Parsons mandolins

[drewasbill]

Just looking to hear some testimonials from any owners of Will Parsons F-Styles

[John Flynn]

Don't own a Parsons F, but I played one after a jam about a week ago. It was very sweet in all respects. I would highly recommend it. I do own one of his flat-tops, which I like also. On the cautionary side, both my experience and what I have heard is that his work can be inconsistent and he is very hard to get ahold of if you an owner trying to contact him.

[cooper4205]

i take lessons from Will and own one of his more recent flat-tops. i have got to play about all the mandolins he has made in the past year and they have been very consistent. alot of his earlier stuff though, can be hit or miss (none of them bad, but there was variabilty between them). when i can afford it, i'm having him build and F5 for me.

like any luthier, he gets better as he goes. his work right now, and recently, is as good as anything out there, IMO (and i am biased).

he also moved from West Virginia to Northeast Tennessee and had some other things going on in his life. he has started teaching at ETSU, as well as making mandolins and other instruments and working with his band and doing studio work- so he's got quite abit on his plate, and getting ahold of him can be hard.

to try and remedy the contact stuff- i'm trying to help him get a website going and i'm gonna start helping him with his e-mails and contacts so he can keep up with them. if anyone needs to contact him, his number is in the builders section (i had it updated) or you can send me a message and i'll make sure he gets it- i usually talk to him a few time a week.

i've got some pictures of a varnish model he's finishing up that i will put up when i get off of work tonight.

if you have any questions or want to hear any sound clips, let me know and i will see if Will has any to send, or can make some when he gets that new F5 strung up.



My Parsons flat top (http://www.mandolincafe.net/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=15;t=40611;hl=parsons)

Parsons F-style- similar to classified listing (http://www.mandolincafe.net/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=15;t=38393;hl=parsons)

[Steve L]

I have a Parson's flat top. The tone and playability are quite good, but the thing has virtually begun to disintegrate. The soundboard split, the wooden tailpiece fell apart, and there's a small seperation on one side. Now this instrument lives in the same environment and gets the same level of humidification and care as my other mandolins, zouks, banjos and guitars and none of them have any problems. It's in essence a nice mando, but I don't think I'd buy another one of his.

[cooper4205]

that is interesting, the first i have heard of one doing that- i know he made a couple of thousand of those flat tops over the years. is yours one of the kits or one he made completely?

i know he told me he changed the construction somewhat on them from what he was doing before, so i wouldn't count on that happening with the current ones he's making.

[Steve L]

I bought it from a dealer fully built. Did he really make that many?

[WireBoy]

i've got a Will Parson's F, Dec 2002 vintage. It has all the premium features: triple bound front and back, bound fingerboard, fern peghead inlay, "the Parsons" on the peghead. pearl nut. i'm very happy with it. But i will echo Jflynnstl comment, will is hard to contact (contact info on the mando label was NG) and it did have an issue: a broke neck block.

i bought it second hand so i'm not sure if it was construction or rough handling that caused it (it does have a ding or 2). However i did send it to the Gibson OAI shop and Jackie Miller put it all right. during a phone call to OAI, Danny Roberts said it sounds really nice. I'll take that as an 'official' approval that it sounds good.

I'm glad to see that he is continuing to improve his work. i'll post a pic soon.

[cooper4205]

Steve-

He told me he turned out between 1500-2000 when he was in W. Va., but he took a few years off without building any flat tops and just concentrating on A and F styles.

Wire-
if you need to get ahold of Will, i had Scott update his contact number on the builder section to his current number. If that doesn't work, send me a message on here, i see him once or twice a week.

i think the work he does now is quite a bit better from what i have seen of his earlier work (not that they were bad).

here's a pic i took yesterday of a varnish F5 he is has to put the finishing touches on (and a new flat-top, too). i'll put some more pics in the mandolins in progress thread

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h75/wesb4217/VarnishFrnt1.jpg

[WireBoy]

i will say what really sold me on the Parsons F was the 1 3/16 width at the nut. I had been looking for an F with this spec and the Parsons fit the bill. its also got a bare wood neck and body/neck meet at the 12th fret.

[Steve L]

Yeah, the 1 3/16" nut and high fret wire sold me on the flat top too. Did I mention that the wooden truss rod cover fell apart? It's actually comical in a way.

[drewasbill]

well, I spent the weekend test-driving a number of mandolins. They included a Collings MF, a 1967 Gibson F-12 and a Dearstone F-Style. I played a 2006 Parsons F-2R and I bought it! This is a gorgeous mandolin with a booming sound. It really was head and shoulders above everything else I played in its price range and I couldn't be happier with it. I will try to post some pictures this week, but it is very similar to the mandolin which cooper posted a link to above.

[tterral]

How would you describe the tone? Does it have the 1-3/16" nut width? What is the neck profile like? Any chance you could post a sound clip?