Gerald Anderson at Elderly

[jim simpson]

http://elderly.com/vintage/items/90U-5740.htm

Just noticed this 1981 Gerald Anderson mandolin on Elderly. The headstock treatment is different than the one on the Anderson I used to own. My Anderson was #24 (mandolin on right), I wonder if anyone out there has it? I'm not sure what year #24 was built.

[f5loar]

This looks to be a really early Anderson likely built when he was starting out with Wayne Henderson. If you need to know what year No. 24 is just give Gerald a call at his shop in VA. He is listed here with the builders.

[jim simpson]

Thanks for the suggestion and observation. I suspect you are right about it being an early one. I seem to think my old one was made around 90-91. I'm more curious to see if it ended up with anyone here on the cafe. I took lessons breifly from a teacher who had a #24 Monteleone and thought it was quite a coincidence that we both had the same builder #.

[Jake Howard]

How are you guys doing! Ive been a long time lurker on this site and its taken me awhile to respond to this, but I was lucky enough to purchase this mandolin in January of 2012! I was able to negotiate the price down a tad and luckily got it. Let me tell you this mandolin has been a heaven sent gift! I got in contact with Gerald in earlier March and we discovered that this was his 3rd built, and the original owner was Bobby Patterson. I have now been able to become close friends with Gerald and I now have a custom build from him, number 157! But this #3 was built on January 11th, 1981. So it is 12 years older than me! I'll put up pictures and hopefully a video of me playing it soon.
This mandolin has a great chop, one of my favorite chops ever on a mandolin. It has been broken in quite well, and the notes ring out excellent. The bass and mid range is just like a Loar. I've ern luckily to play a couple Loars and it sounds just like them! The high end is crystal clear and holds its volume against the bass and mid range.

[Jake Howard]

Here is a quick video I recorded the other day, it is part of Temperance Reel!

[jim simpson]

Nice feature on Gerald in the current Bluegrass Unlimited.

[Astro]

Great tone ! Congrats !

[f5loar]

Anderson's should not be overlooked when looking for a great F5 style under $5000. He changed his details over the years but the sound always remained great. Like many luthiers the longer they go the better the quality and workmanship gets.