Larry Rice's Mando

[Scotti Adams]

For those of you in the know...tell me about Larrys mando..its history...why the vine of life in the fingerboard, etc?...That mando has alot of mojo surrounding it. Also..at one point there was a builder making copys of Larrys mando..what about them...and where is Larrys axe today? It wasnt the best sounding thing I ever heard but it was very descriptive of Larrys sound that he had all his career.

[Scotti Adams]

...

[Scotti Adams]

....

[AlanN]

Nice, Scotti.

[Scotti Adams]

Thanks Buddy

[Bill Van Liere]

Good questions Scotti, that thing sounded like a million bucks on the recordings.

Later F-5, 60s?, modified?

[Scotti Adams]

Originally Posted by Bill Van Liere

Good questions Scotti, that thing sounded like a million bucks on the recordings.

Later F-5, 60s?, modified?

It sure had its distinct tone..thats fer sure...to me..instantly recognizable.

[Russ Jordan]

Seems like Larry's mandolin was a 59. Didn't he do that fingerboard inlay himself?

[Skip Kelley]

Russ, I believe you are right; a 59 custom. I always love the tone Larry got out of that mandolin. He will always be one of my favorites!

[Bernie Daniel]

That is a great picture --notice here you have two outstanding pickers not the least bothered, apparently, by the fingerboard extension that most of us regular morals remove or scallop on our mandolins.

I wonder if Larry's instrument wasn't either a copy or if it did start life as a Gibson it was re-graduated by someone like Randy Wood?

I say this because it certainly would have been unusual to a '59 Gibson F-5 to have come out of the box a strong good sounding mandolin -- this just was not a good period for the factory.

That said I have been told that even in this period a few good ones slip out the door at Kalamazoo -- I have never seen any. I have personally owned several F-models from that darker period and none of them were memorable.

[GTison]

Scotty

t wasnt the best sounding thing I ever heard but it was very descriptive of Larrys sound that he had all his career.

That's what I thought too. I always just thought it was a 70's model or something. Kinda thin sounding. Not strong in my view.

But if you develop a style and play with the right folks you can play whatever kind of mando you want. Then it becomes part of your trademark.

[AlanN]

As has been said so many times before, it's the picker and not so much the mandolin. He had a nice, laid back style, with some nifty moves, like his break on Farewell Blues off the Tony Rice Rounder LP. And he wrote a dandy tune Spring Fever, off one of his solo records.

[mandopete]

Yeah, I'd agree with comments on Larry's tone - instantly recognizable for sure. I've been enjoyed a tune called Jared's Rag from the Rice Brother's II recording - gotta add that one to my list along with Burnt Rice.

Funny now, looking at that picture of Larry with the Dawg reminds of another great tune he wrote called Artesia.

[Charles Johnson]

As I recall, Bryan England of Custom Inlay was going to make a Larry Rice model. Larry was supposed to sign the labels. They were expensive, I recall, around $8500 or so. Not sure if any of them were ever made.

[bryengland]

I don't recall that I was ever going to build a mando for Larry, but I would be willing to if he asked. It wouldn't be that expensive either.

[lenf12]

Don't be expecting him to ask very soon. He passed away in May of 2006. Maybe a commemorative model would be more appropriate.

Len B.
Clearwater, FL

[AlanN]

Larry did some fine mandolin work, like on brother Tony's first Rounder record. And he wrote good mandolin numbers, like Spring Fever.

[Scotti Adams]

...hmmm..still definitive info on Larrys mando...the plot thickens.

[Skip Kelley]

One of my favs of Larry's was his duo with Wyatt. He does one called "Uncle Larry's garden". It is Larry through and through with that unmistakeable tone!

[Russ Jordan]

I emailed Larry's uncle, Frank Poindexter. He says the Larry Rice model mandolin never got off the ground.

[mandomania7923]

Frank said it is a '60 or '61. They were never sure.

[mandolooter]

But if you develop a style and play with the right folks you can play whatever kind of mando you want.

Great line Scotti and how true it is! There is a lot of "thin" sounding mandolins on some of those old recording that I just love the heck out of! Sad to say there escaping my memory at the moment...

[f5loar]

I verified it as a '59 the last time he was at MerleFest.
It started life as a standard '59 F5 when he got it used. Nothing custom about it. Later on Larry had several things done to it like regraduations, new fingerboard and refinish. I would assume his family still has it. It was an important part of his musical life and served him well for several decades.

[Scotti Adams]

Thanks for the info!

[300win]

I remember reading in a interview article I think it was Bluegrass Unlimited, that Larry said that John Duffy influenced his playing a lot when he first begin to learn mandolin. A long time ago in about '67-'68 Larry and brother Tony were at the Starr, North Carolina fiddlers convention. It was a tough one to go to, always was cold, and they held it in a livestock sell barn. Man you talking about slowing your fingers down, it was as rough as the cold wet days at Union Grove back in those days. Any of ya'll remember them?