Gilchrist F4.5... MAN!

[Glassweb]

I've been looking for an F4 for a while now and today my dream axe arrived... a 2004 Gilchrist F4.5 ala Mike Compton's. Unreal! Near mint, incredible tone and projection, amazing woods with a 3 pc. maple neck, one-piece back, side binding on the body and headstock and Blohm "Handel Style" inlaid tuner buttons. Crazy, sick axe... has barely been played. Ok, so I have to break it in but what the hell... I'll suffer through it! As Taterbug has been known to say... Life Is Good!
;)

58087 58088 58089 58090 58091

[JEStanek]

...and a Kimble dola. Yeah, life is good. Congratulations. Very nice indeed!

Jamie

[Gary Hedrick]

Those are indeed a real treat to play. Had a chance to play one owned by a gentleman from Cincy at the mandolin expose' I hosted. You will have a blast with it!

[Don Grieser]

Congrats. That's a beauty and I'm sure it sounds even better than it looks.

If you can't get used to that fingerboard extension, I'll trade you a Model 1 for it. ;)

[doc holiday]

Yes! What a beauty. It's definitely in good company at your place
Congratulations, Play it with joy!

[sgarrity]

That thing's pretty enough to make ya write a hot check! It just doesn't get much better than that. Enjoy the tunes!

[Bill Van Liere]

So does it sound like an F4 on steroids or is it an altogether different sound?

Have fun breakin that one in, very cool.

[Mark Seale]

Oh that is a thing of beauty!!!! Was this a person to person transaction or did you find this in a store somewhere? I'm always on the look out for interesting Gilchrist instruments.

Post more pictures and sound clips!!!!

[Steve-o]

Glassweb,
Congratulations. That is an exceptional Gil. Strikingly beautiful. But wait, is that the DBT? No, I see frets, or faux frets. Enjoy your new acquisition!

[woodwizard]

Absolutely beautiful! Sure would be nice to have one of those.

[Jill McAuley]

Stunning and drop dead gorgeous!

Cheers,
Jill

[Perry]

Nice red head!

[pjlama]

..

[Glassweb]

Thanks to all the positive response... I guess I did the right thing! To answer a few questions... yes, it was a person to person transaction... yes it's like an F4 on steroids... all the great qualities of a great F4 only with amazing response, clarity and superb balance - a BIG bottom! It's a flat board and no... no faux frets (they're regular frets) and no DBT (see, i'm keeping my promise... really i am!). Don, I'm gonna try REAL hard to deal with the extension... T'will be tough... but alas!
Really the thing that excites me most is the thought of beaking it in, learning it's many pleasures and trying to figure out how to get my hands to adapt to going from the F4 to an F5 to a Mandola... three very different beasts these...

[Chris Biorkman]

Nice, buddy. Enjoy it.

[Glassweb]

will do! thanks Chris...

[frankenstein]

What Chris said..

[grassrootphilosopher]

Glassweb, I figure you´ll have to find yourself some people that will record you and your instruments to please our inquisitiveness about sound-/videoclips. Go to town Mr. Brown and get `em soundclips down.

By the way, nice instrument.

[JeffD]

Very nice.

Nice pictures too, well done. I will use them for my desk top.

[mtucker]

amazing response, clarity and superb balance

Now that's a sight for sore eyes, Glassweb! .. the completeness of these attributes are what separate the very best from the rest, imo. You can run the 'bang buck' stuff all night long, but when you side-by-side a really top instrument with Steve's, it totally blows you away how he executes so strongly on all fronts, not to mention how wonderfully charming they are, aesthetically. Best to you, brutha!

[Glassweb]

I really wish I had the gadgets to do a sound/video clip... I'm assuming most of you use something like a Zoom digital recorder for music files but how do people like Shaun make their vids? Hey Shaun! How do you make your vids? Please PM me if you get a chance. Again, many thanks to all for posting such nice comments... you're all teaching me a good lesson about online "graciousness".

[hank]

Holy Cow you got it going on again Glassweb, congratulations!

[Rob Fowler]

You are STOKED, Glassweb! So a Gil F4, the new Kimble dola....... what's the F5 you own? Anybody know how many Gil F4s are out there? You get pure envy from me!

[mandopete]

... yes it's like an F4 on steroids...

Or as David Grisman used to say "An F-4 with F-5 sensibilities".

Looking at the pictures a little closer now I notice that it appears this is not a raised fingerboard - is that the case? I saw the fingerboard extension and assumed that it was a raised fingerboard.

Would to to hear how this one sounds when you get a chance. Congratulations indeed!

[Glassweb]

Mandopete, the fingerboard is not raised. This mandolin is really very similar in most ways to a Loar-era F4 except it's got a 3 pc. maple neck instead of a mahogany one. Judging by Mark Daly's superb and comprehensive list of all Gilchrist instruments, it seems that he's made about 25 or so F4 style mandolins over the years. This one is pretty much identical to Mike Compton's and Mike was very bullish for me to grab it. Rob, the F5 I have is Loar # 79719 which I acquired a few years ago from Larry Wexer. By the way... Larry's got a very nice Loar on hand right now for a rather decent price. In some ways I liked the idea of having just one mandolin and one mandola, but oval holes don't get much better than this so I jumped on it. Gonna have to keep my chops up on all three beacause my left hand is very confused at this point...

