Paul Busman
Feb-26-2011, 9:51pm
I got this a few years ago upon a tip from another member here. I've been loving it ever since. Paid a whopping $169 for it, but it stacks up well against "better" mandolins that I've played alongside it which cost upwards of 10X as much.
Last summer, I traded one of my exotic wood pennywhistles to a luthier/whistler for a refret job with higher fret wires, bone nut, slight fingerboard radius, and the fitting of a Red Henry style bridge:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v69/Brewerpaul/maplebridge.jpg
The results were terrific and I could hardly stop playing this puppy. Of course I couldn't leave well enough alone, so I swapped out the stamped tailpiece with an Ashton Bailey, spraying the inset area black for contrast:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v69/Brewerpaul/bridgeandtailpiece.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v69/Brewerpaul/tailpiece.jpg
Last week I finally got to see a Tone-Gard in action. Lo and behold, it actually worked, so I had to get one of those.
Not shown in these pics are the handmade Cocobolo tuning pegs I home made on the lathe to replace the garish white ones that came on the Fullerton. No further modifications are planned except perhaps an abbreviated finger rest if someone can post details of what they look like and how to mount one. I have plenty of Cocobolo to make one to match the tuning pegs.
Even allowing $250 for the luthier done mods (my normal price for a whistle) I think I have a terrific looking, playing and sounding mandolin for a small fraction the price of the "big boys".
Last summer, I traded one of my exotic wood pennywhistles to a luthier/whistler for a refret job with higher fret wires, bone nut, slight fingerboard radius, and the fitting of a Red Henry style bridge:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v69/Brewerpaul/maplebridge.jpg
The results were terrific and I could hardly stop playing this puppy. Of course I couldn't leave well enough alone, so I swapped out the stamped tailpiece with an Ashton Bailey, spraying the inset area black for contrast:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v69/Brewerpaul/bridgeandtailpiece.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v69/Brewerpaul/tailpiece.jpg
Last week I finally got to see a Tone-Gard in action. Lo and behold, it actually worked, so I had to get one of those.
Not shown in these pics are the handmade Cocobolo tuning pegs I home made on the lathe to replace the garish white ones that came on the Fullerton. No further modifications are planned except perhaps an abbreviated finger rest if someone can post details of what they look like and how to mount one. I have plenty of Cocobolo to make one to match the tuning pegs.
Even allowing $250 for the luthier done mods (my normal price for a whistle) I think I have a terrific looking, playing and sounding mandolin for a small fraction the price of the "big boys".