What's your favorite builder's website?

[Dfyngravity]

What's your favorite builders website? As I know many of you out there are always going through the pages on eye candy I figured we can see which ones really catch your attention.

I really enjoy BRW's, Kimble's, Driftwood's (soon to be Poe I reckon), Holst's, Rigel's, and of course the Red Diamond web site although I can't wait til the new one comes out, seems to be on a stand still right now.

On Will Kimble's webpage I could sit there and listen to Butch play those songs all day long, I wish there were more pics and descriptions thought.

[rhetoric]

Hey! No fair calling attention to someone's website and not posting the link! Some of us are lazy, you know.

And since I'm building a IV, hat's off to Hydrilla.

http://mandolinmakingf5.blogspot.com/

[mandopete]

If you click on "Eye Candy" at the top of the message board page , you can click on the various mandolins to link to the builder's page.

One of my favorite websites it Fletcher Brock's. #He has some really nice mandolin photos that make great desktop backgrounds (click on the "Gallery" link).

www.fletcherbrock.com (http://www.fletcherbrock.com)

[Bill Van Liere]

I like the BRW website cause I can look at my mandolin there.

[Jim Garber]

Take a breather from the f5 style:

Gabriele Pandini (http://www.gabrielepandini.it/)

Daniel Larson (http://www.daniellarson.com/mandolins/classical_mandolin/classical.htm)

and, of course, our own Brian Dean (http://www.bfolk.com).

Jim

[Jonathan James]

It is still a "work in progress" but I like Jamie Wien's site with the step-by-step building pages. Cool to see how a top luthier builds....www.wiensmandolins.com

[cooper4205]

i was impressed by the driftwood site, i like bentrups also

[John]

Keith Newell has a new site - NewellMandolin . com. On there you can view my A5 - blonde with ebony pickguard, maple back. Nice site.

[Fliss]

I love Stefan Sobell's website, lots of absolutely beautiful instruments to drool over, and interesting other stuff, especially "the things they say" page

http://www.sobellinstruments.com/

Fliss

[JEStanek]

Chris Baird Arches (http://www.archesmusic.com/)I like alot. Great photos of raw materials and beautiful finished mandos.


Bill Bussman - Old Wave (http://www.zianet.com/Bussmann/) It's Bussman!



Graham Blair - Devils Dream (http://www.devilsdreammandolins.com/ddm_mandolins.htm) His stuff looks so cool.

Those are my notables (for today). MAS is so bad. Many of these websites are as close as I'll get to owning one from these guys/gals (Gail Hester and Amanda Reiser!) I like to browse around.

Jamie

[the_guitar_guru]

I second oldtimemandolin.com. I have 1 of Kevin's F-4's and will eventually get an F-5 from him. I found him via Eye Candy so cheers to Mandolin Cafe.

[guitharsis]

Kevin Mathers'

http://www.oldtimemandolin.com

That's my A style!

[Uncle Choppy]

Being UK based, I'd reccommend Paul Shippey's site (http://www.paulshippey.co.uk/) where there are some nice photos of his work.


I particularly like makers who go to the effort of providing audio samples of their instruments.

The Rigel sound samples (http://www.rigelinstruments.com/publish/listen.shtml) are about as good as it gets in this respect.

I also really like the Peter Coombe (http://www.petercoombe.com/Sound.htm) sounds page where there are some fantastic Celtic tunes played by Martin Reese.

[Lee]

I'd like BRW's site more if my A-style mando picture would be re-posted. As it is, the Gallery has no A's and just the one photo of the whiteface A in the Instrument section.

[jim simpson]

I like simdaley.com because I can see Dan Tyminski holding my Daley #5.

[rhetoric]

Uncle Choppy ==

I agree about Rigel's tunes. I liked one so much I learned it, but when people ask what it's called I can only say, "A Rigel Demo Tune."

[Darren Kern]

I have to second Jamie Wiens and Chris Baird's sites, they are my favorites.

