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  1. #51
    Registered User Eric Platt's Avatar
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    Default Re: What’s the nicest mandolin you’ve ever seen?

    Hard choice. Could easily be either Lloyd LaPlant mandolin owned/played by Bob Douglas or Dick Kimmel. But the Gibson Fern Dick used to have is also a contender.

    But it just might be the Austin Clark F-5 owned by a friend. It's an early one and the quality and sound of the instrument never fails to impress me. My duo partner's Gibson A-4 with inlaid tuners is also a contender. Amazing burst on that instrument.
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  3. #52
    Registered User Charlie Bernstein's Avatar
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    Default Re: What’s the nicest mandolin you’ve ever seen?

    Junior, my snakehead.
    Gibson A-Junior snakehead (Keep on pluckin'!)

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  5. #53

    Default Re: What’s the nicest mandolin you’ve ever seen?

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  7. #54
    Registered User J Mangio's Avatar
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    Default Re: What’s the nicest mandolin you’ve ever seen?

    Mine
    2021 The Loar LM700 VS

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  9. #55
    coprolite mandroid's Avatar
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    Question Re: What’s the nicest mandolin you’ve ever seen?

    Seen? Whatever Evan J Marshall was playing.

    Last edited by mandroid; Oct-10-2022 at 12:24pm. Reason: Capitol J
    writing about music
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  11. #56
    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: What’s the nicest mandolin you’ve ever seen?

    Quote Originally Posted by mandroid View Post
    Seen? Whatever Evan J Marshall was playing.

    I took a workshop with him quite a few years ago and IIRC he was playing his blond classic Gilchrist.

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  13. #57
    Registered User Kirk Higgins's Avatar
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    Default Re: What’s the nicest mandolin you’ve ever seen?

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    My 2007 Kimble F5
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  15. #58
    Registered User Dave Hicks's Avatar
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    Default Re: What’s the nicest mandolin you’ve ever seen?

    I was 2 ft from Mike Compton's Gilchrist a couple days ago.

    D.H.

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  17. #59
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    Default Re: What’s the nicest mandolin you’ve ever seen?

    I attended a house concert by the Ethen Setiawan band the other day(mandolin fiddle bass and guitar), the show was great and no amplification. He has a Monteleone F5 with a kind of a burnt amber solid finish. The thing was loud and clear with tone to die for, and was in quite capable hands so that goes on my list of nicest mandolins I've seen
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  19. #60

    Default Re: What’s the nicest mandolin you’ve ever seen?

    Quote Originally Posted by tmsweeney View Post
    I attended a house concert by the Ethen Setiawan band the other day(mandolin fiddle bass and guitar), the show was great and no amplification. He has a Monteleone F5 with a kind of a burnt amber solid finish. The thing was loud and clear with tone to die for, and was in quite capable hands so that goes on my list of nicest mandolins I've seen
    I think that's this mandolin?
    https://themusicemporium.com/product...tist-used-1994

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  21. #61
    Resident Hack
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    Default Re: What’s the nicest mandolin you’ve ever seen?

    Gotta be that $50,000 Randy Wood two-point
    https://www.mandolincafe.com/ads/194006#194006

    Looks just like my baby, except with all that inlay work I love. My Kelley is almost identical in the body, so it runs a very close second. I'll buy some cars with what's left over in the cost difference.
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  23. #62
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    Default Re: What’s the nicest mandolin you’ve ever seen?

    Quote Originally Posted by joh View Post
    more like this one

    https://themusicemporium.com/product...e&_ss=e&_v=1.0
    Stormy Morning Orchestra

    My YouTube Channel

    "Mean Old Timer, He's got grey hair, Mean Old Timer he just don't care
    Got no compassion, thinks its a sin
    All he does is sit around an play the Mandolin"

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  25. #63

    Default Re: What’s the nicest mandolin you’ve ever seen?

    Quote Originally Posted by tmsweeney View Post
    One and the same.
    "your posts ... very VERY opinionated ...basing your opinion/recommendations ... pot calling ...kettle... black...sarcasm...comment ...unwarranted...unnecessary...."

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  27. #64

    Default Re: What’s the nicest mandolin you’ve ever seen?

    Quote Originally Posted by Eric Platt View Post
    Hard choice. Could easily be either Lloyd LaPlant mandolin owned/played by Bob Douglas or Dick Kimmel. But the Gibson Fern Dick used to have is also a contender.
    I sat next to Dick Kimmel at a jam session a couple of years back and he showed me his LaPlant. Nice mandolin. I also got to play someone else's LaPlant for a couple of minutes at a different session. Lloyd is, of course, a legend in Minnesota.

