NMD - Skip Kelley Vintage F-5 #54 [Archive]

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Drew Egerton

Apr-12-2016, 9:41am

Hello everyone,

I have been meaning to get this posted for several days now but it's just been hectic.
Last Thursday I made the trip east a couple of hours to visit Kevin at www.mandomutt.com and purchased a Jan. 2016 Skip Kelley Vintage F-5. It's #54 for Skip.

This mandolin really has amazing tone to it I think. I'm not great with the subjective adjectives to describe the tone. Kevin said: "Big, wide open, dynamic sound, Dry, woody tone. Extremely powerful mandolin."

I will try to get a video up soon so you guys can hear how it sounds. I absolutely love my Flatbush V4 and it had great volume, bark and tone as well but I do feel like the Kelley has a different tone that I really like a lot. I have never played a Loar so I won't go there with the comment, but I know Skip used some specs from an April '23. It has great bark on the chop, especially up at B. Playability is very good. I believe it is a 1-1/8" nut, which is narrower than what I am used to, but has not been a problem so far. The spacing at the bridge between the sets is actually a little wider than the Flatbush.

Here's a link (http://www.mandomutt.com/products-page/mandolins/2016-skip-kelley-f-5-vintage-sold) to the Mando Mutt page with some more detail.

Thank you Skip for building such a great mandolin! I can't wait to get it out of the house some.:mandosmiley: In addition to how great it is on it's own, it is also pretty cool to play an instrument made in my home state.

stratman62

Apr-12-2016, 10:08am

Hi Drew,
I would be very excited to own a Skip Kelly F5. I too am from Statesville.
Dwight Burks

billhay4

Apr-12-2016, 10:16am

I have a Skip Kelley A that is also a great mandolin. I hope you enjoy yours as much as I enjoy mine.
Bill

Mark Wilson

Apr-12-2016, 11:07am

Congratulations Drew. That looks like an awesome mandolin. I've only heard superlative comments on Skip's mandolins.

Did you play anything else while you were there? The Kelley A5?

Last time i was there I traded him for a second pava - it's probably best that he's not just around the corner

AlanN

Apr-12-2016, 11:34am

Drew asked for my take on Skip's work. I said:

He Can't Sing
He Can't Dance
But Lord, that S.O.B. Builds One Heckuva Mandolin....with apologies to Jethro

Cool beans, dude. I want to check it out sometime.

Drew Egerton

Apr-12-2016, 12:16pm

Thanks everybody! It's actually all Alan's fault. I was searching around for somebody close by to do some fret work on my Flatbush when needed and I came across his praise for Skip in that regard. That led me to reading more and more about Skip's mandolins....and this one just happened to be posted about that same time....and I just happened to be halfway over there for other business anyway....

Unfortunately I did not get around to playing any of the A's there. I only had about an hour or so to spend. About 2 minutes of that was deciding how good the F5 was and the other 58 was trying to convince myself to spend the money. :)

I did play another Kelley F5 that was a few years old which was Kevin's personal mandolin. It had a great sound as well with a little different tone than mine. I also played the Duff F5 he has for sale. While a great mandolin, I didn't think it compared to the Kelley.

Here's a video I recorded today. It was recorded on a tablet so I apologize for the low quality. The internal mic did OK actually I think. The color was dark so I asked Youtube to lighten it, which looks terrible so I'm trying to revert to the original. Either way, you get the point. See the Mando Mutt page for higher quality pics...

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Let me know what you think!

Steve Sorensen

Apr-12-2016, 4:09pm

Nice!

Steve

DataNick

Apr-12-2016, 4:23pm

Congrats! And thanks for the review!

I'm sure you'll be a happy, pickin, camper!

Pjones3

Apr-12-2016, 5:35pm

Congratulations on the purchase!!!! I sure love my Kelley, # 37.

Charles E.

Apr-12-2016, 5:56pm

Congratulations on the Kelly mandolin. Kevin is a super guy to deal with, I bought my Girouard F-5 from him a year ago this month.

Mark Wilson

Apr-12-2016, 6:37pm

I think - you scored a great sounding mandolin. Thanks for posting that. Happy picking

Drew Egerton

Apr-12-2016, 8:21pm

Thanks everybody!

Don Grieser

Apr-12-2016, 9:02pm

Congrats!! Nice Monroe style playing too!

Phil Goodson

Apr-12-2016, 9:07pm

Very cool, Drew. Sounds great. Can't wait to hear it in person.

Ivan Kelsall

Apr-13-2016, 1:35am

That's a terrific sounding mandolin Drew,& if you're anything like me with my own mandolins,i bet just can't wait to play it !. There's nothing like a great sounding instrument to make you want to play,& the more you play,usually, the better you get at doing it. Enjoy it,
Ivan;)

darylcrisp

Apr-13-2016, 3:36am

Drew Egerton

Apr-13-2016, 7:28am

I looked at that mandolin almost every day when Kevin had it posted for sale. I've heard a couple Kelleys and I've always liked the tone of them all. I think they "just look right" also.

If Kevin had you do a video on each mando he had for sale, I'd bet they would move a lot quicker also.

That's a great looking/sounding mandolin, thanks for posting.

d

I was wondering if anybody else was checking it out. If it had been sold I'd have probably considered getting one built later. It was a pretty severe MAS case....

Thanks everyone for the comments on the video!

Phil Goodson

Apr-19-2016, 11:23am

I was lucky enough to be in a local jam with Drew last night and got to hit a few licks on his new Kelley. Loud mandolin with great tone. Plays very comfortably. Near perfect fit & finish.

