Well, it happened. Am now the new caretaker of Chuck Leyda's 2017 Northfield F5SA. Have been having an itch for one of these since hearing this one two years ago at a festival. With my wife's okay Chuck and I struck a deal and by Sunday afternoon was sitting on my couch practicing with it.
It's definitely a nice one. Originally wasn't sure I'd want another blonde mandolin. Then realized, why not. Three of my four are now blondes. Excellent workmanship. As to tone, well that is subjective. It's different from both my Collings and Weber. Maybe better in some ways. Neck shape is between the two. Yes, more of a U than a V or C. It works well with my hand position. And a lot of nice thoughtful touches in the build. Have really come to appreciate a pickguard with my playing style. The radius fingerboard is another touch I've come to appreciate. While I still love my A Jr. once you get used to a radius board it's a bit of a learning period to go back.
FWIW, Chuck upgraded the tailpiece to the Gilchrist/Northfield design. It's my first fancy tailpiece and yeah, it's worth it if one wants to go that route. Swapped strings to my standard J74 and it was like a weight was lifted not having to worry about the string popping out of the tailpiece. Oh, and it's really cool looking, which makes it sound better right?
Realized I should also mention the case. The Airloom Deluxe is just that. Deluxe. Really nice. And no heavier than my stock Weber case. But with a lot more room for storage and maybe the neatest latch design I've used.
Enclosed are a couple of pics. Yes, I've added the D'Addario headstock tuner with a screw to the tuners. FWIW, used the stock screw from the tuners, not the D'Addario one. It's just long enough to get the job done and it doesn't bump in the case. The back and neck do have some flame. Nothing fancy, but more understated like a lot of great old instruments were.
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