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Thread: 2011 Gilchrist Model 5

  1. #26
    Registered User Pete Martin's Avatar
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    Default Re: 2011 Gilchrist Model 5

    That is one great mando you have Phil(e)! Congrats.
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  2. #27
    Purveyor of Sunshine sgarrity's Avatar
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    Default Re: 2011 Gilchrist Model 5

    Here's some great playing on a Gil:


  3. #28
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    Default Re: 2011 Gilchrist Model 5

    Masa618- the guy plays the heck out of that Gil. His is #182, tone bar, and sounds like it has been played A LOT.

  4. #29
    Registered User Miked's Avatar
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    Default Re: 2011 Gilchrist Model 5

    The last cut on Tone Poems, "Song For Two Pamelas" features a Gilchrest. Incredible tone on that one, but then Grisman might have something to do with that.
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  5. #30
    Registered User William Smith's Avatar
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    Default Re: 2011 Gilchrist Model 5

    Boy thats a nice one ya have there, Neat inlay!My 82 is X braced,I'd like to play an 82 tone bar,to see the differences

  6. #31
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    Default Re: 2011 Gilchrist Model 5

    I saw an old clip of Ron McCoury playing his Gil and wondered why he would ever want a Loar, the Gil sound ed as good....Not to be negative but I did play one at a festival in Kissimmee Fla. that wasn`t up to the normal Gil sound but it was new and may have need needed to be "played" in....I would have still liked to own it....

    Willie

  7. #32
    Registered User Cheryl Watson's Avatar
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    Default Re: 2011 Gilchrist Model 5

    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Seale View Post
    The interesting thing about Long's X braced model is it is also a red spruce top and not englemann.
    Yes, and red spruce is the dominating factor over the type of bracing.

  8. #33
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    Default Re: 2011 Gilchrist Model 5

    The Last two times I have seen Ronnie, he was playing the Gil.I talked to him after I heard the Del McCoury band at Thomas Point Beach. He told me he had to play the Gil when he played with Dirks due to needing to use the pickup. He said they have to use pickups with Dirks because the women scream so loud. He said that got him playing the Gil again and he just got used to it again. He said his Gil has a super small neck that he likes, and his Loar has a very large neck that I believe he said is radiused. He said he also liked that his Gil had a little more bass. When I saw a few weeks ago with the Traveling McCourys and Peter Rowan he was playing it too. One of the all time most important mandolins in my mind. The Loar sounds awesome too of course. I am pretty convinced what we hear at this point is 80% Ronnie 20% any given mandolin. Related to that does anyone else think Ronnie's Gil sounds remarkably different tahn it used to on some of the older recordings such as the Cold Hard Facts? Awesome either way, but I feel that it used to sound a lot more modern/ dark, and now much more traditional/ Loarish. I know mandolins change, and this mandolin has probably been played more than most, but I can't help that it is just mostly Ronnie pulling what he wants to hear out of the mandolin.

  9. #34
    Registered User dcoventry's Avatar
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    Default Re: 2011 Gilchrist Model 5

    Quote Originally Posted by cwtwang View Post
    Yes, and red spruce is the dominating factor over the type of bracing.
    Well now. This is an interesting comment, is it not?

    In general, I really do perfer Red Spruce, too. I am surprised to see someone make this statement, though.

    Thoughts?
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  10. #35
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    Default Re: 2011 Gilchrist Model 5

    Quote Originally Posted by Ctone View Post
    anyone else think Ronnie's Gil sounds remarkably different than it used to on some of the older recordings such as the Cold Hard Facts? Awesome either way, but I feel that it used to sound a lot more modern/ dark, and now much more traditional/ Loarish.
    I believe he has had more than one Gil. As I recall Steve Earle has, or had one, that was previously Ronnie's.

