Monteleone

[gibby24]

First of all I am not knocking John Monteleone. I think his instruments are visually exciting. I know that David Grisman used to play his instruments and I have no personal experience with his mandolins. I also know they cost $25,000 give or take to buy one new. David Grisman always said his 22' Loar was the best he ever heard. In this day of personal endorsement the best players have makers at their feet trying to get them to use their instruments. Part of the Strad violin--D'Angelico guitar--Gibson/Loar mystique is that really big namers chose their instruments to make music with. So, my question is has anyone really famous ever stuck by Mr. M's instruments and made a defining sound with them. Just curious.

[BluegrassPhilfromFrance]

Hello,
I have been playing my Monteleone Grand Artist mandolin since 1982 (the year John built it for me) and I have to say that, even though it's not the greatest mandolin I've ever played on (I recently played a 1925 Gibson, that used to belong to Ralph Rinzler, that killed me !!!),it's probably the most versatile instrument I've played since I can play bluegrass, jazz, irish, etc, ... And most of all,I didn't pay 25.000 $ in 1982 http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[jim simpson]

I don't believe that he's really famous but Don Stiernberg played a Monteleone on his '92 recording of Blues Skies w/Greg Cahill. Don also played back up guitar to Jethro Burns on Swing Low Sweet Mandolin on Acoustic Disc.

[AlanN]

Hey Phil from France,

I know dat der Rinzler mandolin (thought it was a 1926) and I know dat der mandolin owner. Both are nice guys http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Jim M.]

Mike Marshall has played his Monteleone mandocello exclusively for a long time now. The Modern Mandolin Quartet also plays a quartet of Monteleones for their projects. One of the best mandos I've ever played was a Monteleone A. I liked it better than a Gil, a Loar, and a Heiden that I played on the same day. I can't afford it but I would buy one if I could. I'm not a famous pro, though, so that wouldn't count.

[johnwalser]

Don Stiernberg is certainly FAMOUS in my home! With Don's talent, he could probably take an ebay $99 special, spend a couple of weeks setting it up and put out tone I could never match with a lifetime of playing the Monteleone.
John

[PCypert]

Hey I have that 92 disk from Stringberg and Cahill.

[BluegrassPhilfromFrance]

Hi,
What about the "Quintet 80" Warner Bros album by the DGQ ? I assume that David is playing his Grand Artist through it all ? Any idea if this album will be edited as a CD in a near future ? http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif

[BluegrassPhilfromFrance]

http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif I'm seeing Christian in concert on may 22, I'm gonna ask for the year of the Rinzler mando ?

[Christian]

Hi to everyone,

Phil, I believe Alan is right, the Rinzler Fern was built in 1926 (thanks for your nice comments, Alan!) I still remember the day you got your mandolin from Monteleone, BluegrassPhil, we ran into each other unexpectidly at the NY airport and we jammed in the plane during the whole trip back. I retrospectively feel very sorry for all the folks sitting next to us, although they assured us they enjoyed it!
Another famous user of Monteleone instrument is Paul Glasse. He's one of my favorite jazz player, and the tone he gets out of his Monteleone Style B is outstanding (check out "The Road From Home" on Dos records)

Christian Seguret

[krishna]

Hi.Kerry from Montreal here,and I'm weighing in. Be fore-warned,this is a little off topic.Before I got my Grand Artist in 89,(I ordered it 2 years earlier)I made some phone calls looking for encouragement from other owners that I had made the right choice.I knew of 2 owners that I could talk to.One was Stan(?) from Mandolin Bros.He had a 10 string Grand Artist that for sale.Because it was such a strange duck ,he was having a hard time selling it, and it #had been in the store for 2 years.(There was one sold in Europe last year for, I think, 34k US ). He did tell me it was every bit as nice as all the others he had played,and not to think twice about my purchase."They're amazing" he said.The other guy was a dentist from Montreal, who,when I called him at his office, said #he had bought a Loar 6 years previously,(14k)and was VERY happy with it. After 4 years with the Loar,he had then taken delivery of a Grand Artist. In the 2 years since,the Loar had only been out of it's case 3 or 4 times. (By the way,I have not been able to locate him since I moved here three and a half years ago.)I have personally played only 4 Loars so far.One was amazing,the other 3 were real nice, but sound for sound ,I would not have traded my mando for them.The only mando I've heard and played that I would have considered trading mine for was another Monteleone.It was the very last F5 model that that he built.And the owners wife had had a very hard time talking him into it.I certainly am not famous,but recorded 3 albums with it(all out of print) and it was on the road touring Canada with me for 5 years total.Gibby,Feel free to give me heck for posting this off topic thing...