Sunday Dreamin'

[mandophil(e)]

First time poster-I decided to take the plunge!

I have a (probably) unhealthy fascination with great sounding mandolins. I'm curious about other people's experiences with "the best mandolin I ever played/heard". I need new material to feed my late night MAS fantasy sessions.

[John Flynn]

I admit limited experience compared to some on the board, but the best mandos I have every played are:
> Rigel G-110
> F-5 by a Missouri builder named Fish
> Collings MT2
> Two different teens Gibson A-4s

However, the best sounding mando I have every heard, is Bruce Ling's 1919 F-2. You can hear it on his site:
Hawks and Owls (http://hawksandowls.com/Original_Tunes.htm)

[mandomiss]

David Grisman's '22 Lloyd Loar. It's absolutely amazing in tone and playability and it's by far the loudest mando I've ever heard. I get a good feeling just thinking about it http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif .

Mando Johnny.....hey thanks for introducing me to Bruce. What a treasure.

[jim simpson]

1. An old Loar that was owned by a non-player, put in an hour or so with it - it sounded wonderful and played like butter.
2. A friend's Kettler. It was owned by another friend who offered it to me, I couldn't raise the cash and directed another friend of mine to it. It is amazing in tone and volume. An earlier thread about Kettler's seems to bear out that they all seem to be killers.
3. My current Gibson F5-G. I am amazed by it's tone each time I pick it up. I was involved in a recording project this weekend and the sound engineer (also a player) said that it recorded really well. The transition from chop to break maintained consistent levels.
There have probably been others. Oh yeah! Roland White's Randy Wood was real sweet!