New Lebeda

[Denny Lytle]

It has now been a couple of months since my new Lebeda came to live at my house and I could not be more pleased. I looked for two years to find just what I wanted in my price range. The reaction when anybody else tries it is that their mouth falls open and they won't give it back. I just finished engraving and putting on a new James tailpiece. I have posted a picture of the tailpiece in the equipment section.

[Denny Lytle]

And the back

[Eric F.]

Yowser! That's a nice-looking mandolin.

[pick up the world]

I agree Eric!!! You can call yourself rich if you have this mando!!

[gschmidt]

Does the picture depict the color accurately? I REALLY like that color. Very nice.

[JEStanek]

That tailpiece engraving looks really great on there! Nice to see it in the whole context. Great!
Jamie

[Denny Lytle]

Gary -- The actual color is just slightly more brownish, but it is not too far off. I took the picture right at sunset and I think it did pick up a little more orange from the beautiful sunset over the Great Salt Lake.

[Burner]

Very nice instrument. Classy looking finish.

[stevem]

Hubba hubba! I'm in love...

[swampstomper]

Welcome to the Lebeda club. Mine is an A5+ (pix posted last year) and it's impossible for me to leave for work in the morning without grabbing it off the stand (no way will I put the most beautiful thing in my house in a case!) and listening to that gorgeous tone. In the evening I say "only a half hour practice tonight!! too much work to catch up on!!" and two hours later....

[Antlurz]

I love the subtle curves in the points. So many look like they were thrown on as an afterthought.

Ron

[Cary Fagan]

Very handsome instrument. I'd be curious to know what other mandos you tried before settling on the Lebeda and why.

[Denny Lytle]

I tried all the big makers and 4 different custom builders, and I will say there were some exceptional mandolins in the large group that I tried. In fact, the final decision was between this Lebeda and a Collings. The reason I decided to go with Lebeda was I got the tone, complexity, and sustain I was looking for. Because I play lots of different kinds of music including folk, roots, celtic, cowboy, bluegrass, etc., I was looking for a mandolin that could do all those well. In my opinion this mandolin had the best scope and range of any I tried. In short, I decided on this Lebeda because I fell in love.

[swampstomper]

Denny, that was my reaction exactly when I tried a large number of mandolins from different makers at last year's European World of Bluegrass. The key word is, as you said, the complexity of the sound. The beauty and craftsmanship are also very nice points... but finally it comes down to tone and playability. It looks from the photo that you have the same slightly radiused board, wide frets, and "baseball bat" neck as I do... that of course won't attract everyone but for me the playability is tops.