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Thread: A Weber dream materialises

  1. #1
    Lover of Weber & Martin Rod_Neep's Avatar
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    Default A Weber dream materialises

    The dream started on December 5th, when I saw these two photos on the Sound To Earth web site....



    I instantly fell in love! And placed my order.

    It is a Weber custom Yellowstone, with a red spruce top, tortoise binding and white purfling, peninsula fingerboard, and a tortoise colour shading. The fingerboard and headstock also has the tortoise binding and white purfling.

    In February Brett Byers sent me this photo of my instrument just before he started his magic on the finishing job....



    And then early in March these two photos arrived from Tony Polecastro, with a report that it was ready for the polishing....




  2. #2
    Lover of Weber & Martin Rod_Neep's Avatar
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    Default Re: A Weber dream materialises

    And today...... Jon Garon of My Favorite Guitars took this photo outside his store in Naples, Florida.....

    Its mine! ..... and it is now on the way to me here in England.



    Now begins the perpetual clicking on the tracking screen.

    Rod

  3. #3
    Moderator JEStanek's Avatar
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    Default Re: A Weber dream materialises

    Very nice. I'm sure you'll treasure it, Rod.

    Jamie
    There are two things to aim at in life: first, to get what you want; and, after that, to enjoy it. Only the wisest of mankind achieve the second. Logan Pearsall Smith, 1865 - 1946

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    Default Re: A Weber dream materialises

    Wow, she's a beaut' alright. Got a real nice 'burst and a great all-around look. Well done Weber! And congrats to you, Rod.
    '08 Weber Fern 'Old Wood' Red Spruce

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    Registered User man dough nollij's Avatar
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    Default Re: A Weber dream materialises

    Very nice, Rod! I'm curious, though... with fancy binding and gold hardware, wouldn't that make it a Big Sky? Yellowstones are single-bound with nickel hardware, I believe.

    The filled TP is a classy touch, too. I like the plain headstock without the "fish knot". Cool.

  6. #6
    Registered User Jim DeSalvio's Avatar
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    Default Re: A Weber dream materialises

    Rod,

    Nice mando! That will fit in well with your Martin guitars. I hope the journey to you is fast.

    Jim D (desaljs from UMGF)
    Jim D

  7. #7
    Registered User Jill McAuley's Avatar
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    Default Re: A Weber dream materialises

    Congratulations Rod, that is gorgeous! The tortoise binding along the fingerboard is a lovely touch, as is the filled tailpiece. Please post a video clip when it arrives, like you did with your Bridger A, so we can hear how great it sounds!

    Cheers,
    Jill
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    The Forrest Gump of Mando Rob Powell's Avatar
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    Default Re: A Weber dream materialises

    That's a beaut....those folks sure know how to build a mando. You keeping the loaner?
    "If you can make it to 50 without growing up, you don't have to..."

    Rob Powell AKA The BeerGeek

  9. #9
    Lover of Weber & Martin Rod_Neep's Avatar
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    Default Re: A Weber dream materialises

    Quote Originally Posted by Rob Powell View Post
    That's a beaut....those folks sure know how to build a mando. You keeping the loaner?
    I would have a really hard time keeping the loaned custom (red spruce) Yellowstone. Beautiful as it is! I have serious "sense & sensibility" thoughts, unusual for me, but I can't really justify having two "lifetime" instruments that are so similar. It was always the plan to send it back to Jon Garon (MyFavoriteGuitars) when the replacement arrived, and so I have tried not to bond with it.



    But it sure is lovely!
    The ideal solution would be to sell it here in the UK, but I am not sure that there is a big enough market over here to move it quickly, and therefore most probably it will go back to Jon.

    man dough nollij: Very nice, Rod! I'm curious, though... with fancy binding and gold hardware, wouldn't that make it a Big Sky? Yellowstones are single-bound with nickel hardware, I believe.
    Yes, the custom features take it so far away from the Yellowstone that its hard to know what to call it, other than just "custom". There are features on the Big Sky that are not present on this one. It is a sort of "in between" hybrid of the two, and not quite as expensive as the Big Sky.

    Differences from the standard Yellowstone are:
    "The Weber" script in abalone
    No knot inlay on the headstock
    Tortoise binding plus white purfling all round
    Tortoise binding plus white purfling to the fingerboard and headstock
    Custom tortoise shaded colour scheme
    Red spruce top
    Infilled tailpiece
    Wood nymph
    Gold hardware
    Peninsula fingerboard extension
    No position markers on the fingerboard (just side dots)
    and.... great personal communication and treatment from the folks at Weber.

