Hi, Everyone:
It's my pleasure to provide this review of my recently commissioned and acquired Hamlett two-point mandolin. It was built by Cafe compadre John Hamlett of Richmond, Kentucky, a wonderful luthier and person who built something beyond what I imagined.
Let me first say that this mandolin was gift from my family for successfully defending my doctoral dissertation last Fall and it was completely unexpected. Perhaps, however, my loved ones were especially supportive because while writing the dissertation was an immense challenge, I exacerbated the challenge by struggling with substance abuse and addiction. I was able to get sober September 1 (the day I turned in my final draft) and completed the oral defense two weeks later, pretty raw from withdrawal and the early stages of physiological and psychological recalibration. So, needless to say, it was an intense time and this mandolin represents new beginnings, good health, and family love.
I was led to John by intuition and years of reading his generous and insightful posts, as well as having played one of his F styles years ago at a jam. The journey into sobriety can involve engaging with new places, activities and people, and John was the kind of person I wanted to invite into my new world to make this instrument. I also shared my personal circumstances with John to let him know the symbolism and meaning embedded in what he was about to make. He embraced that quality with his typical grace and earthy humor. It just clicked from the beginning, and I'm glad I followed my gut to John while being understandably tempted to two points by other great builders. If I could do it all over again I would choose John 100 times. He's awesome.
There is another thread about my initial reaction to getting the mandolin. This thread, however, is a more in depth review after putting on and playing through a second set of strings and getting my hands back into reasonable mandolin shape after not playing as much over the past year. I've been playing it for at least an hour a day off and on. Sometimes I'm able to play it for a few hours. It has a lot of playing time on it for being only three weeks new. Based on how it is evolving every time I pick it up and also how this second set of strings settled in very nicely, it is a good time to provide this more comprehensive review.
It is a phenomenal instrument. Broadly speaking, it is loud, responsive, tonally unique, quite light, and is amongst the easiest playing instruments I've experienced. The neck seems to disappear in my left hand. The slight radius is just enough to matter but not enough to completely distinguish it from a flat fretboard. The varnish finish - it's the first instrument I've owned that's not nitro - gives it a quality that's hard to describe. I definitely see what all the hype is. It's earthier, more organic, more natural, and it's possible to feel that quality in your hand when you touch it. There's a slight new varnish stickiness that emerges if my hands are dirty or under what I assume are the right environmental conditions, but it doesn't last and my understanding is that will subside a bit over time as it cures. The bridge is fit to the top in a precise way. It has Rubner tuners which are new to me but seem to be wonderful so far in that they are easy to operate and able to accommodate slight changes when I turn the knobs in a minor way. Finally, John's original tailpiece is awesome. It has substantial mass and enables easy string changing. Plus, it looks super cool.
Speaking of looks, this Hamlett is a work of visual art. John was so easy going about taking the visual aesthetics in different directions, often saying we could do two or three different things to bring together the look at any given time. For example, I requested a dotless fretboard which he was willing to do, but he also suggested there are smaller fretboard dots and there are black pearl fretboard dots. We ended up choosing small black pearl fretboard dots because they are subtle and they also seem to disappear at the right angle, which the video below shows. Just like that. I never would have known to ask for them and ended up with them as John steered the design to a complete concept. It's a darker burst than his usual, which was my request, and to compliment the darkness we agreed on tortoise binding but with John's suggestion of a thin strip of white binding to separate both sides of the tortoise from the edge of the dark burst. As mentioned in the other thread I stated the headstock design was a collaboration as well. John asked if I had any ideas about the headstock and I gave him an image from a favorite book of mine which he then adapted to what you see in the video below. In addition, he created his name above it to match the design. Finally, the varnish finish gives the instrument a subtle tint that results in a "goldness" all around, which is matched by the color of the frets and the tuners. Very classy. John described it as looking like a tuxedo, lol.
Although I mentioned the tone above I'll add a few more comments here, and hopefully you get the gist from the video below. There is definitely that woodiness we so often hear about. I'm not sure how to better describe it, but if you've heard it you know. It's a percussiveness that makes it clear you're playing something made out of wood. The mids are really profound, and the low Gs have emerged quite a bit since I've had it. As far as the highs go, they are perhaps showing the most rapid growth. The high Es were a bit jangly at first and were again when I changed the strings. This is to be expected and because they were impressively loud I was happy with how they were. However, they've developed a bit of a stiffer sound while still retaining the same easy feel on my fingers. It's cool. John really dialed in the balance between feel and tone. Speaking of the tone, it's increasingly unique as the mandolin and I jive. I get a substantial throatiness when playing tremolo on the G and D strings, and it gets friskier on the A and E strings. This is a mandolin that can definitely do grass. It also has the potential for exquisite sustain, which I think comes across in the video quite well, and the single notes seem to get rounder and rounder. It's a cool process. For me, the opening and warming up debate is settled because I'm experiencing it every time I play it.
There you have it. I've also played it with a friend already and it is quite audible next to other instruments, which is a relief because sounding quiet with others can be a thing too. Not so for this Hamlett. As you can imagine, I am really, really looking forward to getting better acquainted with this very meaningful mandolin. I hope you enjoy the video below (please excuse my playing!), and the periodic updates that will follow on this thread:
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