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View Full Version : A few thoughts comparing my Collings MT2 to Northfield NF-F5S



9lbShellhamer
Feb-15-2016, 11:39am
Backstory:
I've been really happy with the tone of my brand new Northfield. It's a great sounding representation of the brand. I purchased it to take to jams and to have a nice travel mandolin. I also have 2002 Collings MT2 and its what I gig with. I love my Collings.

In the past my travel mandolin was a Kentucky KM950. We all know the 950's are good mandolins but in a jam setting for my personal taste, it just didn't soar over the mix like my Collings, and so I always brought my Collings to jams. People always use the term "cut", but the Collings doesn't just "cut" it soars over the mix and sounds like it's amplfied. My breaks are easily audible. It's a gem of a mandolin.

I recently sold the Kentucky because I preferred the Northfield's tone for my tastes. I was so impressed with this particular Northfield that I knew it'd be a great companion to my Collings.

Current Situation:
So it's been about 6 weeks since I bought the Northfield. Every day I am more shocked that I find myself playing it at home maybe more than my Collings. I love the tone. I've been so impressed with it, that I've even used it to record a little bit which says a lot. I've taken it to a few small practice sessions with my band, and it's held it's own.

This past Saturday was our big local jam. We're talking about 4 banjos, maybe 5 or six mandolins, and about 4 guitars thrown in the mix. My Collings would have no trouble being heard in this tough application. It does it regularly, holding tone, sounding sweet, and still powering over the mix, soaring through it all.

This Saturday was cold though...about 15 degrees, and I thought.. Hey I bought the Northfield to be a workhorse, to keep the Collings preserved in rough conditions. Lets drag the Northfield in and out of the winter weather and take it to the jam. This is why I bought it, right? I've been so happy with it's tone lets see how it does.

There were so many people there that we split into two groups. I went into a smaller room than normal. The Northfield did OK, but honestly, it didn't soar over the mix like the Collings. Maybe that's just a price to pay for the tone.

Sometimes I think mandolins could maybe be like golf clubs... There are many for different applications. In a quiet room, maybe I choose the Northfield if I seek it's tone. In a loud gig or a jam, maybe I go for the Collings.

The Northfield eventually got better as the day progressed. I started beating it like a mule and it responded. My position and ergonomics are dialed in on the Collings and still need improvement on the Northfield.

I played a few $5000 A style mandolins recently that have always been my "holy grail" mandolins, and their tone still wasn't as bold and powerful as the Collings. I wonder if that bold ability to be heard in the mix is just part of what makes that Collings tone.

Anyways...

I'll take it to more jams and test it out. The jury is still out. It did pretty well...it's just not the Collings. The tone that I like while practicing alone at home just doesn't soar like the Collings in a jam. I'll always play it a ton at home and travel with it...just not sure it replaces the Collings for jams.

In other thoughts...I feel like the Gibsons I've played would respond just like my Collings in a jam. There is another maker out of texas I've always loved, but I just don't feel like his mandolins respond as well in a loud jam. People are always saying Gibsons and Collings are opposites, but the more I play, and the more mandolins I play, I personally feel that Collings and Gibsons are the same beast. Very similar. Especially the awesome new f5g and f9 I played recently.


Pick on.

pops1
Feb-15-2016, 1:29pm
One thing to remember is some mandolins, guitars, what ever sound louder or better to the player and not so much to the listener, and some sound much louder or better to the listener and not the player. The only real way to tell is let someone play each mandolin in a jam while you listen across the room then you will know.

darylcrisp
Feb-15-2016, 5:42pm
being firmly set in the Collings camp since last year, i know exactly what you are describing. I also owned a NorthField F that was an excellent instrument(along with a Pava, and some Webers).

if the Collings tone suits you, once you have one i think it defines your standard by which all others will be judged. i've found a few Collings to be "too much" and i truly think they could have peeled paint off the wall-but the ones thats passed thru my house(different finishes, different tops, different models), have all been superlative in build, sound, and responsiveness.

d