouri M0, and before I knew it, I also owned a Flatiron 1N, Redline Traveler, and Gypsy Vagabond. I was keenly interested in the different shapes and materials employed, with their corresponding effects on tone. In the process, I figured out what I wanted in a flattop and ultimately sold off the other four to afford it.
It continued when I made the leap to archtops, with a Collings MT, and within 18 months, I owned another five (Pava, Hester, Passernig, Silverangel, and Stanley). From them, I learned about the full range of tone, playability, and aesthetics available, and more importantly, my preferences for each. So when the time came for me to move house, I sold off the others so as to focus on what I call my favorite (Passernig) and my best (Hester).
I know the latter will be familiar to you, Tony, as you are one of the few other owners of one of Gail’s few mandolins. I was just writing in another thread about the supply and demand of mandolins, and it seems to me that Hester is one of those rare instances where demand would be higher if supply were greater, since more pickers would get to experience and hanker after one. My A5 is one of Gail’s earliest pair of Griffith Loar Tributes, and it is just an amazing instrument to play, to hear, and to admire. I love the very idea of it, a modern builder paying homage to the instruments that inspire her:
That instrument has led to my subsequent pursuit of instruments from modern builders who share a similar reverence, such as this A2-z with Virzi from Mike Black:
I later worked with Andy Poe to develop one of his Scout pancakes modeled after the Gibson Alrite:
In the past year, I was fortunate to stumble into a snakehead H2 mandola from Gary Vessel, the instrument that would have resulted had Gibson built their tenor lutes instead with a mandola neck:
And just recently — so recent that I haven’t had a chance to post about it or even update my signature — I tracked down a rare F5 from Adrian Minarovic, our own Hogo who produced the Loar blueprints now sold through Elderly:
I’m hoping that my collection is complete . . . unless you’re ready to part with that F4!
1924 Gibson A Snakehead
2005 National RM-1
2007 Hester A5
2009 Passernig A5
2015 Black A2-z
2010 Black GBOM
2017 Poe Scout
2014 Smart F-Style Mandola
2018 Vessel TM5
2019 Hogan F5
That's an interesting point. Maybe just semantics, but I think there's some truth to it. In that respect, I guess there was just one point in my musical life where I had a collection. It was when I was into acoustic bottleneck slide guitar, among other guitar obsessions. I developed an interest in 1930's roundneck Dobros, specifically the "fiddle edge" metal body type, named for the crimped edge joining the top and sides.
I just loved the sound and the look of those. At one point I had three of them, two in nickel-plated brass and one in painted steel. Also a wood body roundneck Dobro from the same period. There was a musical incentive in having more than one, because I kept them in different open tunings, but it was really a collector mindset that drove me to get them.
Anyway, I eventually sold off all but the painted steel 1936-ish Dobro that I keep around just for noodling slide tunes every now and then. My current set of instruments is driven entirely by my interest in Irish/Scottish trad. I have one each -- mandolin, octave mandolin, steel string guitar, nylon string guitar, and one keyed "Irish flute" that's been getting most of my attention lately.
I'm 100% happy with my stringed instruments and really don't need anything else. I'd like to start a small collection of keyed "Irish" flutes just for fun, including some vintage ones from the 1800's, but can't afford it. This single one will have to do.
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