New ludewig two-point

[B. T. Walker]

Dale must be approaching the top of his list since he sent me this pic today. Woohoo! Excited doesn't begin to describe how I feel about this. Wow! More to come in the future...

[fwoompf]

Wood can do some seriously awesome things! I bet it's going to rock!

[Steve-o]

Gorgeous figure. Please post pics along the way!

[mythicfish]

B.T.
I'm also a member of the "Dale Ludewig Fan Club".
Since Dale is a fellow fisherman, I guess it's no mistake that the figure in this wood reminds me of meal worms.
Stunning!

Curt

[Lane Pryce]

That is some real sweet quilt --- gonna be a looker!! Lp

[JEStanek]

Knowing Dale's work, that's just the start of a beautiful instrument! You gonna go blue or green?

Jamie

[F5G WIZ]

Wow! #What a nice peice of quilt. #Your getting the next Mandolin on my list! #I want one of those two points bbbbaaaaadddd! #Your gonna love it. #Dale is a great guy as you already know. #Keep the pictures coming. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[Dale Ludewig]

Thanks Brian, and Curt, and Darrin and all. It's going to be a beautiful back, thanks to the wood from Bruce Harvie. Ah, Brian you're not on the top of the list yet, but I figured (no pun intended- <g>) that I'd better grab that while I could. My main mandolin efforts these days are toward a certain special thing for a Mr. Lane.

Jamie, it's going to be a whole new color. And a new inlay pattern. Brian's idea and I'm going with it. This one's going to be tricky to pull off. I don't know if Mr. Monroe would go for it or not. But it'll be fun. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[F5G WIZ]

A bit off subject but Dale just sent me this picture of our first meeting in Tonwsend TN at the Old Timers Days festival. I didn't even know it existed. I'm playing his F5 and Dale is playing my first Neely 4 point. #You can guess which of us is the oldtimer! Sorry Dale. #http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif Actually if you look at that mandolin I'm playing it had a lot to do with the options I put into mine when I had it made. #I got the chance to play it again a couple years later, what a great axe!

[B. T. Walker]

This is the pic that pretty much says it all. Dale just finished spraying on the final coats, and it's got a few days to cure, then the new two-point oval hole will be on it's way to Tejas. My original concept was to have a gray mandolin, but after much research and sampling, we decided that it was impossible without obscuring the grain. So, a different color had to be chosen, and Ludewig Blue got the tap. Check this out:

[B. T. Walker]

Here's another of the side. It's got a better shot of the black and white binding. This is just after the first set of "final" coats went on, so it hasn't achieved its high gloss. No wait, it was before that, because the binding on the point now matches the rest. Still, pretty sweet.

More to come soon.

I'm getting pretty excited.

[Steve-o]

Brian - Wow, very cool blue. Looks great with that quilt. Please post more pics of the front, headstock, etc... Looking at your first post, you've waited quite some time for this mando. Enjoy!

[B. T. Walker]

All right. Just for you, Steve-o, since you asked. Dale only sent me a few snaps to show me how the color was going, so I'm hot loaded up with great pics. That's why I'll have to send more, better pictures another time soon. Perhaps next time it'll have a bridge, strings, and a James tailpiece.

Here's the top.

[JEStanek]

Two point ovals! A winning combination. Have you started learning "I'm Blue,I'm Lonesome too" yet?

Great looking mando, Brian.

Jamie

[Big Joe]

I love Dale's blue mandolins. He always does good work, but his blue ones really make me green with envy :) .

[Mark Walker]

Hey 'Cousin' Brian! That's a beauty! I LIKE!

We'll have to get together sometime deep in the heart of Texas and do some noise-making!

Congrats. Keep us posted on the next set of pictures! - Mark

[Ivan Kelsall]

I'm with Big Joe all the way on that one. I posted a pic.of one of Dale's "Blue Mandolins" in another thread about pick-guards. It's simply one of the most edible looking instruments i've ever seen,totally stunning craftsmanship & yours is up there with it. You're one lucky guy Brian,
Saska

[B. T. Walker]

Thank you Jamie, Big Joe, Cousin Mark, and saska. I cannot tell you how thrilled I am to be getting it. I already have one of Dale's Emory Lester models, green, and it is a real cannon. It absolutely blew me away, and I was so bowled over I ordered this two-point. Dale is the finest kind of person to work with, and anyone considering a custom order should give Mr. Ludewig a shout.

Dale tells me this is the classiest mando he's ever built, and that I'll need a tuxedo to go with the black and white triple binding and all that blue.

