Brian Baker
Oct-09-2004, 8:06pm
Well, I went to Asheville NC for a 2-day anniversary trip, stopped by Blue Ridge Music, and played the following mandos there:
- Parsons F5 (w/ radiused fingerboard)
- Gibson F5G
- Gibson F9
- Weber Yellowstone F5
- Eastman A-style
- Johnson F-style
- Goldtone F-style
Verdict:
The worst - The Johnson and Goldtone were junk, as expected. Johnson even had the truss rod cover on upside-down!
Shoulda been better - The F9 sounded pretty good, but really needed a fret job (it was used), and they were asking $2400... I think not. The F5G sounded OK, but not as full as I would have expected. The Weber sounded very thin - no hint of "woof" to its chop at all...
The best - Two mandolins stood out head and shoulders above the rest for sound and playability. First, the Parsons F5 - Killer volume, radiused fretboard, great looks. Pretty good deal at $2300, but I noticed the seam along the back looked like it had separated a bit...It has been there for over a year, so I wonder if something else is wrong with it... And the second was, much to my surprise, the Eastman! This little A-model had great tone and volume, much better than any other Pac-rim I have ever played. Looks were a bit different...the finish was kind of a mottled maple-look, not your traditional sunburst. Not ugly, but really different.
Anyhow, I came away impressed and surprised at the sound of this Chinese-built mandolin. If they start cranking out mandos that sound like this, and maybe put a more traditional-looking finish on it, they do some real damage to Gibson A9/F9 sales... http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif
Anyway, just my 2 cents.
Brian
- Parsons F5 (w/ radiused fingerboard)
- Gibson F5G
- Gibson F9
- Weber Yellowstone F5
- Eastman A-style
- Johnson F-style
- Goldtone F-style
Verdict:
The worst - The Johnson and Goldtone were junk, as expected. Johnson even had the truss rod cover on upside-down!
Shoulda been better - The F9 sounded pretty good, but really needed a fret job (it was used), and they were asking $2400... I think not. The F5G sounded OK, but not as full as I would have expected. The Weber sounded very thin - no hint of "woof" to its chop at all...
The best - Two mandolins stood out head and shoulders above the rest for sound and playability. First, the Parsons F5 - Killer volume, radiused fretboard, great looks. Pretty good deal at $2300, but I noticed the seam along the back looked like it had separated a bit...It has been there for over a year, so I wonder if something else is wrong with it... And the second was, much to my surprise, the Eastman! This little A-model had great tone and volume, much better than any other Pac-rim I have ever played. Looks were a bit different...the finish was kind of a mottled maple-look, not your traditional sunburst. Not ugly, but really different.
Anyhow, I came away impressed and surprised at the sound of this Chinese-built mandolin. If they start cranking out mandos that sound like this, and maybe put a more traditional-looking finish on it, they do some real damage to Gibson A9/F9 sales... http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif
Anyway, just my 2 cents.
Brian