  11. #36
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    Default Re: 2011 Gilchrist Model 5

    Quote Originally Posted by SternART View Post
    I believe he has had more than one Gil. As I recall Steve Earle has, or had one, that was previously Ronnie's.
    Yes He did have another one, but I don't think the other Gil was ever used as his main one. I don't know this for sure. i am pretty sure the one he is using now is the same one he got I think in the early 80's from the Dawg. I have always assumed the mandolin on albums such as the Cold Hard Facts was that early 80's X braced Gil,
    If it is not, well that would explain it.

  12. #37
    Registered User Mark Seale's Avatar
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    Default Re: 2011 Gilchrist Model 5

    Quote Originally Posted by dcoventry View Post
    Well now. This is an interesting comment, is it not?

    In general, I really do perfer Red Spruce, too. I am surprised to see someone make this statement, though.

    Thoughts?
    These are thoughts directly from the wood master himself. Mr. Gilchrist believes the materials supercede the bracing pattern, but they do make a difference. Wildly oversimplified, but the generalization was super-stiff Red Spruce equates to a more piercing mid-range and the less stiff Englemann would have less mid-range punch, more fluffy, as he put it. As the red spruce gets played in, the power of both the extreme bottom end and extreme top end come into the same range as the mid-range punch. A comment made about one of his newer red spruce/tone bar machines was that it was what he felt a Loar would sound like new, now go play it for 80 years.

  13. #38
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    Default Re: 2011 Gilchrist Model 5

    I've owned and played a number of Loars over the years, and am reasonably familiar with the overall tonal quality a Loar can achieve (although every one I've experienced had its own voice). #693, which is red spruce and tone bar, has many of those tonal characteristics - more than other newish mandolins (including older Gils) that I've played. VERY resonant. Great balance, string to string and up the neck (the G string from the 6th fret up is a little tight). Really complex tone with cutting E, and beautiful, full G,D and A strings. Orchestral when you hit an open chord. Great sustain. And deceptive power. You can keep digging in and it keeps responding.
    I've heard from someone else who got one of #693's siblings, and has also experienced many vintage F5's. He said the same thing. Sounds like a Loar. I've seen/heard a number of claims that this mandolin or that is as good as a Loar, but I'd never played a new mandolin that reminded me of a Loar, until now. Obviously it is kind of silly to claim a mandolin that's less than a year old could be as good as a well played in 90 years old mandolin that's the the archetype for all mandolins. But this mandolin has a lot of those tonal qualities.

  14. #39
    Registered User mtucker's Avatar
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    Default Re: 2011 Gilchrist Model 5

    Nice vid, great player. Check it at around the 5:30 mark -


  15. #40
    Registered User dcoventry's Avatar
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    Default Re: 2011 Gilchrist Model 5

    HEY!!

    Ronnie has a tonegard on his Loar. Fight or no fight?
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  16. #41
    Registered User dcoventry's Avatar
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    Default Re: 2011 Gilchrist Model 5

    Quote Originally Posted by mandophil(e) View Post
    Really complex tone with cutting E, and beautiful, full G,D and A strings. Orchestral when you hit an open chord. Great sustain. And deceptive power. You can keep digging in and it keeps responding.
    .
    This is one of the aspects of Red Spruce I find most appealing. My G5 has so much headroom when playing, it seems like there is always a higher gear/volume. I find it generally true that Engelmann especially but also Sitka to some extent seem to compress when I go up in volume or even distort a little. Engelmann and Sitka are both a little warmer and open early on, to be sure.

    Folks, these are just general comments, but they seem to hold true in my experiences.
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  17. #42
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    Default Re: 2011 Gilchrist Model 5

    You can keep digging in and it keeps responding.
    I love this comment. Reminds me of an ad for a Givens in the old MWN: The sound keeps on coming. Never breaks up.

    It is so true.

  18. #43
    Registered User Marc Berman's Avatar
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    Default Re: 2011 Gilchrist Model 5

    Quote Originally Posted by dcoventry View Post
    HEY!!

    Ronnie has a tonegard on his Loar. Fight or no fight?
    You'll have to include Mike Marshall, John Reischman and the Dawg
    Marc B.

