Stelling mandolin info wanted

[tterral]

Anyone have any experience with the current Stelling mandolins? How are they, they are fairly pricey (+/-$6,500 list I believe)? Good construction, tone, playability, etc.? I would be curious to hear anyone's experience with these mandolins. They look nice, but that does not tell me a whole lot.

Thanks.

[jtg423]

Stelling mandolins are overall pretty good. The craftmanship is very nice on all of them, but the sound varies quiet abit depending on the builder. I owned a
LS-5 stelling for awhile. It was built by Jiri Lebeda. The mandolin was beautiful and sounded pretty good also. It didn't have as much bottom end as I would have liked but it was a good mandolin. I've heard the Ward Elliott built stellings are great. And I don't doubt it I owned a Elliott A style for awhile and it was fantastic. But my advice would be if your looking at a Stelling mando is to find out who built the particular mandolin and get opinion's on that builder.......

[bradeinhorn]

i hd a lebeda stelling as well - saw it up for sale at mandolin world headquarters for 1500. that was a steal. wide neck on that one.

[Kevin Briggs]

I played an Elliot Stelling once and it was one of the best mandolins I've ever played. The mandolin player for the Gisbon Borthers also plays one, if I'm not mistaken. I got to try his at Grey Fox this year at the Stelling booth.

[tterral]

The new Stellings are made by David Houchens. I do not know much about David. I am wondering if these are a little over priced.

[Adam Tracksler]

John Hamlett (sunburst here) used to work there and made a few of them. He i an outstanding builder, I have one of his mandolins and it continues to amaze me. I would just call him and have him make you one.

--ad

[jtg423]

quote: tterral "wandering if they were a little overpriced"

I think most mandolins are overpriced. I know why they do it, because they can and somebody will pay it. And don't get me wrong I think a good craftsman and a luthier who can get that special sound out of an instrument should be rewarded by getting more dollars for what they build. But I just think it's getting way out of hand. Some of these prices are just ridiculous. The rate of increase is not matching the rate of increase on my yearly salary that's for sure. Well that's just my opinion and I'm sure alot of the other hard working people also. It really makes me appreciate the builder's that are still building nice affordable instruments at an affordable price. Their getting harder and harder to find......

[bradeinhorn]

The rate of increase is not matching the rate of increase on my yearly salary that's for sure. #
you say that like it is supposed to....

[Lee]

Would be interesting to know how many mandolins David Huechens has built at this location under this new arrangement using the Stelling name.
Janet Davis music has received one. Priced considerably less than $6500. But still high enough to help assure that "only a few will be built each year".
Wonder what David does full time?

[bradeinhorn]

houchens stelling (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hj4fNAfHv9A)

[tterral]

I saw the one Janet has for sale on her website and it was almost 25% less than list. Evidently, David builds his own as well.

[Jonathan James]

I had a Ward Elliot-built Stelling from the late 90's that was really great. Kinda wish I hadn't sold it to another Cafe member. Might be wrong, but I believe those are viewed as the best of the best Stellings to come off the line...

[jtg423]

[QUOTE] (bradeinhorn Mar 13 2007)
you say that like it's suppose to.


I'm going to justify this with a comment. If your happy with the increases than more power too ya! All I'm saying is it would be nice if a man could buy a nice mandolin without morgaging the house.......

[Bill Snyder]

Would be interesting to know how many mandolins David Huechens has built at this location under this new arrangement using the Stelling name. #
Janet Davis music has received one. #Priced considerably less than $6500. #But still high enough to help assure that "only a few will be built each year". #
Wonder what David does full time?
Different luthiers take a different amount of time to build their instruments and some CNC some of the parts. I have only built a few instruments for myself or my kids and never an F-style so I am just going by what I read, but I have read you can probably figure somewhere in the neighborhood of 130 +/- hours for an F-style. (I have seen some numbers suggesting quite a bit more time than this and some suggesting a little less than this). 52 weeks in a year at 40 hours per week is 2080 hours.
2080/130 = 16 mandolins a year if a luthier builds for 40 hours per week and only builds F style instruments and this allows no time for marketing or purchasing or bookkeeping or....
I just point this out to show that Mr. Huechens can build full time and may only produce a few instruments a year.
It also means that if his cut is one third of the asking price (1/3 for him, 1/3 for Stelling and 1/3 for the retailer?) he makes a whopping $34,600.00 a year.
He may utilize CNC and he may be faster than most at some of the steps and perhaps he can turn out 20 instruments per year, and the distribution of the proceeds may favor him more but I am pretty sure that he is not getting rich from building mandolins.

[fatt-dad]

There's a Stelling two point for sale at Picker's Supply in Fredericksburg, VA for somewhere south of $3,000.00. The top is sunk and the action is too low. It looked really inviting until I played it and looked it over. No idea how extensive the repairs would be, but it's there and for sale. . . .

f-d

[Lee]

Bill, your numbers are enlightening. Thx!
The Stelling on the YouTube video has a much different scroll than the one at Janet Davis.

[G. Fisher]

I don't think that is a Stelling mando but one of David Houchens own mandos.

