Blevins Mandolins

[Jeremy Elliott]

Anybody have any experience or play one of these. I saw one for sell on Craigslist and just trying to get some info to see if it's worth taking a look at. Thanks for any help!

[Jim Garber]

Do you mean Blevins (http://www.ebmworks.com/)? There is one in the classifieds (http://www.mandolincafe.com/ads/70784)right now.

[Eric Michael Pfeiffer]

Jeremy I have an Eddie Blevins mandolin that Eddie built for me. I am in Argentina so I haven't had a chance to play my mandolin yet but I can tell you throughout the build process Eddie was right on top of everything and answering all of my questions....and promptly I might add. I can tell you his pricepoint for the mandolins he's building is about as low as it gets so I encourage to call him....he's a super nice guy.
I'll be happy to put Eddie in touch with you if you want..

[tablaninja]

If you meant Blevins, I can chime in. I visited Eddie this summer and got to play some of his mandolins and see his workshop. He had two instruments in progress and two I got to play. I loved the tone, the workmanship and the playability up and down the fret board. When I reach the point where I can order a custom instrument, I plan on having him build me and F4.
and Eric, I believe your mandolin was one of the ones I saw in progress!

[Eric Michael Pfeiffer]

If you meant Blevins, I can chime in. I visited Eddie this summer and got to play some of his mandolins and see his workshop. He had two instruments in progress and two I got to play. I loved the tone, the workmanship and the playability up and down the fret board. When I reach the point where I can order a custom instrument, I plan on having him build me and F4.
and Eric, I believe your mandolin was one of the ones I saw in progress!

hahaha and you didn't tell me!? You just let me writhe for weeks and weeks in complete and total suspense!? Kidding....Hahahah that's great! I know Eddie always leaves open a "Tennessee style invite" to anyone who wants to stop by his shop and see how he builds. He studied Siminoff's mandolin building methods and tap-tunes them throughout. My mandolin was number#10...with no inlay just a plain Blevins logo in the peghead and choco-burst, so if it was over the summer it was definately mine. He finished it on August 31st.
As I've said, he has excellent customer service....we only emailed back and forth like 10,000 times and he usually responded within minutes.
I've mentioned the same thing to Eddie about an F-4.....he has recently completed work on an Oval-hole hybrid which has a lower neck angle and the same scale as an F-5 neck.
I recently had it shipped to my moms house and it's waiting for me to pick it up over Thanksgiving so it looks like I'm having an early Christmas this year!
Here's a few pics of it:109123109124109125

[Jeremy Elliott]

I did mean Blevins..sorry bout that. The one I'm looking at looks a lot like the pics in Eric's last post. They look great..if you had to compare the sound to another mando what would be a good comparison?

[Eric Michael Pfeiffer]

Jeremy I haven't been able to play mine yet as I'm in Argentina south america. However I'm heading home to visit my mom for Thanksgiving to pick it up and I'll be bringing it back to south america with me when I return. I'll blog about it as well as make some youtube videos also. Maybe there is a mandolincafe member here who already owns a Blevins mandolin and will see this thread and chime in? Tablaninja visited his shop and played a few of Eddies mandolins first hand so maybe he'll also be willing to share more in-depth details of what he thought they sounded like and any other mandolins he thought he could compare them too.
I can tell you, having to fill out a specs list and have an instrument in your head and then have a luthier build one for you is an exciting adventure. If you visit Eddies website you can hear some sound files there: http://www.ebmworks.com/

[Ron McMillan]

I like Eddie's website and his honest, workmanlike instruments. Looking through the gallery there it appears as if quite a number of his instruments don't have a truss rod, which is a bit puzzling.

ron

[Eric Michael Pfeiffer]

I like Eddie's website and his honest, workmanlike instruments. Looking through the gallery there it appears as if quite a number of his instruments don't have a truss rod, which is a bit puzzling.

ron

Ron rest assured all of the necks on Eddies mandolins have truss rods....just email him and ask him or check his mandolin specs if you aren't sure...

[Bill Snyder]

Here is a picture from the shop tour on his website. It appears to have a trussrod.

109158

[Ron McMillan]

Ron rest assured all of the necks on Eddies mandolins have truss rods....just email him and ask him or check his mandolin specs if you aren't sure...

I was only basing my curiosity on the pictures in his website gallery, at least two of which appear to have no trussrod cover on the headstock. But they're not big photos, and I could easily be mistaken.

ron

[Eddie Blevins]

Hey, Ron. Good catch on the trussrod covers. I have built two with carbon fiber rods. One I kept for myself. Seems to be working well.

[Eric Michael Pfeiffer]

Hmmm I hadnt noticed those pictures before I apologize and stand corrected, my fretless banjo has a carbon fiber rod and the neck is Walnut. Didnt know carbon fiber rods were being used on mandolins. They say there are much stronger and lighter than steel ones right?

[Bill Snyder]

I doubt they are stronger but they might be stiffer and lighter though.

[Eric Michael Pfeiffer]

I think the only downside really is that they would be "non-adjustable" right? Do they make ones that are adjustable?