Silverangel F

[kyken]

7090570904709027090370901here's the latest from my shop. :popcorn:

[Pete Counter]

Wow....I'd give my left.................thats a nice mandolin!!

[Skip Kelley]

Ken, That F5 is awesome! I love the color! Beautiful looking wood! Everything about it is perfect brother!

[Mark Walker]

Ken - you always 'nail it' with that grain on the backs of your mandolins. Yet another beauty from the 'House of Silverangel!'
It had been a while since I saw anything you've crafted on the Cafe' - I thought maybe you were taking a sabatical! Keep up the great work! :)

[bobbyD]

I wanted to share with everyone what a great guy Ken is. He built me an F mandolin a couple years ago almost now. When I received it it played amazing at first and was beautiful. After about a month in the really dry climate of Colorado the top started collapsing. Ken took it right back and made it a priority to fix it for me. He carved a new top and put it on. He did a good job with trying to make it blend well with the varnishes, but if you looked closely you could see that it had been replaced. Since I am one of those perfectionist people I was a bit frustrated that it had happened. When I expressed that to Ken, he was amazingly receptive and said he wanted to do whatever it took to make me happy. He offered to build me a whole new mando! So I sent him that one back and now this is the new one!
This is absolutely going the extra mile to make a customer happy and I wanted to give Ken a big props and THANKS for understanding! He's a great guy and makes an amazing instrument!!!

[Mark Walker]

Bobby - you're right on here. By and large, virtually ALL the luthiers who frequent this site are super guys (and gals) and who stand behind their instruments to a fault. Ken is no different, and I don't know anyone who's got a cross word to say about his efforts and making sure you're 100% satisfied with his mandolins.

Funny story - Ken's father, Luke 'Buddy' Ratcliff - makes violins. (As does Ken's brother Steve - apparently the luthier gene runs in the family.) My wife and I vacationed in the Daniel Boone National Forest near where Ken lives several years back, and he insisted we stop in to visit him. After we'd been there a short while, his Dad (90+ years old at the time) drove up to the mountain top where Ken lives and joined us. Ken introduced him to me and my wife, and showed him my mandolin - which he'd crafted for me perhaps 18 months earlier. (Of course it came along with me on vacation.) His Dad played the mandolin for a few minutes, and then said, "Kenny - I taught you better than this! The action is too high on this mandolin - look at how this pick drops right through the strings at the 12th fret! Go take care of that!"

Five minutes later Ken had my mandolin down in his workshop and tweaked the 'feet' on the base of the bridge and got the action even better than it had been! You can tell he gets his fine craftsmanship and customer satisfaction integrity from his Dad!

(Ken - I hope you don't mind I told this story. That whole afternoon with you and your Dad is one of my favorite vacation memories!) :)

Regardless, Bobby you've got a beautiful mandolin there! Enjoy! :mandosmiley:

[Satchel]

The Ratcliff family are first class people!