What do ya think of ratliffs?

[lespaul_79]

I've seen a couple of Ratliffs for sale in the $2000 range.

Just curious what ya'll think of them. Also, Is there a difference in the F styles?

Not that I'm thinking about getting rid of the MT, but just thinking about an F for a couple of years down the road. Thanks!
-c

[BlueMountain]

I had a Ratliff F that was beautiful to look at and sounded great. No quibbles at all. I sold it merely because of MAS. A seriously nice mandolin, beautifully made. Will it sound better than a Collings MT? I don't know. Varies. I've heard some very good MTs. But it will be a LOT better looking! (I don't like matte finishes. To me, it's just a couple steps above mailing out a mandolin in the white.) Will the sound match an MF5? Probably not. Very few mandolins can. But at a third the price . . . I definitely recommend Audie's work. And he's a real guy in a real home workshop.

[Ken Olmstead]

Mr. Elliott had a tough choice to make and the Ratliff won! See his comparison here! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0rgGhomeS0) Personally, I think he made a great choice!

[burcher]

I have a no-frills a model. It's borrowed from a friend of mine. I used to not like it so much but I set it up and I like it a lot now. I love the headstock on the a models and the simple diamond inlay. Nice craftsmanship, good price, I think he paid about 500 some years back, and good sound.

I would put this mando waaaay ahead of the imports in that price range and probably on par with the flatiron a5 performers and jrs I've owned if that helps.

[Gutbucket]

I owned the one that's for sale at the Mandolin Store. It's everything Dennis says it is. I had second thoughts on trading it.

[sgarrity]

I owned one for a while. If you get one used for around the $2k mark it's a lot of mandolin for the money.

[lespaul_79]

Thanks, ya'll.... Good to know.

[phoenix]

I have a Ratliff 3-point oval hole mandolin (style R4) that sounds as good as my '22 Gibson A and is actually louder. #It dates from 1988.

[Ken Olmstead]

I have a Ratliff 3-point oval hole mandolin (style R4) that sounds as good as my '22 Gibson A and is actually louder. #It dates from 1988.
Have you posted a picture yet? Would love to see it!

[mandolirius]

<Have you posted a picture yet? Would love to see it!>

Seconded!

[phoenix]

I would love to post a picture of the R4 but I don't have a way to resize the pics from my digital insta-matic. If you email me I can get you a photo or two. #It's lovely, torch and wire, pearl rosette, blonde, etc.

[Aran]

I nearly bought a Ratliff a couple of months ago. I tried between 10 and 15 F style mandolins in TAMCO (Brighton UK)and wittled down the herd to two mandolins, the Ratliff and the one in my signature. It was a really tough call between the two.

The Ratliff I tried was a great instrument and if the Weber hadn't been in stock I would have bought it....

[fstylemb1]

Audey makes a nice mandolin. I sometimes thought he was selling his mandos for too low of a price which makes it a great value.
Check out his site if you haven't yet:
http://www.ratliffmandolins.com/

[Willie]

I`m glad someone poted this on the board...As some of you know I am a hard man to please when it comes to a mandolin...I took a 2002 Ratliff in trade and I have been working on it for two years to get the intonation so that it is perfect and have gotten it to where it is ok but still has problems..I also found some high frets, and the frets were not trimmed close on the lower side of the fret board and actually cut into my left hand when playing and sliding up the fret board, the nut slots were not all the same depth which caused most ot he intonation problems...This mandolin was purchased in Missouri by a friend of mine and his daughter played it for a short time and couldn`t stand it so I thought I could "fix it up", since it was used I never felt that sending it back to Audie would be the answer...I do carry it as a back up when I play a show but so far I have never had to call on it to replace my Flatiron...In all fairness to Audie it is a beautiful looking mnadolin and like any product some just don`t measure up to others...I will get all of the bugs out of it and plan on recording with it to see how it responds to that...I think playing it a lot more than I do will also make it get better as time goes by...I am not here to down grade any manufactor but the question was asked and I thought I would respond...At $2000 it seems like a fair price as they list for around $2900 at one dealer here in Md.......Thanks for letting me respond....Willie

[Michael Wolf]

[quote=tenorbanjoguy,June 05 2008, 12:05]Mr. Elliott had a tough choice to make and the Ratliff won! See his comparison here! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0rgGhomeS0)

Ken,

what brought you to the conclusion that the Ratliff won this comparison?

[mrmando]

Just tried out a Ratliff mandola and it was verrrrrrrrrry nice.

[tango_grass]

Just tried out a Ratliff mandola and it was verrrrrrrrrry nice.
I concur.....really nice looking and nice instrument.

[niaflsbob]

I bought the r5 #987 that can be seen/heard on the youtube clip at charles johnsons mando world hq website. I am very pleased with this mando. It is definitely a blusegrass voiced sound, very woody, not what I'd call sweet or jazzy. I don't much chance to compare many mandos i western upstate new york and a lot of what i did play were imports. I know they are not really in the same price range and i can say if you are looking at he 1-2k imports you really should try to play a ratliff and then you might think about saving up some more to get one. i find its a much better mando for a little more money. better yet if you can get one around 2k you should have great mando for quite a while. like anything else its what your ears say to you, but I think its agreat value. and i have many other players comment about how good this instrument sounds.

[nashvillebill]

I had an A model for awhile a couple of years ago. I got it after buying and selling a couple of $1000 price range mandos- an Eastman 615 and a Breedlove KF Quartz. Condition wise it was kind of a beater, but I really liked it for the $1000 or so I paid for it- it really blew the other two away as far as tone goes. I think for the money they're hard to beat. I always wondered why they don't get more press around here.