Northfield mandolins

[yankees1]

Hey Adrian, any update on current production schedule?

[Mandosummers]

I don't know if you guys are watching this but this was just in the news.... "In a rare showing of bipartisanship, the Senate passed a bill on Tuesday targeting China's undervalued currency....And if a nation (China) is accused of having an undervalued currency and makes no effort to rebalance the currency for three months or more, that's when the tariffs kick in."

Northfield may soon have to compete here in the states on a different playing field altogehter???

[Brent Hutto]

Key words are "accused", "makes no effort"...

[reverhar]

Anybody got a report on the Big Mon A model?

Hey Russ, I got to play the Big Mon A out in Nashville during the IBMA. Noisy room but I think it was a very strong mandolin with similar tone and volume to the Northfield F models.

[MANDOLINMYSTER]

Hey gang, I just took delivery of #124 Big Mon and let me tell you its a great mandolin.
I had never seen a Northfield in person but took a shot and ordered one. I am very very pleased with this instrument. Beautiful workmanship, great attention to detail and superb finish. The tone is there too, pleanty of volume, punchy yet sweet, and you can really feel it resonate through your chest when you whack it. I opted for the modern set up with larger frets and short fingerboard extension. I went with the standard wood selection and the flame is very pronounced. All in all a smart move and better yet I got it before the price increase. My compliements to Adrian and the crafts people who put this thing together. Oh the case.....very cool.

I'll try to get some pics for you all in the near future

[majorbanjo]

Very Nice.....how long between order and delivery...I just ordered a big mon with premium wood in the modern style.....was told around Feb...Please post some pictures!

[MANDOLINMYSTER]

majorbanjo- I think it was about 3-4 months

[George R. Lane]

With regards to the Northfield #56, for sale in the classifieds does anyone know who the professional was?

[G. Fisher]

With regards to the Northfield #56, for sale in the classifieds does anyone know who the professional was?

Clay Hess according to the Northfield website.

[George R. Lane]

Thanks.

[Clement Barrera-Ng]

I'm guessing #56 is sold already? That was quick. George are you the lucky new owner?

[George R. Lane]

No. I didn't pop for that one. I am very happy with my Weber.

[goochy]

Folks,

I am the new owner to be. I've been looking to upgrade my mandolin for a few months now and have been researching all of the forum threads and surfing all of the dealer's websites so as to aid in my purchase decision. With the recent price increase, I thought maybe a Norhtfield was not in my future but the #56 looked very tempting. I was hesitant about buying a musical instrument "sight-unseen", but considering all the positive press on these mandolins, I decided to take the plunge. I offer my thanks to all the mando cafe forum posters for the insight provided which led to this purchase.

Regards,

Jim Gooch

[George R. Lane]

Jim,
Congratulations. I hope it is all you expect it to be.

[Andrew B. Carlson]

Some brands of mandolins are probably just fine to buy sight unseen or rather strings unplayed. And Northfield is one of them. The odds of you getting a bad one are slim to none.

[Clement Barrera-Ng]

Congrats Jim. Looking forward to a detailed report / impressions once the mandolin is in your hands.

[JeffD]

Congrats Jim. Looking forward to a detailed report / impressions once the mandolin is in your hands.

Yes, let us know.

[yankees1]

I have been told by Adrian that there will several Norhfield's delivered in the next week or so!

[Northfield mando]

Hey all, just put some great audio clips up on our site of the jam session we held at the 2011 IBMA. Check it out http://northfieldinstruments.com/med...=album&album=2
hope you enjoy!

[John Adrihan]

Some brands of mandolins are probably just fine to buy sight unseen or rather strings unplayed. And Northfield is one of them. The odds of you getting a bad one are slim to none.

I will have to respectfully disagree with this. I just played a Northfield. Fit an finish were good. Actually the top and back were very nice looking and the instrument looked good. However it was not very loud and the tone was less than desired to me. Which bothered me more than the volume. The playability was very good. If this would have been my order that I waited 5 months for I would have been very disapointed. What this has done for me though is cemented in me something that has been talked about abunch here - "never by a mandolin without playing it first" this is something that I will never do again.
This also put me on the side of the fence that Norfield made a mistake in raising their prices. Even the owner made the comment that he would not have bought it if he had played it first and that $3000 is REALLY pushing it. However I suppose one bad Northfield out of the hundered or sold and reported here is pretty good.