[mtucker]

Mandopete, the fingerboard is not raised. This mandolin is really very similar in most ways to a Loar-era F4

Steve married the soundboard and fingerboard on my 5Jr and the combination contributes to producing walloping punch/ volume, clarity, and tonal range that really threw me when I first played it ... so i'm certain thats a monster you got there. Now back to regularly scheduled programming .. :cool:

[fatt-dad]

and on top of that you get to live in Bellingham too! Wow! What a life!!

f-d

[Rob Fowler]

Glassweb, Add 10x to my previous envy. Thanks for the info on the # of Gil F4s. Mtucker, DAMN those are some nice looking Gils!! Was your F5jr similar price to the regular Gil F5s? Hey......you took my line, BTW!:)) Well.....it's not really my line.....;)

[mtucker]

Thanks, Rob. i stole that line from you .. i got a nice pricing break since i wanted a mate for my Ajr.

Glassweb, besides your left hand, you're right hand approach probably varies a bit on that new hotrod.

[sgarrity]

if this isn't a MAS inducing thread, I don't know what is!

[Glassweb]

and on top of that you get to live in Bellingham too! Wow! What a life!!

f-d

oh Bellingham's not what it was back in the early 70's... i don't know how much longer i'll be here. mtucker those are some beautiful looking mandolins... what a pair! got to play one of those Ajrs at Wintergrass and it was excellent!

[grassrootphilosopher]

I really wish I had the gadgets to do a sound/video clip... How do you make your vids?

A Zoom Q3 is about all you need: http://www.zoom.co.jp/english/products/q3/

[Rob Gerety]

I really wish I had the gadgets to do a sound/video clip... I

Can't help with the video aspect - trying to figure that out myself - but you might also want to take a look at one of these sweet little multi track recorders -http://www.amazon.com/Tascam-DP-004-Pocketstudio-Digital-Recorder/dp/B001JJFR8Q. Cost is low - not unlike a digital hand held without all the multi tracking capability. Works easily. No drivers or interface required. Move tracks to computer if you want with a simple USB connection that just plain works. Built in mics are very good - but you can use external mics, or even plug in a pick up. The 8 track version is a little more $ - not much really- and adds a lot of useful features. I love this thing. Blows the simple hand held digital recorder out of the water in my humble opinion - and I've used both.

That Zoom Q3 looks very cool - I use a simple $150 Flip camera for that. Works pretty good. I'm sure the Zoom sound quality is better. But I must say I am really digging this multi track thing. Helps me a lot for practice - I can lay down rhythm tracks and add melody etc. Anything. Good stuff and I can feel myself improving just going through the exercise of laying down the tracks.

Nice mando by the way. Love those oval holes.

[Randy Smith]

Glassweb, that's a beautiful mandolin! Congrats!! And nice pics too. Please let us hear it soon!

[Glassweb]

A Zoom Q3 is about all you need: http://www.zoom.co.jp/english/products/q3/

Thanks Olaf!

[grassrootphilosopher]

Thanks Olaf!

You´re very welcome. Only I don´t know how to operate suchlike thingies. Also I am too impaired myself to (so far) post a decent soundclip. That does not keep me from wisecracking though.

[Glassweb]

Man, what a difference a day can make! I took the F4 down to Dusty Strings (Seattle) yesterday and had their repairman Dave Haxton tweak the truss rod and lower the action at the nut for me. NOW we're talkin'! I can not stress enough to all new players and pros alike what a difference a nice, straight neck and a low nut action can make in terms of playability AND sound. Dave did a superb job and it now handles and hums like a Ferrarri. This is without a doubt the finest oval-hole mandolin I've ever owned. Steve Gilchrist... you're a genius!

[mtucker]

careful! .. that Gil can become habit forming which may cause odd side affects...:)) ;)

[jim_n_virginia]

Good Lord almighty that is a BEAUTIFUL mandolin!!!!

So lemme get this straight ... you own a Kimble mandola, a Loar signed Gibson F-5 mandolin and now a Gilchrist F-4.5???

Man you must be living RIGHT!!! LOL! :grin:

Is that the mandolin that Mike used to own? If it is I've played that mandolin and is a HOSS!!!

[Glassweb]

Good Lord almighty that is a BEAUTIFUL mandolin!!!!

So lemme get this straight ... you own a Kimble mandola, a Loar signed Gibson F-5 mandolin and now a Gilchrist F-4.5???

Man you must be living RIGHT!!! LOL! :grin:

Is that the mandolin that Mike used to own? If it is I've played that mandolin and is a HOSS!!!

Hi Jim... well, I don't know if I'm living right, but at least I'm living! This F4 belonged to a friend of Mike's and he encouraged me to go for it as he had played it before and thought it was "happening". He was right! So anyway, each of my instruments has literally taken a lifetime of buying and selling and playing to realize that they don't get any better than these three... so maybe I'll just quit while I'm ahead and say "enough already!"

[mandophil(e)]

Uh huh. Good luck with that.

[Glassweb]

hey... Phil... you crackin' wise or what? i'm just speculatin' about a hypothesis...

[mandophil(e)]

Crackin', but not wise.

[Andrew B. Carlson]

Lloyd is smilin.