I'm headed to the Fur Peace Ranch tomorrow so today I visited Don MacRostie's Athens, OH Red Diamond Mandolin shop. This is the mando that Chris Hillman currently plays and says of it: "The absolute best Mandolin Luthier in the world.........I'll put my "Crusher" up against anybody's instrument...Don is a great guy too!". I haven't played one but Hillman can make his wail. I will agree with Chris about Don being a great guy. He was gracious enough to spend about an hour with me talking about how he hand-makes his Red Diamonds and other general topics (including SEC football. He grew up in Florida and is a Gators fan). The mandos hanging are repairs. The one without a top is one of Don's first ones (serial #45). He will be putting a new top on it.
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