  19. #44
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    Default Re: 2011 Gilchrist Model 5

    Great clip of Ronnie and his mandolins....I compared the Loar with his Gilchrist and to me there isn`t a lot of difference if any, the Loar may be a tad louder but that just might be the position he had away from the mic....Both are great mandolins and he said that he was given the Gilchrist by Grissman, now I need to find a friend like that, I once gave a PacRim mandolin to an up and coming picker but it was far from a Gil...

    Great video....Willie

  20. #45
    Registered User Perry's Avatar
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    Default Re: 2011 Gilchrist Model 5

    Quote Originally Posted by Dan Margolis View Post
    Wow, that's very beautiful. I hope to try a Gilchrist some day, but until then, can anyone recommend a few outstanding recordings of Steve's mandolins? Unless that's considered a thread derailment.
    I think this recording capture's the sound of Compton's Gilchrist well.

    http://www.amazon.com/Twenty-Year-Bl.../dp/B0002J4YL0

  21. #46
    Registered User Perry's Avatar
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    Default Re: 2011 Gilchrist Model 5

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Seale View Post
    The interesting thing about Long's X braced model is it is also a red spruce top and not englemann.
    Congrats Phil! That is one perfect looking mandolin.

    FWIW I've got the same config as Long's. Though unlike Phil's cremona finish my cremona appears much redder??

  22. #47
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    Default Re: 2011 Gilchrist Model 5

    I have owned and played many Gilchrists and to my ears the Gil in Shaun's clip has the most Loarish tone I have ever heard from a Gil. Man I love it. I wonder if it has that thick "brooding or dark" undertone that you can hear/feel on a MM or Loar when played live? Does anyone know if Steve has changed anything in his bulilding recently? I like what I got but man that makes me want a Gil that sounds like that one real bad!!!
    It doesn't matter . . . I'm going to WINFIELD!!!!!

  23. #48
    Registered User Mark Seale's Avatar
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    Default Re: 2011 Gilchrist Model 5

    Quote Originally Posted by goose 2 View Post
    I have owned and played many Gilchrists and to my ears the Gil in Shaun's clip has the most Loarish tone I have ever heard from a Gil. Man I love it. I wonder if it has that thick "brooding or dark" undertone that you can hear/feel on a MM or Loar when played live? Does anyone know if Steve has changed anything in his bulilding recently? I like what I got but man that makes me want a Gil that sounds like that one real bad!!!
    My opinion, some based on conversation, is that the methodology hasn't changed, but the tonal goal has. When building from the old list he was asked to build McCoury sounding instruments. Since that list was completed, he was able to pursue more of the sound that he had come to believe was closer to Loar as a new instrument. In that time, his own playing improved dramatically allowing him to hear more of what he was trying to get to, more of the subtlety of the truly great instruments. All of this leading to a consistent improvement in building. As great as his early instruments are, the newer ones are as good as anything being built.

  24. #49
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    Default Re: 2011 Gilchrist Model 5

    You have to believe that at the 700 instrument mark, the guy has had the opportunity to really refine and fine tune the build process. It is still hard for me to believe anyone could accomplish that without a shop full of elves to help.

    That mandolin in the clip above posted by Shaun is, I believe, a truly superior example. Man, I love that tone.

  25. #50
    Registered User mtucker's Avatar
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    Default Re: 2011 Gilchrist Model 5

    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Seale View Post
    My opinion, some based on conversation, is that the methodology hasn't changed, but the tonal goal has. When building from the old list he was asked to build McCoury sounding instruments. Since that list was completed, he was able to pursue more of the sound that he had come to believe was closer to Loar as a new instrument. In that time, his own playing improved dramatically allowing him to hear more of what he was trying to get to, more of the subtlety of the truly great instruments. All of this leading to a consistent improvement in building. As great as his early instruments are, the newer ones are as good as anything being built.
    Bingo!, Mark ....he's also had no shortage of Loars to keep him busy and curious along the way. I don't know the age of Masa's is Shaun's vid, but sure sounds good with him playing it.
    Last edited by mtucker; May-09-2012 at 6:35pm. Reason: revised

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