He also said he's going to try to put the final buffing on it on Saturday, then it's string 'er up, and we'll be ready to ship.

Ooo-wee! (That's French for "yes"). :grin:

Here's one more pic:

[kyblue]

Niiiice...

[Keith Erickson]

Very nice Brian...............How does she sound????

[B. T. Walker]

It sounds great, Keith. I really love how even it is treble to bass. Nice, full chords. So easy to play up the neck. And totally killer looks that photos posted here haven't done any justice.

My teenage daughter has taken my camera into the swirling vortex that is her bedroom, and pleas to cast it back to safety have gone unheeded, else I'd have posted more pics. I have to remind myself that "parenthood" isn't a word...it's a sentence. :grin: Keep that in mind when the Taterbug gets a few years on him, Keith.

[Dale Ludewig]

Well, I really thank you guys (and Paula). I have some much better photos which I'll try to get uploaded in the next day or so. Very busy here. Not just mandolins and woodworking. But! I'll do my best- a friend took photos with such resolution that I'm having some problems dealing with them. Nice photos though. Actually the photos are of my green one, DK's brownish one, and Brian's blue one, all together. They're nice shots that I couldn't have done.
Thanks again.
Dale

[GRW3]

I got to play this fine instrument last night... Wow! It's what you would expect from a custom built two-point oval hole mandolin and more. Brian and I met up at the local jam site for some chatting and plinking. Since this was a two-point party I took my Eastman.

Appearance: As usual with real quilted maple, the pictures just don't tell the story. You have to be able to move the mandolin to truly appreciate those pools of blue and their apparent depth. I don't know if I would really want a mandolin in quilt myself but you can't deny the stunning effect, I was really impressed by most of the details. The binding and purfling were just right in outlining and accenting the main feature, the quilt. While not a particular fan of pickguards I have to say the one on Brian's manodlin was tastefully done and well executed. It's a nicely finished, substantial piece carefully mounted to prevent interfereing with the soundboard or reasonably agressive picking.

Sound: I like oval holes mandos that are sweet and melodic. (I like Fs that are agressive and barky.) That's what attracted me to my Eastman. When I'm in a tune mood I prefer to play it. Lately I've been keeping it at the office for lunch time practice of Ted E's FFcP system. Brians's Ludewig is also sweet and melodic but with a lot more presence, particularly in the lower registers. It's almost impossible to describe how something sounds so I'll jump to a cheap illustration of concept.

I got a chance to play it for an extended time while Brian took an urgent call. I ran through a bunch of fiddle tunes and pop standards. The one that stuck for this discussion is "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". The thing that made Judy Garland incomparable with this song was her ability to belt out the 'Some' before the octave jump to 'where'. Well mandolins in general and ovals in particular (to me) tend to have more treble presence so in this song you often get an equivalent force response like "some" "WHERE'. You can balance that some with pick attack and force but you know that brings on different problems. With the Ludewig it's "SOME" "WHERE". This is a great advantage when you want to play some of those 'American Songbook' tunes that, originating from the piano, tend to use a lot more of the range than the typical pop song.

Like a lot of other ovals, it's not at its best in rhythm work. Particularly that agressive bluegrass chop style. Of course, playing Bluegrass is not likely to be the goal for this type of mandolin. What is it the drag racers say? Horses for courses? Well if Bluegrass rhythm is your goal get a 15fret, f holed, tone bared mandolin. It is better than the Eastman at some rhythm efforts like that soc type rhythm one would use on a tune like "Just Because".

A mando for me? Not likely. Being a 'horse for course' guy I'd be looking at an F5 clone in a custom mando. I do love the sound of the ovals and I could see upgrading to a new or used US built model.

Overall this is one fine mandolin. It's not for every task but then what mandolin is? All this goodness and it's not even played in yet. A playable work of art.

[dkolars]

Here's a couple of pics of the trio... these are the only 2-point oval hole Ludewigs in existence (for now ;) ) --- Dale's busy, so I thought I'd post them so's he can stay busy.

The left one (tobacco brown) is mine, a killer, I assure you! -- the green one is Dale's, and the blue one is Brian's. Brian's also has the 1st 1-piece MOP name in the headstock.

A nice looking trio, eh?

They all sound great, but mine has quite a few hours of playing time on it, so it is, naturally, the best :-)

DK... www.slingerlandguitar.com

[JEStanek]

Wow, man, really. That is a nice group shot. Congratulations to Dale and the happy owners.

Did I say, wow?

Wow.

Jamie