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mandolin tony
Aug-11-2019, 7:48am
I know they make great banjos, and I also know they made mandolins at one time. does anyone here have one. just wondering how many of there mandolins are out there & how good are they.:mandosmiley:

MikeEdgerton
Aug-11-2019, 8:06am
Different Sullivan's

The late John Sullivan (https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=john+sullivan+site%3Amandolincafe.com) built mandolins.

The late Bill Sullivan (https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/threads/34718-The-passing-of-bill-sullivan-first-quality-music) was First Quality Music's founder.

Most of the people I knew that had Sullivan mandolins cherished them.

mandolin tony
Aug-11-2019, 8:13am
thanks Mike, I thought at one time they made mandolins in house or they had someone in Japan making mandolins for them. my mistake, maybe I guess they could have been carrying his mandolins.

MikeEdgerton
Aug-11-2019, 8:25am
thanks Mike, I thought at one time they made mandolins in house or they had someone in Japan making mandolins for them. my mistake, maybe I guess they could have been carrying his mandolins.

If they were I am not aware of it. That doesn't mean it didn't happen, it just means I'm unaware of it. Someone will pop in that can straighten it out.

Bill Sullivan was a guy that knew this part of the community. I remember contacting him looking for strange banjo parts (anything that wasn't being used on a tenor or 5-string) and him giving me names of people to contact.

Russ Jordan
Aug-11-2019, 8:39am
Sumi built the fqms Sullivan mandolins. https://reverb.com/item/13297893-sumi-sullivan-custom-f-5-mandolin-local-sale-pending

Dave Greenspoon
Aug-11-2019, 8:46am
Russ beat me to it. I still remember the sadness I had when FQMS dropped their retail operations. My Rigel came from their store.

MikeEdgerton
Aug-11-2019, 9:05am
OK, that jogged something way back in my mind. The connection with Scott Zimmerman/Sumi (http://www.desertrosebanjo.com/index2.htm) and Bill Sullivan makes sense. That probably was a natural now that I think about it. Scott is a Cafe member.

Bogle
Aug-11-2019, 11:31am
While in Louisville in 2001, I visited with Bill, Jeff, and Eric Sullivan at their shop. Eiichi Sumi happened to be there on that day (very nice gentleman) and they told me of their plans to market Sullivan-branded Sumi-made mandolins. Eric Sullivan showed me a stack of approximately 12 F-style ebony peghead overlays, complete with "Sullivan" logo and all were in fern pattern. These were made in-house at FQMS and were quite beautiful. As I recall, Sumi was going to be sending what would be mostly-completed mandolins to FQMS, with Eric and staff to be completing the final work. I'm not sure as to how many ultimately were completed and sold.

mandolin tony
Aug-12-2019, 4:04am
bingo Sumi mandolins, and Bill Sullivan was great. a saint of a man & a great person to deal with. he fixed my Deering banjo for free & returned it for free. he refused to take a penny from me. I miss dealing with him, he was the BEST.