Silver Angel owners

**D C Blood** · Dec-23-2008, 9:30pm

Hi, I'm still looking to hear from any Silver Angel mando owners. I've started a Myspace site dedicated to Ken Ratcliff's fine mandolins, and I'd like photos, serial #s, dates, names, stories, blog entries, anything pertaining to the SAs...Contact me at the Silver Angel Myspace(see the link in my sig line) or my email. mixtcompany@comcast.net Thank you...

**pickloser** · Dec-24-2008, 8:53am

Hi Dave,
I sent you a PM. I've been playing my Ratcliff A since May. It's opening up nicely, but came out of the box sounding pretty terrific. It's made for bluegrass!
Laura

**mntmandoman253** · Jan-17-2009, 1:26pm

Hey there DC, I own Silver Angel #253 and Ken delivered her to me Oct 31-06. Her name is Clementine. AS you know Ken names all of his mandolins which I did not know when Ken built mine but then a friend of mine who also owns one of Kens fine mandolins told me this and when I looked inside there it was. What did Ken name yours? I love my Silverangel because it is LOUD, and WOODY which is what I was looking for when I contracted Ken to build her for me and I was not dissapointed. Ken builds the finest mandolins that I have ever heard and played and mine just keeps getting better with time. I was jamming last Saturday with some friends of mine and the fiddle player asked me if I had it amplified, said it was the loudest and best sounding mandolin he ever heard.

**Tighthead** · Jan-17-2009, 2:08pm

Is Laura Ratcliff still making mandolins? She seems to have disappeared from the new SA site.

**Mark Walker** · Jan-17-2009, 3:20pm

Dave - I still owe you some pictures! I'll try to get some sent to you tonight sometime. Thanks for all the hard work you're putting into that site. - Mark

**LKN2MYIS** · Jan-17-2009, 3:50pm

Don't know if you're only looking for only "F" information, but here's mine:

I own a Ratcliff "A" model. Serial number 0043, build date 9/25/2006.

A rich, warm instrument that I love.

It has:
Dominico Orrico talpiece, Oil Varnish finish, Steve
Smith bridge, Grover gold tuners, 200 year old Cedar
on the top and maple wood on the back and sides

NOTE: I might be wrong, but to my knowledge, Laura is no longer making mandolins.

**kmando** · Jan-17-2009, 4:26pm

I am currently selling my Silver Angel R2 (2-point) so I have to be careful here. I do not want anyone to think that I'm posting for my own gain. I am only selling because I purchased a Daley f style which is now my main mandolin. So with that said, but here is my 2¢ worth.

I think that Ken makes a great mandolin for the money. Mine has a European (Italian I think) spruce top and it has a very mature sound. Very well balanced across the strings with strong highs, mids, and lows. It loses nothing as you go up the neck and holds it's own with a banjo. A friend of mine had a SA f style that was a great mandolin as well. I have played several at SPBGMA as well. I do not know what kind of top it had. For sound quality, I would put it up against some more expensive mandolins. That goes for the f's and a's that I've played.

**D C Blood** · Jan-18-2009, 3:30am

Thank you, Guys and Gals...for the SA responses...Laura Ratcliff is back in her native Argentina, a great loss to the mandolin building business...those who have Silver Angels for sale, please send me photos and contact info and I will put them on the Myspace site. My mandolin is a Silver Eagle, from Dec 1996, before Ken changed the name to Silver Angel mandolins. Her name is Cynthia, serial # X040...Keep the info coming in, folks...thanks

**acousticphd** · Jan-20-2009, 12:38pm

I also have a pre-Angel Silver Eagle, an A5, from the same mid-late 90s period. It has a honey-orange sunburst finish, which is a bit unusual from the other Ratcliffs I've seen. I will send specific details after looking it over and refreshing my memory. I've used it only sparingly since I acquired it, partly because the action is so low at the nut it has to be played feather-lightly, but it really has a nice feel to it. I should use it more.

**midnightmando** · Jan-20-2009, 12:55pm

I have one of his early ones... a Silver Eagle. It was built in 1996 and is named, "Grace." The mandolin previously had the 3 sound hole design which eventually caused the top to cave in. Last year I sent the mandolin back to Ken and had the top replaced w/ 1830's cedar from a telegraph pole out West. I've attached an image that Ken took before he shipped it back to me.

A little more on the history of the mandolin: I bought it from my teacher and friend, Frank Wakefield, 6 years ago. He apparently got it as payment for doing some studio work. Interestingly, it comes w/ his old Loar case that he traded Grisman for at Carnegie Hall (listen to the hidden track on Bluegrass Mandolin Extravaganza). Needless to say, it's a very special mandolin. On top of it all, it plays and sounds great as well!

**Mark Walker** · Jan-20-2009, 5:08pm

Midnightmando - great story about your early Ratcliff/Silver Eagle. Wow - an old telegraph pole?

I know Ken's gotten some old woods here and there - the spruce top on my Silver Angel came from some 100-year old building that was torn down in upstate New York if I understood Ken correctly. (I think he swapped a couple pieces of that with Hans Brentrup for some other species of spruce too a while back.)

Here in Michigan, they've actually salvaged timber cargos from sunken ships as the cold waters of the great lakes minimize deterioration of the logs. It would be interesting to be able to get some old maple or spruce or something that's been under water for 100 years and see what kind of sound an instrument made from it would be like...

**jasona** · Jan-23-2009, 10:25am

Sorry to hear that Laura has left the mando building team.

My Laura built Ratcliff #00600 is doing well. Just back from a refret and some neck work by Michael Heiden, and is playing better than ever. Top wood is Italian spruce, one piece back, pictures in my profile. Sadly, despite the work (and I did not have the shape of the neck adjusted) it still does not fit my hand as some other mandolins do, but I muddle along. That I have kept it so long is a testament to its nice sound.

**jamann** · Mar-27-2009, 3:26pm

I am the lucky new owner of Ken's latest distressed F5 to come out of his shop. Gloria #280 build date 2-19-09. Been wanting one of these ever since I played several at SPBGMA a few years back and was blown away with the sound that was coming out of these things. I luckily stumbled on the Cafe and Ken's post regarding his latest distressed F5 and I contacted him and it was available and I jumped at the opportunity to own one. It's everything I was expecting and much more. Not only does it look like it's been very well played in, it even sounds like it's been very well played in. It's hard to believe this is a new mandolin. I'm very impressed with it and extremely happy.

See Ken's post with more pictures. http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/sh...ht=silverangel

jamann

**kennyo** · Mar-27-2009, 6:29pm

Ken makes the best mandolins on earth...period. I have never played one of his that wasn't a great instrument. Each mandolin is a unique work of art, beautiful to look at and fun to play. I own # 240 aka "Cecilia" I could not ask for a better instrument.