    Rod

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    Registered User Kevin K's Avatar
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    Default Re: A Weber dream materialises

    That is a really, really nice looking mandolin.
    "Can I have a little more talent in the monitors please?"

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    Capt. E Capt. E's Avatar
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    Default Re: A Weber dream materialises

    Beautiful finish and color. I expect it will play even better. My Bighorn also has a red spruce top (quartersawn) and the tone is fabulous. Congratulations.
    Jammin' south of the river
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  12. #12
    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: A Weber dream materialises

    I have played on a Yellowstone. Very nice, very authoritative chop. And beautiful to hold and play. Be interesting to hear your report, and what your customization has brought to the party.

    Quite a difference in sound from your Bridger. You will have both ends of the range!

    Your enthusiasm is infectious - maybe you could get someone to video you opening the case for the first time.
    A talent for trivializin' the momentous and complicatin' the obvious.

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    Registered User Ken Olmstead's Avatar
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    Default Re: A Weber dream materialises

    Very class act! Congradulations!
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    "Gettin' by" with the imports!

  14. #14
    Lover of Weber & Martin Rod_Neep's Avatar
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    Default Re: A Weber dream materialises

    Quote Originally Posted by JeffD View Post
    I have played on a Yellowstone. Very nice, very authoritative chop. And beautiful to hold and play. Be interesting to hear your report, and what your customization has brought to the party.
    I suspect that it will be very similar to the red spruce Yellowstone that I have as the "loaner". But I haven't played that one enough to get it moving properly, and typical of red spruce, it is kind of "tight" sounding to begin with. Clear and bell-like, but requires some driving. I have a couple of red spruce Martin guitars, a D-28 Marquis and a custom 00-28VS which is now about 5 years old, and those changed quite considerably, and are a delight to play.

    Quite a difference in sound from your Bridger. You will have both ends of the range!
    Oh yes indeed! The Weber Bridger A amazes me with its rich mellow tone, and (three months old now) it gets better and better. My plan was to own three great mandolins for different types of music. The Bridger to play some English and Celtic folk stuff, a Yellowstone to learn how to play some bluegrass & gospel music, and to complete the lineup, a Bridger A Octave which is about 5 weeks away. Learning to play the mandolin is something very new for me. I have been playing guitar for 50 years, but I concentrated almost entirely on finger styles and virtually the only time I use a pick is for the occasional strumming. I never did learn to play "lead" guitar and single note stuff or improvisation, and so learning to play the mandolin is quite a challenge! A fun challenge though! I'll admit to knowing how to play only two guitar pieces with a flatpick. Wildwood Flower and Gospel Ship, both of which I learned in 1963 from a Doc Watson album.

    Your enthusiasm is infectious - maybe you could get someone to video you opening the case for the first time.
    Enthusiasm is something that comes easy to me. I'm just a big kid who never grew up. I just made my mind up that I WAS going to succeed with the mandolin, and that's why I wanted some really great instruments to learn on. Yeah, I know that I am really fortunate, but man, there's so much feedback and incentive to play with a good instrument that just wants to be played.

    Your idea of a video record of the arrival of the new mandolin is excellent. Thanks! I'll do it!

    Cheers
    Rod

  15. #15
    Registered User Bill Auld's Avatar
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    Default Re: A Weber dream materialises

    Beautiful mandolin, Rod! Congrats! Can't wait for a sound report ...

  16. #16

    Default Re: A Weber dream materialises

    I've always loved that look with tortoise binding and white purfling. Nice.

  17. #17

    Default Re: A Weber dream materialises

    Very beautiful mandolin you got there. Congrats.. I am sold on Weber, I haven't put my new Gallatin Cumberland down in the past week.

  18. #18
    Bluegrass Rules! Susan H.'s Avatar
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    Default Re: A Weber dream materialises

    Rod, that is a beautiful mandolin. Can't wait to hear how much you like and how it sounds. Love the binding on it.
    Susan
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  19. #19
    Mark Evans mandozilla's Avatar
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    Default Re: A Weber dream materialises

    Say Rod that's a beaut! I'm developing a real fondness for TS binding I guess 'cause it's a bit more subdued and makes the finish look more homogenous so to speak and I like that.

    I hope she sounds as good as she looks and plays really good as well. Congrats.


