My wife and I were vacationing with our RV in southern Ohio and Kentucky this past week, and camped at Grayson Lakes, not too far from Elliottville, KY. We met Ken and Laura for breakfast in...
Type: Posts; User: Mark Walker
My wife and I were vacationing with our RV in southern Ohio and Kentucky this past week, and camped at Grayson Lakes, not too far from Elliottville, KY. We met Ken and Laura for breakfast in...
Hi Everyone. Been a long time since I was on here or posted anything, but had to chime in. I sent my 2005 Silver Angel to Ken for a fret job (been in two bands and it's got a LOT of miles on her...
Ken - that's a beauty! Mine's been getting a bit of 'natural distress' as much as our band has been playing in multiple states lately, but nothing like that. (Plus mine's only about nine years...
I personally wouldn't 'sticker' an instrument. My Silver Angel mandolin has an oil-painting portrait of an angel by the luthier - Ken Ratcliff - which someone once announced on stage as a 'decal.' ...
Ken - that's a GREAT looking mandolin! I'll be it does indeed have 'that' sound you strive for.
I have one of those 50-odd tailpieces on my Silver Angel. It originally was on one Ken made for me...
Ken - as always, that looks like a great mandolin. I bet it's got that great Silver Angel sound too? (I sure love mine - had it since 2005 now.) Must be you've wrapped up your major project at...
I got a custom TR cover for my Silver Angel about five years back from LuthierSupply.com (as referenced above) as did one of my friends for her Silver Angel A-style. They do great work at a great...
Good deal! Ditto what Mike said. That's so cool - that'd be like me seeing some hot wheels at the International Auto show they just had in Michigan here a few weeks back, and being able to find out...
Hello Mando World! Been a while - I lost a job and got a new one, and have to really work for a living now, (plus being in two bluegrass bands) so I've been kinda-sorta too busy to visit the Cafe'...
They are original paintings. I have one on my Silver Angel as well, and having visited Ken at his home, his house is also full of world-class original art by Ken. That's a beauty Ken!
Hi everyone!
Ken - great looking mandolins! I've been 'away' a while; lost my job last Sept. but found a new one in December, and have been busy earning a living again! Glad to see you're still...
Doug - you keep improving every build like you've been doing, you'll soon be one of the top shelf luthiers out there! Great job - keep up the great work! :)
I'm admittedly late getting to the show - but 'ditto' what everyone else is saying! Beautiful mandolin, and I've heard nothing but good things about Gail's excellent mandolins, craftsmaship, and...
John - SWEET! That is just the epitome of 'elegant simplicity.' Not too gaudy, and very, very classy!
Keep up the great work!
I've HEARD about practice!
Unfortunately, carpal-tunnel has caught up with me and I have to limit it or my fingers go numb and I drop my pick!
Wearing a 'right-hand, cock-up wrist splint'...
Hopefully the young mystery mandolin-pickin' gal will chime in and enlighten all of us!
Cool story!
My wife and I once vacationed in Fayette State Park in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. It's a...
Doug - Been awhile since I've been noodling around on the Cafe'. (Always busy in the summer here in Michigan you know - gotta take advantage of camping, festivals, good weather, the lawn, the...
Sweet! :)
You can see a variation on his angels (they're all unique and different in some subtle - and not-so-subtle - manner) by looking at the back of my 2005 Silver Angel in my avatar. A...
I guess - compared to some - I'm a 'simpleton.' For years and years I used a black Jim Dunlop 1mm guitar pick on everything - my six-string flat top dreadnaught, my 12-string guitar, and both of my...
My Silver Angel I had crafted with the 'V' neck. I have a 'beater' (PacRim) mando with a round 'C' neck, and while I play both equally poorly, I find (in my case anyway) I encounter less hand...
That is a great joke!
My wife and I occasionally attend a local (and annual) Scottish Ceilidh (pronounced 'Kay-lee') complete with regional bagpipe and drum bands. It's often held in a huge...
Those look like some of the mandolins he featured on his original Silver Angel/Silver Eagle website.
They certainly are/were unique with the additional third (center) diamond-shaped sound hole. ...
Bobby - you're right on here. By and large, virtually ALL the luthiers who frequent this site are super guys (and gals) and who stand behind their instruments to a fault. Ken is no different,...
709577095870959I'm really late to this party - but here's a beautiful two-point Silver Angel crafted by Ken Ratcliff. This mandolin was commissioned in memory of my cousin's late wife - Cindy - who...
Ken - you always 'nail it' with that grain on the backs of your mandolins. Yet another beauty from the 'House of Silverangel!'
It had been a while since I saw anything you've crafted on the...