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  29. #65
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    Default Re: What’s the nicest mandolin you’ve ever seen?

    then of course there's this

    https://www.mandolincafe.com/ads/194379#194379

    if it were a wide nut I might not be able to resist
    Stormy Morning Orchestra

    My YouTube Channel

    "Mean Old Timer, He's got grey hair, Mean Old Timer he just don't care
    Got no compassion, thinks its a sin
    All he does is sit around an play the Mandolin"

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  31. #66
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    Default Re: What’s the nicest mandolin you’ve ever seen?

    For a collection of unique mandolin family instruments, check out the Melonious Quartet from France, with instruments made by André Sakellaridès, who sadly died last year.
    This video shows them clearly.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sj_MpqS53mI
    David A. Gordon

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  33. #67
    Registered User Jimmy Kittle's Avatar
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    Default Re: What’s the nicest mandolin you’ve ever seen?

    I'm not sure this mandolin is the necessarily the nicest mandolin I've seen, but it has the most meaning. I attended a class in Nashville held by Butch Baldassari. I had just bought a Stiver from Elderly's a couple weeks prior. Butch really liked the Stiver, so we traded for the day and I played his Gilchrist. Great memory.

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  35. #68
    Registered User j. condino's Avatar
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    Default Re: What’s the nicest mandolin you’ve ever seen?

    Loarfest, the Griffith A, and the D'Aquisto in the MET; a few of the standout mandolins I've been able to hang out with...
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  37. #69
    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: What’s the nicest mandolin you’ve ever seen?

    Quote Originally Posted by Dagger Gordon View Post
    For a collection of unique mandolin family instruments, check out the Melonious Quartet from France, with instruments made by André Sakellaridès, who sadly died last year.
    This video shows them clearly.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sj_MpqS53mI
    I love this album cover:

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  39. #70
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    Default Re: What’s the nicest mandolin you’ve ever seen?

    If the criteria includes the sound, I am enamored with the mandolins of Erik Kerman. I have played Jacob Reuven's and just fell for it. Aesthetically, I prefer dark woods over light, and would love a change to try out Avi Avital's mandolin.

    Were I a cowboy I would prefer the dark leather vest, black hat.

    Pure aesthetic considerations, I like two pointers, and especially asymmetrical two pointers. I like visual tension of the two sides referencing each other but not replicating each other. The Lyon & Healy model A as an example.

    Yea I have come to prefer the F style body over the enforced symmetry of the A. Though really, I like the turn of the century F style, with three points.


    I had a mandolin I called my dumb blonde. Not because it was blonde, but because it looked (to me) a hole lot better than it sounded.
    A talent for trivializin' the momentous and complicatin' the obvious.

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  41. #71
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    Default Re: What’s the nicest mandolin you’ve ever seen?

    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Garber View Post
    I love this album cover:

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    Holding the instruments over their faces is something they do. I saw them once at their festival Mandopolis, and I think I remember they did that as they stood up at the end of their performance (which was phenomenal, incidentally). I love their album Au Sud de la mandoline.
    David A. Gordon

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  43. #72
    Professional Dreamer journeybear's Avatar
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    Default Re: What’s the nicest mandolin you’ve ever seen?

    It's not a mandolin, but this violin is a killer.

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  45. #73
    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: What’s the nicest mandolin you’ve ever seen?

    Quote Originally Posted by journeybear View Post
    It's not a mandolin, but this violin is a killer.

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    Here's a mandolin made by John D'Angelico that fits into the same category. From the Guitar Heroes show at the Met Museum in 2011.

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    Last edited by Jim Garber; Oct-19-2022 at 6:14pm.
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  47. #74

    Default Re: What’s the nicest mandolin you’ve ever seen?

    I saw one from a builder here in Japan, blonde/honey amber finish, one piece back, some of the darkest ebony I ever seen. It was a stunner and I kick myself for not grabbing it… I think it was less than $2k at the time. Heard later the guy quit making mandolins due to lack of demand and makes his living making ukes now

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  49. #75
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    Default Re: What’s the nicest mandolin you’ve ever seen?

    Haven't heard them in real life, but when I went digging around early in my mando research, these three stood out. I even downloaded pictures to my phone to drool over.

    Jacobson Nautilus A models really stood out. Different, and gorgeous.

    And the green Clark guitar-bodied octave mandolin with a Florentine cutaway.

    And the Sorenson Big Dog octave and Big Hammer mandocello. Very classy.

    Absolutely beautiful. And I'm sure they sound and play as good as they look. They were all gorgeous. Playable art. On an EMS salary I'll never own one. But I can dream. And if I win the lottery ... it's on.
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