  20. #20
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    Default Re: A Weber dream materialises

    You will love it. I already have one, "verry nice" as the French knights say in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

  21. #21
    Registered User Ivan Kelsall's Avatar
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    Default Re: A Weber dream materialises

    A beautiful,beautiful Mandolin Rod. If that sounds as good as it looks (eventually of course),then it should be stunning. One question - did you manage to get it for a 'pre-crunch' price or did the price actually increase ? (i not asking what you paid). I know that the new price for a Weber Fern in the UK has increased by almost £1,200 UK ($1,740 US) since i bought mine.
    Let me know when it lands Rod & i'll come down & play it in for you - FREE of charge even !,
    Saska
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  22. #22
    Lover of Weber & Martin Rod_Neep's Avatar
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    Default Re: A Weber dream materialises

    Yes, I already paid for it early December. There's a bit of a story to that actually.....

    I saw the photos of the instrument on Jon Garon's newsletter and web site (MyFavoriteGuitars.com) and fell in love with the appearance. Knowing that it would be a great instrument because it was from from Weber, I paid for it immediately. That coincided with a trip I was making to the USA the following day, and so I asked Jon to send it to New Jersey rather than direct to England. Then came the complication. Jon was away from Naples on the day it arrived in from Weber (next day) and so he didn't get to see it in person, and his store guy took delivery, and shipped it off to me immediately. However, what arrived was the tortoise and honey red spruce custom mandolin that you see in the photo higher up this thread.

    When I opened it up I was gutted! It wasn't the same mandolin that what was in the photos. Obviously, the honey & tortoise custom was an awesome instrument, but not the one that I had fallen in love with.

    There had been a mix up all round, because Jon had paid the honey & tortoise price to Weber, which was less expensive than the tortoise/tortoise, and I had paid accordingly. I'm not saying that it was all Jon's fault because it wasn't. Part of it was my fault because I hadn't read the specifications carefully enough and I was going by the photos! The specs were for the honey & tortoise red spruce, and the photos were of the tortoise and tortoise red spruce.

    So we had a problem. But it was solved within an hour by Jon. He contacted Weber, and then suggested that I take home the honey & tortoise, but that I would have to wait while Weber made one that was the same as the pictures. Then when the replacement arrived I was to send the honey & tortoise back to him, and that he would cover the shipping for both. The downside was that I would have to pay more for the tortoise & tortoise because it had additional purfling and some other special custom features. But that was OK by me, because my mind was set on the "love at first sight" instrument.

    Jon Garon handled the whole thing wonderfully from the customer's point of view. OK, there had been a mix up, part of which was down to me, but his suggested solution was as good as it can get, and I had the honey & tortoise to play with in the meantime.

    All that happened in the first week of December, and I have spent the time since trying not to bond with that lovely instrument. Over the last few of months I have had several communications with Brett Byers and Tony Polecastro at Weber, and they have kept me tantalisingly up to date with the mandolin's progress, and even sent me some photos of it in progress. There were positive thoughts all round. Everyone has been really good to me. That kept me going for the duration of the wait!

    Now, ironically, I am sitting on a custom Yellowstone honey & tortoise red spruce with a flowerpot that due to the change in the dollar rate would now cost much more in the UK than I paid for it back in December, and I am kind of tempted not to send it back! If I sold it here (heck, even to a dealer), I could cover the upcharge that I had to pay for the additional features on the tortoise & tortoise replacement. I have until next week to make up my mind on that.

    But life is good! And I am now clicking on the tracking screen hourly as a sort of ritual to see where my mandolin is right now.

    Now Saska.... if you would like to come down to Gloucestershire to help break in the new Weber then please do! I'll even supply the food and beer. I live in a mandolin desert down here, and I don't even know anyone else who plays the mandolin! Come to think of it, I have never even sat beside anyone who can play one! Learning to play is entirely a "do it yourself" task!

    Cheers
    Rod

    This is what I play with when I am not playing mandolin. More fun.
    Last edited by Rod_Neep; Mar-26-2009 at 5:59am.

  23. #23
    Kelley Mandolins Skip Kelley's Avatar
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    Default Re: A Weber dream materialises

    Rod, that is one sweet looking mandolin! I love the sunburst! I bet you just can't wait to pick it!!

  24. #24

    Default Re: A Weber dream materialises

    Man, that's gorgeous. I love the tortoise/tortoise look and the filled tailpiece is really striking...congratulations!

  25. #25
    Registered User Jim DeSalvio's Avatar
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    Default Re: A Weber dream materialises

    Rod,

    How about a few comments on that tailpiece. It looks lovely and really adds a classy touch to the entire package.
    Jim D

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