[baptist mando55]

3000 dolars is an awful lot to spend on something you cant be pretty sure on.

[yankees1]

3000 dolars is an awful lot to spend on something you cant be pretty sure on.

Elderly gives you 24 hours to decide if you want to keep it or send back for full refund minus shipping.

[Northfield mando]

Hello Everyone. Always interesting to read these comments. Just a couple responses:
IMO, tone is a very subjective thing. It really takes a mind reader to know exactly what everyone will like. So, what we try and do is make our mandolins very consistently respond with the characteristics we've admired from other instruments we've studied, along with our own ideas about what we ,as a shop, like in a mandolin. We like an easy response, a mandolin that doesn't take a huge amount of effort to pull out the sound. We like the sound of wood more than strings and voice our tops so that the mid range is clear and powerful. We prefer a darker chop and thorough bass to a cutting treble, but want that sparkle at the top end so guys like Emory who play up the neck, where we can't, can really make it sing. However, even with all of this there are still variables that can change tone...variables that change all the time. Like: Humidity Levels, the bridge (the set-up and even the particular piece of ebony), the strings you use, your pick, your tailpiece (whether it's muted or it's ringing like crazy) and most of all your touch. Without question, this last variable is the hardest to figure from our end. Every mandolin sounds different, right..we all agree on that. However, that same mandolin will sound different depending on the person playing it, their posture when playing, their attack, how they hold their pick...and even what they like to play. Some play real close to the bridge and get a more harsh sound, some play only softly up at that sweet spot around the end of the fingerboard. Some play nothing but down strokes...others play with a more contemporary 16th note melodic style. That all changes the way we hear the mandolin and it also changes the way the mandolin responds over time and changes along with the person playing it. And, of course, our ears change too. What we like today, might not float our boats tomorrow.

Since the very beginning of our little shop, we have been in a backorder situation. Nearly 90% of all instruments we have made have been ordered, shipped without anyone outside of ourselves playing them. It's a very demanding predicament to be in actually and I think we've done very well at meeting or exceeding people's expectations. That's our number one goal. We surely don't want to send something out that people won't like. Of course, our mandolin can't possibly be everyone's ultimate axe. In the few cases that people have decided not to keep their mandolins they have been able to send them back, either directly to us or to Elderly. With special orders we're not going to make you keep something that you just don't like. With some custom orders, like ones where we've had to adjust the neck shape, or have customized the fingerboard, etc it gets harder to find another home for the same instrument, so taking them back can get tricky. We always encourage people to stay within our standard specification options because of this. In some cases we have had people purchase a new instrument with some standard specs, play it for a while and then order a custom instrument from us with special features. I guess what I'm trying to say is this: We absolutely realize the pressure to preform that we are under given the situation and the fact that nearly everyone is buying an instrument they haven't played yet. Myself, I am an avid player and collector. I worked at Elderly Instruments for many years doing exactly the same thing: selling higher priced instruments to people that hadn't played them yet. It's all about knowing your expectation as a buyer and communicating that to..well, me. I hope to get it right a more times that I get it wrong and if we work together that'll happen. I This forum has been a fantastic way to learn, develop and improve. Still, some (maybe most) will always feel more comfortable playing the exact instrument you're considering before pulling the trigger on a purchase. At some point we hope to have instruments available at places for people to try and buy. That'll take some time, as it is we're staring at dozens of orders...stretching into next spring. Orders haven't slowed so we'll just have to keep up the hard work and hope to impress all of those with orders on the books now...along with those that are on the "fence".

Last thing: For John A above. I'll put this offer out there: Please have the owner of that instrument call me 269.267.3678. Perhaps we can find a way to make it sound better.

Thanks for reading. Hope you've all had a chance to download the tracks we put up yesterday. Some great moments.....Adrian

[Gary Alter]

I'd like to thank Adrian for his participation in these discussions and willingness to understand and respond to what us as 'picky' players are asking for. I've spoken with him several times and his patience and efforts to want to build the best instrument he can that will both meet his standards and please the customer is not so common nowadays.

[robert.najlis]

Last thing: For John A above. I'll put this offer out there: Please have the owner of that instrument call me 269.267.3678. Perhaps we can find a way to make it sound better.

That's good customer service.