Still hunting....................
Best/willow
Still hunting....................
Best/willow
Red Diamond July 9 F and a pretty nice Gilchrist F
When I aquired my most recent mando, fortunately I was listening with my ears and not my eyes. Through the years I've owned and bought new; 2002 Gibson F9, 2012 Kentucky 1000, sold them off for my current player; The Loar LM 700, it's a great mando, and a bargain if you can find one.
2021 The Loar LM700 VS
I’m also a bit of an outsider/newbie, so take what I say with a grain of salt, but my humble-ish used Collings MT may be the highest I ever go. I say that in part because of financial reasons as a serious hobby player but it’s also because I have yet to play anything that matches my wants in the same way. I would like to try out a Northfield at some point or one of the bigger boutique builders (I’ve played some models from smaller builders), but I haven’t really found anything that satisfies my wants in a mandolin yet like my Collings does. I bought it used on the classifieds after trying a custom MF5 with an Engleman spruce top in a local shop that made the dopamine in my head explode. The simple MT is pretty close to that MF5 in its sound profile. It’s in right now with an experienced luthier and boutique builder for a set up and he even talked about what a jewel it is. There are many people who don’t prefer the more modern tone of the Collings, but I’ve also read on here that people who do like it find it difficult to be satisfied by anything else.
I think by the time we get into the MT/NFF5S/Weber/etc territory we're really approaching diminishing returns. I think any of those mandolins can do anything most of us need and never hold you back. I like my Girouard A5 better than the NF5S I had before but that Northfield would have been just fine too.
I'm on year 3 with the Girouard and have never considered buying another F hole mando. The Girouard really suits what I want to do. Still a lifer for me.
Girouard Concert A5
Girouard Custom A4
Nordwall Cittern
Barbi Mandola
Crump OM-1s Octave
www.singletonstreet.com
I have bought and sold oodles of mandolins since the mid-80's but keept one since 1987, an 83 Flatiron A5-1. A famous player told me in the late 80's, "never sell this," as did another less famous Loar owner some year later, and I haven't, and play it most days.
I also have kept a Will Parsons A-oval (that's my avatar mando) for about 12 years and don't think I'll ever sell it because it's just so playable. It has great tone, plus it was made to my specs.
Well mine isn't that pretty but it's my forever mandolin. I traded a 50s Gibson L48 archtop guitar that I thought I needed for a pretty rough Weber Gallatin A at a respectable shop that sells vintage instruments. I mainly just wanted my money back out of the guitar and I'd been wanting to try a Weber mandolin. I was able to compare the Weber to some very expensive mandolins in this shop, not that I could afford those. But this Weber has such a powerful complex voice and so balanced across the strings. Whoever had it really played it in or it's just special. I love the radiused board too. It has lots of dings and dents but there's no way I will part with this thing.
2017 Kimble 2-point Adirondack. Incredible instrument!
I'm still playing the first mandolin I ever bought, a Lebeda F5 Premium+ with a redwood top, and haven't felt a need to upgrade. I wonder how common that is here, sticking with the first one you ever bought and it's the only one you own?
I did a lot of research here and elsewhere before buying it, and I was coming from 30 years of acoustic guitar where I had moved up into ordering custom guitars from independent luthiers. So I knew what an instrument I wouldn't outgrow would cost.
I've briefly played many other mandolins handed to me by other players in jams and sessions, and frankly there is only one of those where I would have traded on the spot, and that was a Gilchrist. My musical interests are split into a few other areas than mandolin so I've never been inspired to throw all my resources into getting a Gilchrist. I suppose that might qualify as a Holy Grail that I'm intentionally avoiding, but I know it's out there.
My Weber Yellowstone F octave mandolin is another one I feel no need to upgrade and it's the first one I bought. I'm not sure there actually would be an upgrade in that category, just a sideways move from one of the independent OM luthiers.
Lebeda F-5 mandolin, redwood top
Weber Yellowstone F-5 octave mandolin
As others have posted, it is possible to have multiple “grail” mandolins. I’ve had a 1925 Gibson A-2Z for almost 40 years, so I guess it’s a lifetime mando (one of ?). It was my only mandolin for about 15 years or so. During the 1990s and early 2000s, I was going in and out of airports with mandolin enough that I wanted something that was more “replaceable“ than the old Gibson, so I bought a new Rigel a+deluxe, in 2002. The Rigel was my most played mandolin for 20 years, until I got my Northfield Big Mon F5, a year or so ago. I still play them all at home, but the Big Mon is my gig mando. Don’t think I’ll let the Gibson go, and can’t see me ever finding something I can afford to replace the Northfield, but I do enjoy browsing the ads.
When I first got into mandolins I went thru a bad case of MAS, just like I sometimes do with guitars. But the only thing I really need is an octave mando. I'll probably die with just the two I have now.
And likely an Eastman octave.
And maybe a Ratcliff Fantasma.
Possibly an archtop octave.
But that's all. Nothing more.
Except ... well ... maybe ...
Last edited by Snakum; Feb-18-2023 at 3:13pm.
Mine is a 1994 Gerald Anderson F5. #35. I’ll never sell it. All the mandolin I’ll ever need.
Hi Dave. I visited Tamco to buy that, didn't fancy the fingerboard extension but otherwise really liked it. I should have bought it. I've since scooped a few myself so could have done it. Regret that.
After buying 9 F4s over the last 50 years I found a great 1919 one at Gruhn's couple of years ago. Best volume and tone of them all. LOVE IT.
I started out with a hard case of MAS, but I found some vaccines! I wanted a little diversity (F, Oval and OM). Went through several and found a Pava A5 I really like, then came a Clark GOM that's just awesome. Now a Black A2z is on the way to round out my trifecta. While many of you have beat your MAS, there are still a lot of "Carriers"
This thread reminded me of this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYcopzJ-T9w
2022 Black A2-z #60
1996 Summit Artist #99
2018 Clark GBOM #208
What, no resonator?
https://www.mandolincafe.com/ads/200591#200591
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
My Big Mon, Miss Maybelle, has so supplanted my other mandolins as #1 that she’s the only one that isn’t in storage. She has the perfect tone & feel for me. I’ll prolly sell the others soon because they’re just going waste sitting in their cases.
2020 Northfield Big Mon
2016 Skip Kelley A5
2011 Weber Gallatin A20
2021 Northfield Flattop Octave Mandolin
2019 Pono Flattop Octave
Richard Beard Celtic Flattop
And a few electrics
Well I guess my 83 Flatiron A5-2 with Carlsons name on the label is my holy grail...I've had it for 33 of it's 40 years. It's my second mandolin, the first being a very nice '76 F5 with MANN on the head stock...wish I hadn't let that one get away.
"The Flatiron" '83 A5-2 Steve Carlsons
"wires an wood...man that's good!"
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