Flatiron Models A5 vs. A5-1

[RBM]

Do anyone out there know the model differences in a A5, A5-1 - are they Artist series ? a seperate series ? - I traded for a A5-1 mid-80's Steve Carlson signed it - but do not know what the A5-1 stood for or what series it was.

[Jim Garber]

I have one of the first carved Flatirons, an A5-2. it is just a fancier version of the A5-1. Mine has highly flamerd maple back and nice inlay on the headstock. the A5-2 later became the A5 Artist with the addition of gold-plated hardware.

In 1983 these were the only two carved instruments (no F-styles as yet). I do have a catalog sheet somewhere that came with it so i will look for that for more specifics.

Jim

[fatt-dad]

Here is a report on my a5-1. It is beautiful and sounds wonderful. It has a one-piece neck, no adjustible truss rod and to the best of my knowledge came without a pickguard. The tailpiece cover has no inscription and the headstock is inlayed, "The Flatiron". The top and back are bound. The maple sides and back are highly figured maple, the top is spruce. Mine is signed by Carlson, but Paul Schnieder (Summitt mandolins) made many of them during the early to mid 80's.

I would be interested in the distinction between the a5-1 and -2. I also think that the festival, performer and artist lines developed later in the life of the company, whether related to Gibson's purchase or not, I do not know.

fatt-dad

[Jim Garber]

Here are my A5-2 specs:
Three-piece neck, flamed maple with center strip of what looks like ebony; highly flamed maple backs and sides; aged looking binding with black border; bearclaw spruce top; ebony bound extended fretboard; bound peghead with sort of fern inlay; Steve Carlson signed label.

Jim

[Jim Garber]

Here is the headstock.

Jim

[RBM]

Ah yes descriptions do help - My A5-1 1984 - No truss rod, Just the words The Flatiron, Tail piece cover no inscription, chrome turners, sort of light tabacco color spruce top and fairly nicely figured maple back - back is 2 piece and book matched, bound top and bottom no neck binding, extended fretboard - Love the sound, traded a Rigel A+ for it just for the sound. My only gripe is that I was really used to the Rigel radiused neck and it is taking awhile to get used to the Flatiron neck.

[fatt-dad]

rbm,

we have the same mandolin. it has the perfect sound and great to play. by far the best mandolin that I have (not that is saying too much).

fatt-dad

[Dave Caulkins]

'Ello All,

I also have an "A" model Flatiron (old school, Carlson signed A5-2). I'm curious, Jim, could you post a pic of the back of yours. I'm looking for the sister/brother to my mando just to know where it is... Maybe we have family? I posted this pic in the "Post a Pic" region of the board, but I'll also throw it here, to make life easy.

Thanks!

Dave

[Jim Garber]

Dave:
Here's mine from 1983. sn#83090103

That small spot is just a light reflection. This back is straight flamed whereas yours has great quilting. Prob the color is not quite so red as in the photo.

Jim

[Dave Caulkins]

Hello Again,

Yeah, the quilt is real nice. My mando, I guess (if I have actually deciphered the serial #) is from 1984 (#84080382). I would have realized they weren't twins if I had read correctly (flamed vs. quilted... duh!). Thanks for the quick response, and your mando is a beaut!

Later,

Dave

[RBM]

I enjoyed seeing the backs of your mandos - both the quilted and the straight flamed are more pronounced than the back of mine. Mine has some light quilting and some light straight grain depending on how one holds it to the light. The 3- piece necks indicate that you have a upscale model to the A5-1. My serial # is 84010196 I am not sure where that would fall in the manufacturing process in relation to the numbers you provided - at any rate the thread has been real interesting to learn a bit of the history and differences in the Flatiron's .

[Ken Berner]

Both mandolin backs are stunning, to say the least. My '93 A5 Artist is quilted, and '92 F5 Artist is well-flamed. The Flatiron folks in Montana did some great work, don't you agree?!

[mandorado]

Dudes ... Flatirons ROCK! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[rnjl]

Here's the #back of my 83 A5-1. Sorry that it's kind of a washed-out picture; I'm going to try to take some better ones now that the summer weather allows me to put my mandolins on the dark wood of my deck.

I love the pumpkin, burnt-orangey color, with lots of grain in the wood on the front and back.

Back in the 80's, these really stood out in a crowd- weren't many American made, quality mandolins out there, not like today.

By the way, I love the round, thick neck, but wanted a radiused fretboard, so about 5 years ago, #I shipped it to Don Macrostie (of Red Diamond mandolins) for a new fretboard, and he put a lovely compound radiused board on it, with a matching nut and bridge, and it's great.

peace,

Neal

[fatt-dad]

mjl,

You have a beautiful mandolin and it is just like mine (o.k. almost just like). The color, the model, the vintage (mine is 1984), etc. I am still trying to get a photo to post.

fatt-dad

[rnjl]

Aw, shucks, since you flatter my mandolin. . . .

[fatt-dad]

Oh, and you replaced the tailpiece.

f-d

[rnjl]

Hi again- yeah, I replaced the tailpiece because the top plate was looking all tarnished and awful, and I really like the one-piece design, I think it's much easier to change strings, but what's interesting is that the original tailpiece had holes which didn't exactly line up with the "standard" tailpiece and endpin holes. So we put a little piece of dowel in the endpin hole, put this new tailpiece on top of it, and screwed a standard strap button into the dowel. Seems to work pretty well.

[fatt-dad]

(to the sound of a drum roll)

Here is my A5-1 photo (the real success here is that I got it down to posting size.) The original photo was from Gruhn where I bought it. I have no clue how it will look at the smaller size. But, we'll see. .. . . .

f-d

[pickinNgrinnin]

FD-

Beautiful Mandolin. That looks like a keeper!

[fatt-dad]

Thanks, it is amazing to me how similar (other than the wood grain) it is to rnjl's, which is also a Carlson from the early 80's. It is on my not for sale list also.

f-d

[rnjl]

Yeah, I've seen some early F's from that era, too, and some of them had a similar orangey-pumpkin kind of color.

Kenny Blackwell- I think that's his name- plays one with the Laurel Canyon Ramblers, in Southern California (might be misquoting the band name). It also looks very similar to mine- but he sure gets a lot more out of it!

Neal