[DryBones]

There's a Stelling two point for sale at Picker's Supply in Fredericksburg, VA for somewhere south of $3,000.00. #The top is sunk and the action is too low. #It looked really inviting until I played it and looked it over. #No idea how extensive the repairs would be, but it's there and for sale. . . .

f-d
F-D,
Did you try out that Eastman 915 while you were there? Looked great but won't play left-handed worth a hoot! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
Also, did you see the Mando-Bass in the window?

[David Houchens]

Hello, Thought I'd add a word or two. My name is David Houchens (the way I spell it). I'm only working on my 30th mandolin. #I think 16 of those are Stellings. I've been in the lutherie business for a little over 10 years. All of the Stelling mandolins I've built, with the exception of the first is red maple back, sides and neck. They all have adirondack tops. I make my own bridges. I don't stain or finish Stelling's mandolins. I take them to him in the white, strung up and set up to play. He likes to do the finish work there.On my mandolins (BRYCE MANDOLINS), I do start to finish.
No I do not have a cnc. I do have a homemade (duplicarver?) that I only use to rough in the outside. I leave plenty of wood to carve by hand. A duplicarver can't tell how stiff a given piece of wood is. I like to carve to the piece of wood rather than a given measurment.
Two people you can hear playing BRYCE#mandolins are Eddie King of Phoenix and David Kirk of Randy Waller and the Country Gentelmen. You can see and hear a few short clips on my website, www.brycemandolins.com.
I think Janet Davis gives 20% to 25% off of the retail price on the Stellings. My prices are on my site.
I'm not in competition(sp) with Geoff Stelling. My prices are a little less, but you don't get Stelling on mine.
I hope you get to hear and play one of mine or one of Geoff's. I think you will really like them. #Thanks, David

[fatt-dad]

F-D,
Did you try out that Eastman 915 while you were there? Looked great but won't play left-handed worth a hoot! #http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
Also, did you see the Mando-Bass in the window?
I played a nice white-face A3 and an F2 that they had in the vintage room. I tried to play the Stelling, but didn't pick up any of the Eastmans. I have in the past, but not sure if I played the 915 that you're talking about. The mandobass is a Kalamazoo and I plucked one note on it several months ago. I'm just not that drawn to these.

I really liked the tone on the A3 and the F2 - maybe overpriced, but nice mandolins!

f-d

[JohnSeattle]

I recently got a used (could have been new) 2006 Stelling S5 (No.128) built by David Houchens for $2900 bucks. I was looking for a good back up instrument for my 1998 F5-L Gibson. Guess what? After putting good strings on the Stelling and playing it a while I like the Stelling better than The Gibson. It took me a while to get used to the radius fretboard after playing the flat board. The Stelling is well made, has a great clean chop, very resonate and loud. I use the Gibson Bill Monroe strings and it sings!

[j. condino]

I'm pretty sure that a hundred or so of the older Stelling F5s out there were also built by Kim Breedlove around the same time as when John Hamlet (sunburst) used to work there. I've played a few that were very nice.

j.
www.condino.com

[sunburst]

Kim built #1 through #79. My first Stelling mando was #81. I left a gap so I could start with "1" and keep track easier. (I guess I figured I was going to build a lot of them.)
There was a busted one that Kim had started to re-top lying around in the attic of the shop, and when another employee decided to finish up that job it became #80, so the gap was closed.
Kim built S1, S2, and so forth as well as S5 mandolins.

[LandscapingFool]

I'm the proud owner of the Bryce F in the YouTube video. I met David Huechens quite by accident. I was looking for stone masons in the Charlottesville, VA area and his name came up. I had been enamored with each Stelling mando I ever encountered, so when I heard that David was the making the recent Stelling mandos, I contacted him and we talked for several weeks about him making me an F. I've had it now for three years and it continues to amaze me each time I play it.

Many Thank Yous, David.

It would be interesting to do a biographical account of recent mandolin luthiers. Many of them got their start thru the Stelling and Collings shops in the last 20 years.

Although some feel they're overpriced, the mandolins that have been made in the last 20 years rival those Loars from the '20's. Time will tell.

--Bill

[re simmers]

I played one about 10 years ago that I thought was spectacular. I am nearly positive it was one of the first, and may have been the first.

Mandolins, in general are not overpriced. If they were overpriced, then I guess more people will start building mandolins themselves. I am not a builder, but ask an experienced luthier how many hours they put into one mandolin. Then ask them how many mandolins they built before they could do it in that amount of time. Compare overall quality and resale value when you compare prices. Just my 2 cents.

Bob

[Willie Poole]

Overpriced mandolin?....You can buy a $3000 mandolin and play it for years and then try to sell it and you will be lucky to get half of what you paid for it unless it is a big name brand like a Gibson...So many imports now coming in that are sounding better and better with each batch that a lot of "GOOD" mandolins that are built by some of the lesser known builders won`t even get a bid on a re sell...I have two F models that are great sounding and put together dang near perfect and no one seems interested in buying them..... One was made by a cabinet maker named Mack Barnes and he does a top notch job of making things fit perfect and his inlays are the best I have ever seen......Maybe I should offer them to be reconditioned by the builders here on The Cafe... Willie