Article: Northfield Announces New A5 Oval Hole Model

[Mandolin Cafe]

You can view the page at https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/c...val-Hole-Model

[Glassweb]

Love it... a winner to be sure... but the Nugget TP doesn't do it for me. They should go with their engraved James TP. Who wants to rub up against exposed string loops?

[keith.rogers]

Love it... a winner to be sure... but the Nugget TP doesn't do it for me. They should go with their engraved James TP. Who wants to rub up against exposed string loops?

I kind of like the look, and it's the same as what they put on their A5 Special, presumably for some reason. I'd love to try one on my Kentucky, but at $125 it falls onto the wishes/horses pile.

[sgarrity]

That design is not at all attractive to me. The sound hole placement is hideous!

[keith.rogers]

That design is not at all attractive to me. The sound hole placement is hideous!

That 15th fret neck join plays havoc with the bridge placement when you're used to the old Gibsons, and the soundhole (I assume) is moved to accomodate for that, and given NF's focus on creating a specific sound, I assume it got there by putting it in a lot of other places first. I'll go with "different" on that look

[Paul Statman]

Love it... a winner to be sure... but the Nugget TP doesn't do it for me. They should go with their engraved James TP. Who wants to rub up against exposed string loops?

I agree. James or Gilchrist. The 15th fret join puts the bridge a little for north, too, IMO.

[Don Grieser]

That design is not at all attractive to me. The sound hole placement is hideous!

What were they thinking? The sunburst pattern emphasizes the wrongness of the placement.

Look at the Collings oval in the mandocafe banner above. Much more pleasing than this.

[Jim Roberts]

Love it... a winner to be sure... but the Nugget TP doesn't do it for me. They should go with their engraved James TP. Who wants to rub up against exposed string loops?

Suggest not wearing a sweater while playing mandolin with that tailpiece. The string loops can wreak havoc on your right sleeve when the material catches on the string loops.

[Melt_in_the_Sun]

I think it looks pretty good. I bet it looks more "normal" from the players position, since you'll be looking down at the gap between the top and elevated fretboard.

The nugget tailpiece is pretty slick functionally - I have one on my Octolindo OM. I guess it would be a negative if you stick your arm right on top of the tailpiece.

[Glassweb]

Suggest not wearing a sweater while playing mandolin with that tailpiece. The string loops can wreak havoc on your right sleeve when the material catches on the string loops.

Yes... that's the problem. If you're wearing long sleeves they'll get hung up and/or shredded a bit...

[Tighthead]

Yes... that's the problem. If you're wearing long sleeves they'll get hung up and/or shredded a bit...

I have an A-5 Special with that tailpiece and since I put my arm right on the tailpiece a McClung OTP arm rest takes care of it nicely.

[Charles E.]

What kind of bracing does it have? X-braced?

[Mandolin Cafe]

Lateral brace.

[Jim Roberts]

Tailpiece aside, who knows…it might sound incredible and isn’t that what it’s all about?

Cheers.

[pheffernan]

I’m curious to learn if there is demand for a new $4,000 oval in today’s mandolin market.

[joh]

I'm very interested to hear how this mandolin sounds.

I’m curious to learn if there is demand for a new $4,000 oval in today’s mandolin market.

The recent batch of Kimble oval hole mandolins sold like hot cakes. Last week a Gilchrist oval hole sold for (if I remember correctly) $8000 after being listed for only a day or so. I also believe builders are increasingly experimenting with construction techniques for oval instruments and as a result we're getting better and more diverse sounding oval hole mandolins.

It also helps that players like Compton, Reischman, and Marlin are starting to play these instruments more regularly.

[Charles E.]

The Northfield oval is in the same price range as the Collings oval mandolin, it would be interesting to play both side by side.

[Clement Barrera-Ng]

I’m curious to learn if there is demand for a new $4,000 oval in today’s mandolin market.

Looks like it's already sold, so there's your answer

I'm curious how this one sounds like alongside one of Northfield's F2. Hopefully there'll be a video or a sound clip out soon.

[Jeff Hildreth]

NPA, I'll pass.

[mandolin breeze]

That design is not at all attractive to me. The sound hole placement is hideous!

Ugggg . . . looks like some kind of AI design

[Marcus CA]

I'm very interested to hear how this mandolin sounds.

Me, too. So far, there don't seem to be any demo videos of it yet. I expect that they'll be out soon, though. The one that Northfield put out for its f-hole counterpart a few months ago sounded pretty good. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yVa-D0QbKg

Also, I'm confused by the name of the model. I thought that mandos with oval-holes were A4 or F4 and mandos with f-holes were A5 or F5.