St. Nicholas made an unscheduled stop at my house yesterday.
When I got home from a particularly gnarly day at work, I noticed a nice new black A style mandolin case resting on my couch. I blinked in cartoon-like lack of comprehension. Must have been at least 10 seconds of delighted dumbfoundedness.
My wife doesn't hate the mandolin, but she greatly prefers guitar (especially electric guitar). So I could not believe that she would just go get a mandolin and leave on the couch for me. Yet here it was. On my couch. Begging me to open the case. So I did, wouldn't you?
I had an inkling of what it was before I opened the case. Gary Vessel had called me recently and mentioned he was working on a mahogany economy level A style mandolin and wanted to know if any of my students might be interested in it. I told him I would ask, but I definitely wanted to try it out when he was finished building it.
So when the lid came up and I saw Gary's name in a decal on the peg head my suspicion was confirmed. So this was a temporary new mandolin day. Come to think of it, that's probably better than a permanent new mandolin day. Kind of catch-and-release; I get to play the heck out of a new mando but I don't really have to choose between it and my Vessel F5. Win-win!
It is a lovely A5 style mandolin with an amber to red sunburst on the top, a mahogany neck, mahogany back & rim, ebony fretboard. The top is bound in a one-ply ivorioid. Back, peg head, and fretboard are unbound, as you would expect on an economy model.
The sunburst on the Englemann spruce top is expertly executed and the rest of the instrument (excluding the fretboard of course) has a natural finish. The mahogany has a lovely figure that approaches the color and intricacy of koa.
It sounds sweet and lovely even though the instrument is so new I can smell the finish curing as I play it. The trebles have Gary's signature bell-like tone. No jangle at all. Just sweet and clear. I played the instrument for about an hour and listened to it develop as I played it. A phone call to Gary confirmed that it had not, as yet, been played. So I was the first to force this wooden box to make music, and it responded beautifully. The tone matured nicely in about an hour, and just as I had to put it down, the chop showed up.
This is going to be a great little mando for someone! I'm just thrilled I get to break it in a bit!
Daniel
Bookmarks