Drew certainly got a lot of great sound from it during the jam!:)

Drew Egerton

Apr-19-2016, 2:28pm

Thank you Phil....coming from somebody that owns a Duff that's quite a compliment for Skip.
That was a pretty good jam, just about the right size. Fun picking with you again!

Hoovetone

Apr-19-2016, 4:33pm

Hey Drew. I'm from Statesville too ! I've got # 16 Kelley A. This Nov. it will be ten years old.

Drew Egerton

Apr-20-2016, 6:57am

How are all these mandolin players from Statesville and not picking together?!

Y'all feel free to join the jam at the Troutman library on Monday nights at 7 pm. I can't make it this coming Monday but usually get down there a couple of times a month.

Also, if any of you are interested I am putting a band together with a buddy that plays banjo. I'd rather play mandolin so if you play another instrument or know somebody that would be interested please send me a PM.

Drew Egerton

Apr-27-2016, 3:36pm

Hey guys, here's a link to the Facebook page for our new band, 3rd Creek Bluegrass.
You should be able to see a video posted there from our gig on Sunday. It's the first half or so of Bluegrass Breakdown before the camera card filled up! (blame the banjo player...)

https://www.facebook.com/3rd-Creek-Bluegrass-835074733263828/timeline

I think the Kelley really comes through well against the other instruments. None of us were mic'd up on this.

cayuga red

Apr-27-2016, 4:50pm

Terrific hard driving Bluegrass! You sound great on your Kelley. Congrats to you and Skip!

Drew Egerton

Apr-28-2016, 8:11am

Terrific hard driving Bluegrass! You sound great on your Kelley. Congrats to you and Skip!

Thank you!
Yesterday I picked it up, played a few notes and just shook my head and smiled. :)

AlanN

Apr-28-2016, 9:30am

Cool, Drew. Good playing, good mandolin....what's not to like here?

bbaker2050

May-01-2016, 8:34pm

Yeah, nice sounding mandolin. Like those Monroe licks!!!

Drew Egerton

May-31-2016, 7:27am

Thought I'd post this here as well as the videos thread just as an update on how this beauty sounds after a month and a half of playing it regularly. These are regular J74's that aren't dead but aren't new. The kind of chunky almost dead tone on some of the G string notes is just my bad playing habits lol. (I mute it down at the bridge side too much).

Old Dangerfield
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Gabriel Wiseman

May-31-2016, 12:18pm

Great mano Drew!! Enjoyed getting to play on it a few weeks ago!!

Drew Egerton

Jan-15-2017, 10:50am

I finally got around to adding these two clips to Youtube so I thought I'd share.
Alan Bibey and Danny Roberts picking on the Kelley F5 #54 at last year's Alan Bibey Mandolin Camp.

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AlanN

Jan-15-2017, 11:03am

Like it was yesterday, Drew!

Steve Sorensen

Jan-15-2017, 11:42am

Nice!
Steve

Clinton Johnson

Jan-15-2017, 12:28pm

Real nice!

Bill Kammerzell

Jan-15-2017, 12:30pm

Hi Drew,
I would be very excited to own a Skip Kelly F5. I too am from Statesville.
Dwight Burks

Statesville NC. Isn't that the home of Harry & Jeanie West Fine Musical Instruments? I understood that Harry had passed on and spoke to Jeanie last year. Said the children were helping her to run the business. They have some special instruments at that store.

Drew Egerton

Jan-16-2017, 9:26am

Statesville NC. Isn't that the home of Harry & Jeanie West Fine Musical Instruments? I understood that Harry had passed on and spoke to Jeanie last year. Said the children were helping her to run the business. They have some special instruments at that store.

Yes, I live a couple miles from the store and played in a band with Harry's son Scott for a while.
Scott and Jeanie run the store pretty much on their own and from what I understand are staying pretty busy with it.
If you just walk in and look around, it's your typical beginner to intermediate level instrument shop. There are a couple of really nice Martin guitars on the wall (The HD28V is amazing). Most of the mandolins are The Loars or other similar brands.
There are still some special and unique instruments that they keep in the back or upstairs but who knows what they've got. I do think they've started trying to sell off more of those higher end items lately.

thorntonwendell@gmail.com

Apr-13-2018, 9:18pm

I just acquired Skip Kelly #58 F5 model. It is a great mandolin with a large rich tone. I thought it sounded good when I received it. After the armrest came loose while playing, I took it off to prepare for re-installation. I don't know why or how, but that armrest was suppressing the sound. The mando opened up huge with that thing off! Very pleased with this instrument.

lflngpicker

Apr-28-2018, 11:07pm

Drew, that is a great sounding instrument and you play it well. The tone and volume came through loud and clear. Thanks for letting us all hear one of the great Kelley builds! Dan

Drew Egerton

Apr-30-2018, 9:56am

Drew Egerton

Apr-30-2018, 9:59am

Drew, that is a great sounding instrument and you play it well. The tone and volume came through loud and clear. Thanks for letting us all hear one of the great Kelley builds! Dan

Thank you!
I think it is only sounding better now than it did 2 years ago.
I switched to Nickel Bronze D'addarios and use a more rounded pick now (KS80 Blue Chip) so I feel like I'm getting a lot better tone these days, plus getting a little time on the mando itself. It's about time for frets though! (Skip I have been meaning to call you for a while....)

P.S. and NFI, I cannot believe nobody has picked up #60 yet. It's available on Mando Mutt for a STEAL of a price IMO. Not that I need it, but I'm tempted myself other than the flat board.