Franzke A5 mandolin #15038 review

[colorado_al]

Last July, my family and I were passing through Kansas City and decided to stop into Bradford and Franzke Fine Instruments to check it out. http://www.bfstrings.com
You can read my post about the shop and all of their great instruments here: http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/sh...=1#post1511913

While I was there, one mandolin really stood out:

The best of all was a Franzke hand-made A style with three piece headstock, stone inlay, baked maple binding, Rubner tuners, James tailpiece. It seems that Trevor of TAMCO in the UK purchased 2 of them and 1 was left for sale in the US. A beautiful mandolin, with fantastic tone, and a joy to play!

But we certainly couldn't afford it. I went through all manner of combinations of what I could sell to get the cash, but it just wouldn't add up.

Meanwhile, the mandolin sold to someone else and I figured that was one case of MAS temporarily solved.

Well a few weeks ago, the very same mandolin appeared in the MC classifieds, listed by Bradford and Franzke. I called Mark Franzke to inquire and he told me that he had sold it to someone who was waiting on a Franzke custom F5, and that when the F5 was finished, Mark took the A5 back in trade. I ran through the calculations again and decided to sell a few mandolins and a computer to get the cash together. Mark was great about letting me put a downpayment on it to hold it for me until I had the rest of the money.

While I was waiting to get the rest of the money together, I decided to do some more research on Franzke mandolins, and found that Mark had written a blog post about this very instrument, and its 2 siblings that were sent to Trevor at TAMCO.
A-style Mandolins for International Shipping
In it, he describes how he uses "reconstituted stone" instead of mother-of-pearl or abalone shell, in order to avoid export restrictions and the costs that come with licensing to ship those products internationally. The post also had a bunch of pictures of the mandolin as it was being built.

Here is the peghead under construction:


It is the one on the right here:


Here is the back of it "in the white"


Well, it arrived a few days ago, and I am loving it! It has a bit of playwear from the previous owner, and was in dire need of new strings. Otherwise, super nice. There is one small cosmetic issue with some finish marks from where the bridge was originally placed in not quite the right location. I contacted Mark and he immediately replied that he'd be happy to repair it next time I'm in KC. Try to get that kind of response from Kentucky or Eastman.

The mandolin is beautifully made. Engelmann Spruce top, Flamed red maple back and sides, Maple and Ziricote headstock with stone inlay, Rubner tuners, James tailpiece, Cumberland bridge, EVO frets, 12" radius fretboard, very comfortable V neck profile with unpolished "speed neck", french polish finish.

The most amazing part of the construction is the triple binding that is black-blonde-brown, made with maple and baked maple. Even the fretboard has double binding.

The mandolin is a joy to play. Fretting easily, and it sounds, to me, even better than my Collings MT Custom. Nice woody lows and ringing highs. I'll post some sound clips when I'm back from the road in a few weeks. Some more photos to follow.

Thanks to Mark Franzke for such a fantastic mandolin!
Al

[colorado_al]

It is the left one in this picture (the other 2 went to TAMCO in the UK):


Finished Maple and Ziricote headstock with stone inlay, Rubner tuners:


Fretboard and body bindings:


Flamed red maple back and sides:


Maple neck:

[colorado_al]

I also found a great video about Mark Franzke and his instruments:

[Ron McMillan]

That looks lovely. If I was in the market for a new instrument made in the USA, I would surely ignore the bigger names, and focus on great small-shop makers like Pava, Franzke, Girouard, Sorensen, Jacobson, Black, Poe etc., etc.

[Uke Richard]

Congrats on a beautiful mandolin! Great story too. Being sold and becoming available again at the right moment, this mando was meant for you.

[Br1ck]

That is the perfect amount of ornamentation. Just one classy mandolin. Hope it plays like it looks.

[colorado_al]

I've had a few folks contact me to get some sound samples of the Franzke A5. Sorry for the delay. Here are a few:

Franzke A5 Mandolin #15038 sound test:


Franzke A5 Mandolin #15038 - Liberty:


Franzke A5 Mandolin #15038 - Three Lions by John Reischman:

[colorado_al]

Here is an Irish fiddle tune that I learned a bunch of years ago and I can't remember the name of. If anyone knows it, please let me know! Thanks!
Franzke A5 Mandolin #15038 - Irish fiddle tune

[LadysSolo]

It sounds as good as it looks! Thanks!