I've been meaning to pick up one of Howards instruments for some time now, mostly due to the glowing reviews on the board. Last year I was torn between an A4 of his or a refinished '23 Gibson A3 on the classifieds, and I went with the Gibson (it does sound amazing, BTW). Anyway, a few weeks ago there was a pipe leak in the upstairs bathroom and the ceiling of my bedroom collapsed and ruined a good bit of stuff. Among the dead was my 'bedroom mandolin', a custom build from a man named Cecil Sullivan. He was a Kansas builder who made relatively inexpensive instruments in about the same vein as Howard, and I purchased it a few years ago expressly for the purpose of keeping on a stand in the bedroom so it was always handy if the mood struck me to practice. Anyway, being on a stand and not in a case it got good and wet and the glue let go and the back/neck warped. In military terms it was BER (beyond economical repair). Insurance covered the personal-property damages, and I was in need of a new A-model mando to fill the void so last week I called Howard up intending to order a custom A5 built for bluegrass.
As luck would have it he had literally just finished A5 #198. It was very close to how I would have ordered one, and I'm never patient when it comes to instruments, so I jumped on it. It's a blonde birds-eye maple mando with purfling (just as I would have asked for it) and looks really nice. The only thing I'd have done differently is I like big fat banjo frets, but if it bothers me enough I'll take care of that later.
Attached are the pics Howard sent me, since I haven't had time to take any of my own yet. I haven't even tuned it up yet, as it only arrived in yesterday's mail and I wanted to let it acclimate a bit.
Here are the specs:
Morris A5 Mandolin (#198):
DOB: Feb 2011
Top: Engleman Spruce
Back & Sides: Birds-Eye Maple
Fretboard: Cocobola, Radiused (12”)
Neck: 3-Piece Laminated with a Fixed Steel Bar
Tuners & Tailpiece: Grover
Bracing: Parallel tone bars
Finish: Blonde, Nitro Laquer
Strings: Martin Bluegrass Strings for now
I'm taking it up to a jam tonight that I go to most Thursday evenings. Very curious how it's going to sound when it's being really played. It's only had strings on it for about a week now, and half of that time they've been slacked while it was being shipped. As Howard said on the phone, 'This one still thinks it's a tree'
A few initial thoughts on the mando. I was pleasantly surprised at the fit/finish. Several threads on Morris's have said that the cosmetics were a bit rough, and that it lacked on fit/finish. I must say that I got a good one then, because it is very well done IMO. The finish is smooth and well applied, everything fits together nicely. I only hope it plays as well as it looks at this point. The neck feels pretty chunky, definitely less than my '23 A3 but much thicker than the Davis F5 I play most frequently. I think it'll feel fine once I get going.
I'm really more at home playing in a group, so I can't wait until I tune it up this evening and go jamming. I'll post a follow up once I see how it performs.
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