Dang.. both those A-5's are gone! # I wanted to give them a test drive! #Oh well, I'm lucky in that I live pretty close to the Hester's, I'm sure there will be more!
Congrats on your new mandolin Ken. #I know the Vibe you're talking about....
Dang.. both those A-5's are gone! # I wanted to give them a test drive! #Oh well, I'm lucky in that I live pretty close to the Hester's, I'm sure there will be more!
Congrats on your new mandolin Ken. #I know the Vibe you're talking about....
Thanks, Gail. Where do you get the "new" Gotohs? (And why do we call them "new"?) I don't see them at Stew-Mac, and at the Siminoff site the ones he lists aren't identified as Gotoh. His replacement buttons sure look nice though.
Cornelius
Cornelius Morris
I have a page comparing the new and old Gotohs here. They're easily identified visually, no one else makes gears quite like them.
Stew-Mac used to sell only their F gears but I think dropped even those Gotohs in favor of their own Elites and Waverlies. Their new catalog has the new 510 guitar gears on the cover, so they're still on the Gotoh client list. You can get the good Gotoh A gears from Saga. The only Gotoh mandolin tuners Stew-Mac sells now are the low-end ones. They're rather ugly, visually very close to Ping, but they do work well.
Roger Siminoff may be the only source for the whole line of Gotoh mandolin gears. I find it baffling that they've always been so hard to get - basically you can't get them unless you buy on a wholesale scale, but no one but Roger does it. MusicLink carries the low-end Gotoh mandolin gears and the good banjo gears. They could do quite well with them, I don;t know why they don't.
If you're in luck, Roger Siminoff is still selling new-old stock from the earlier type, because the buttons are a lot nicer and based on the sets I've tried, they turn smoother than the new ones as well. I don't really know though from personal experience. Does anyone else?
I get these Gotoh A-style tuners from LMI because they are the only ones I can find that are configured correctly like a Loar era machine, worm-under and they turn the correct direction. #From LMI they are item# GMNIA. #I replace the bushings with Stewmac vintage bushings and use MOP buttons from Roger.
Gail Hester
Thanks, Paul and Gail, for the quick and detailed replies.
Cornelius
Cornelius Morris
"The absolutely coolest thing is how old it feels. It's got an incredible vibe that I can't explain"
Yup. Gail has been inside an out of so many Loar era instruments with her repair work that it has almost become second nature to her to re-create that magic. She's kind of like the female Randy Wood of the West. A mutual acquaintance once said that Gail builds "new old stock" if you know what I mean. I can only imagine that getting one of her mando's brand new would be a very similar experience to going back in time (to the mid 20's) and getting a brand new Gibson. Once I discovered Gail, I quit working on my time machine.......:p
I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy.
I got to noodle on Ken's for a second and listen to him at a very loud and obnoxios jam in a crowded pizza joint last night. Hey, there's nothing that can really sound perfect in an environment like that, but I was impressed with the well rounded punch Ken was getting out of that thing, in spite of all the noise.
It's the first time I've seen any of Gails work in person. I'm nothing but impressed. I'm waiting impatiently for the sound clips too. Hint, hint Ken
Cheers,
Pete
Awesome work Gail!
Philip Halcomb
Tonight you get to hear it in a concrete bunker of a BBQ joint while playing with a hammered dulcimer... This should give you a better idea of its sound.Originally Posted by (c3hammer @ Mar. 13 2008, 13:19)
What are you hinting at, Pete?
I'm going downstairs now to fire up the mics. We'll see what happens.
I'm also counting coins to see if a Hester F5 is in the cards...
Best,
Ken
Less talk, more pick.
I got my hands on Ken's new A5 the other day, and I'm extremely impressed. What a great mandolin. Loud, balanced, meaty, sweet, very playable, gorgeous, vintagey...just special in every way.
Ken has had a lot of mandolins, and I know a lot of other people with a lot of mandolins. This is the first time I've ever said to someone, "If you ever decide to sell that, let me be the first to know."
Terrific work, Gail.
Tom
"Few noises are so disagreeable as the sound of the picking of a mandolin."
I've recorded a short tune with the Carpathian Hester A5.
The mandolin sounds better than my playing.
http://kensager.com/hester....0A5.mp3
Enjoy,
Ken
Less talk, more pick.
Wonderful mandolin. Thanks, Ken.
I am working on the varnish finish for an F-5. How did you do the stain on the twin A mandolins? It really looks great. It looks likd you sprayed it on. What spray medium did you use? I am wiping mine on with oil coloring. Mine is not as good looking as yours. Thanks for posting the article. Would like to hear from you. Thanks
GAN
gan
Thanks gan, I use “aniline” dyes dissolved in alcohol and apply them with a combination of hand rubbing and air brushing. I use a yellow undercoat that’s a mixture of a bunch of stuff, my own home brew.
Thanks to Geoff for posting the wonderful pictures and to Ken for taking the time to post the sound file.
Gail Hester
I saw that today is Gail’s birthday on the Cafe homepage, so I thought I’d bump one of my favorite threads about one of my favorite instruments by one of my favorite builders. I picked up the red spruce topped A5 five years ago this week, and though there have been others since, it still might be the best mandolin that I have played or owned. Happy Birthday, Gail!
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
Happy birthday Gail.
Hi Gail. Great looking.........
I have a f2 that needs a new top. Interested, please pm me. Tom
Nice thread from over 10 years ago.
Still no soundfiles anywhere. I´m still interested. What´s the going rate for a Hester A-5 these days?
Olaf
those 2 are stunning. How did you do such a clean job with the gauze? mine looks like I stood back and threw it.lol. not quite but
Mike Marrs
Hester with Carpathian:
Hester with Adirondack:
You’d have to find one first. To the best of my knowledge, Gail has only completed thirty-something instruments, and I don’t recall seeing an A5 come up for sale in the last five years.
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
The Adi Hester A-5 clip is new to me. Who´s the picker (nicely played)? The Alan Bibey clip is also nice. Thirty-something instruments in more than 10 years is not much. If you think about HoGo (Adrian Minarovic), his instruments are far and between (and great!). He is a teacher if I´m not mistaken. What´s Gail Hester´s main occupation then? Applause to people like them that carry on with so much effort and commitment.
Olaf
Alan Bibey is playing the Ads topped A5 first bought by squirrelabama in post #52. Ken Sager is playing the Carpathian topped one that he originally purchased in post #68.
If you think that Hogans are rare in Europe, they're almost non-existent here. I know. I've looked.
My understanding is that in addition to her own builds Gail keeps pretty busy with repairing those of others.
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
I’m bumping my all-time favorite thread in honor of Gail’s special day. Happy Birthday, Gail, and thanks!
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
Bookmarks