I had a new addition to the family this week. I bought a 1993 Gibson A5L from Greg Boyd's House of Fine Instruments in Montana. They took good care of me and had great service. It arrived at my house on Thursday morning. It's in great shape for being 21 years old. It has a couple of spots where the finish has checked, either from drying out or temperature fluctuations, but overall, it's beautiful. It has a wonderful dry, woody, and hollow tone. I love it! I'll be using this mandolin as my "multitasker" and reserve my oval holed Weber Bitterroot for classical and celtic.
I love the history behind the A5L in that it's based off the Ms. Griffith Loar, the only Loar signed A5. It's neat that basically all of the A5s that followed have DNA from that instrument. It's a shame Gibson doesn't make them anymore. I understand that there just isn't a high demand, but that doesn't change the fact that they're wonderful instruments. I'm so happy with mine, and I've only had it two days.
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