[JEStanek]

As a hobby luthier wanna be... Jamie Weins and Hydrilla's blogs are pretty darn useful. Tip o the hat to Hydrilla. No offense to the master craftsman/women who supply us with their knowledge.

Jamie

[Magnus Geijer]

I'm partial to the Silver Angel (http://www.silverangelmandolins.com) website myself. Of course, my wife built it, so I may be considered partial.

/Magnus

[Eugene]

If you don't mind a bot of early diversity, I kinda favor Barber & Harris (http://www.lutesandguitars.co.uk/). Click on "2006 Catalogue and Price List" and you can see a page dedicated to "Mandolino" (which, unfortunately is a much less exciting page than their guitar page). However, for a real look at art in reproduction luthiery, click on "Wire-strung instruments" to check out the thing that was originally called cittern.

[Uncle Choppy]

Uncle Choppy ==

I agree about Rigel's tunes. #I liked one so much I #learned it, but when people ask what it's called I can only say, "A Rigel Demo Tune."
Rhetoric - I'd love to be able to play any of those tunes!

Peter Mix's playing is fantastic. A few of the samples feature a lot of almost guitar-style arpeggios (not sure if this is "crosspicking"?) woven around the melody which I really like. He seems to be barely moving his right hand and yet a whole cascade of notes emerges. The harp-like sound of the Rigels seems to compliment these tunes really well.

As for the name of the tune that you learned, it might be worth asking here. Certainly I recognise the "R100 with Virzi" clip as featuring in Fairport Convention's Flatback Caper set of tunes and it sounds like an O'Carolan piece. "CT100 - clip 1" is another O'Carolan tune, "Si Beag, Si Mor".

Anyway, I agree that the Rigel site is a great source of inspiration. Even though the tunes are beyond me, there are some great ideas in there that I've used in a simplified way.

[Mark Walker]

Interesting thread. #

I work for a software company, and while most of our solutions involve custom applications on RF hand-held units, we also do some web solutions and design.

Websites - depending on the target group - are an inexact science. #While many people can crank out HTML code, there are so many variables relating to 'creativeness' as well as user-friendly layouts, bandwidth-hogging bells and whistles, too many images or animations, and other factors. #
(Not everyone in the world has high-speed Internet. I live far out in country with no cable-modem or DSL capabilities and just recently was able to move from dial-up to a high-speed line-of-sight wireless connection more info HERE (http://www.fnw.us)#via a tower 5 miles from my house.)

That being said, many of the mandolin websites I've visited (some via this thread) are very interesting. #Some I would get frustrated trying to navigate through with dial-up. #Of course, all are subjective; the developer or creative inspiration behind each and every one has to balance simplicity and ease of navigation with eye-catching (but not TOO large) images and simple and concise text. #

Bravo to all and their efforts! #http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[JimRichter]

I think the two best builder sites are Jamie Wiens' and Ben Wilcox's (BRW). In fact Ben's is really good.

However, I prefer Will Kimble's site because I'm a fan of his building and he's my buddy. I second the motion that Will needs some more eye and ear candy up there!

Jim

[Mark Walker]

http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif #Jim Richter can relate to my post earlier - being a Digital Artist! # http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

All three of those are greate sites. I - being a Silver Angel owner - like Ken & Laura Ratcliff's site; it's informative yet relatively simple. Links to graphics are nicely presented and there isn't a whole lot of initial overhead to gag dial-up users.

Of course - again - it's all 'subjective!'

[8STRINGR]

www.davismandolins.com
My favorite because Buddy is a friend of mine. I have seen first hand a few (but not all) of the mandolins that he's built and material he uses in building them.

Also, on Buddy's website there are two photos taken back stage at The Opry of Bill Monroe (on two separate occasions) playing on of Buddy's F5's and a A5 mandolins. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

[Nolan]

I've been spending a lot of time out on Neil Deans' web page... just trying to pass another 6 months until my mandolin is ready.


Neil Dean Mandolins (http://www.neiljdeanmandolins.com/)