Mike Compton's Gilchrists [Archive]

Don Grieser

Jul-01-2012, 8:03pm

After hearing Mike Compton's Gilchrist Model 5 and Model 4 up close and personal the last few days, I don't believe I've heard any better ff hole or oval hole instruments ever. Those two are as good as it gets. And he certainly deserves them and knows how to make them speak.

Rob Fowler

Jul-01-2012, 8:34pm

Nice, Don! Did you guys eat some taters, also? Yukon Golds? Red Creamers? You should post those photos of the Aussie mandolin tasting here, also. Those were pretty mouthwatering pics! Looks like you guys were having some good times!

mtucker

Jul-01-2012, 9:02pm

Don Grieser

Jul-01-2012, 9:20pm

The Duff dola was really great; the Duff F5 wasn't on his trip west. But there's nothing that comes close to his Gilchrist 5 that I've had my hands on. That mandolin is a living breathing monster. And the 4 is just as good.

BTW, he'll be in EDIT San Diego (not LA) the 3rd of July, and in California the next 2 weeks. Check his schedule at www.mikecompton.net

mtucker

Jul-01-2012, 9:25pm

BTW, he'll be in LA the 3rd of July, and in California the next 2 weeks. Check his schedule at www.mikecompton.net
will check that out ...that's a very happy picture of you two, it wouldn't have anything to do with that open bottle of red in the background, would it? j/k! ...many thanks for sharing, Don.

Just checked, San Diego 7/3 and Norcal after that. I was thinking maybe McCabes in Santa Monica... SD is quite a ways from LA...

sgarrity

Jul-01-2012, 10:20pm

July 17th he's playing in Encino and July 18th he'll be doing a house concert in Santa Barbara. I'll be at both.

Mike Bunting

Jul-01-2012, 10:24pm

A couple of years ago I had a face to face (or knee to knee) lesson from Mike in Owensboro and I still swear that his Gil is the strongest most powerful mandolin that I've ever heard.

Shaun, you would be a bigger fool than me if you missed that opportunity!

Don Grieser

Jul-01-2012, 10:43pm

Mike, that's my impression of MC's Gilchrist too. And there's a whole palette of tone colors in it too.

Good for you, Shaun! I've seen MC a lot of times, and his solo show is something you want to see over and over. Powerful playing and singing.

Rob, we did have some organic red baby taters. Tasty!

evanreilly

Jul-01-2012, 10:55pm

And is that a KM-900 you are sporting?

Don Grieser

Jul-01-2012, 11:01pm

Nope, that's a Duff A5. It was an all Aussie mando gathering at my house. 4 Gils/2 Duffs

88725

mtucker

Jul-01-2012, 11:45pm

July 17th he's playing in Encino and July 18th he'll be doing a house concert in Santa Barbara. I'll be at both.
i didn't scan down far enough. Where in Encino?

pjlama

Jul-01-2012, 11:58pm

I played Mike's Gil for a a while yesterday morning and enjoyed it very much. It's similar to the better Gil's I've played, it's close to Don's and 670, it's just been whipped by a special player and heck of a nice guy for 10 years. His F4 is pretty outrageous too, tuned ADAd it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. On Friday night he was closing out the show and asking for a request, me being the giant mando nerd I am asked for Get UP John and got it. I have video of the whole tune, holy smokes, I need to post it for you guys. My weekend went very nicely thanks to Mr. Compton and his PAC rim toys ;)

Mike Bunting

Jul-02-2012, 12:55am

Please post it!

Dave Hanson

Jul-02-2012, 1:13am

Mind you, Mike sounded pretty good when he was still playing that old Gibson A junior.

Dave H

Rob Fowler

Jul-02-2012, 1:53am

Rob, we did have some organic red baby taters. Tasty!

Good, Don. Good!

Man, I sure wish he would come up to Northwestern Cali and not just stop as far north as the California Coast Music Camp. Oh, well....

pjlama

Jul-02-2012, 2:14am

Please post it!

I'll pull it together tomorrow for sure, I just have a lot going on as usual.

almeriastrings

Jul-02-2012, 2:21am

Not to put you under any pressure.....:)) but we want to see that, like, yesterday!

Marty Henrickson

Jul-02-2012, 9:36am

+1 for "POST IT"! :D

Don Grieser

Jul-02-2012, 10:32am

I played Mike's Gil for a a while yesterday morning and enjoyed it very much. It's similar to the better Gil's I've played, it's close to Don's and 670, it's just been whipped by a special player and heck of a nice guy for 10 years.

The first note/chord I played on Mike's 5 just stunned me. Way beyond mine. Mike said I was treating mine too nice, and that's about to change.

pjlama

Jul-02-2012, 11:21am

http://youtu.be/zLk0JPnhHd8

pjlama

Jul-02-2012, 11:23am

This was shot with my iPhone so not the greatest but you get the idea. After the song he handed me his mandolin and told me to tune it :) It was worth the trouble. I have some other tunes, I'll upload them when I have time.

mandomurph

Jul-02-2012, 11:38am

AWESOME!!!!!!!

Mike handed me his Gil once after a concert and I was so shocked and stunned I couldn't think of a single tune worthy of playing so I just held it for a about a minute and gave right back to him. It had a great feel to it. Hope I get another chance some day.

CES

Jul-02-2012, 12:47pm

And people say mandolin isn't enough to carry a solo show by itself...I could listen to that all day long!! Just awesome!

Thanks for posting the vid!

pjlama

Jul-02-2012, 3:51pm

I really enjoyed his singing too. He alternates instrumental tunes with vocal ones so as a solo performance it rolls along nicely.

Don Grieser

Jul-02-2012, 3:55pm

Mike invited Jon Pickens and me to join him at the start of the show out here. We got to run through it once during soundcheck. I think you can hear the difference in the mandolins (and the players).

wbCOFrKJNj8

Tim W

Jul-02-2012, 4:10pm

Years ago the day before he left for the "Down From The Mountain" tour, I stopped by to take him to lunch. We got to talking about that tune and that I wanted to learn it and I just happened to have my F5 laying in the back seat.

He tuned it for me to "git up John tuning" on the way to Cracker Barrel and it stayed in that tuning for probably 6 months. Thanks for posting that video PJ, I haven't heard him play it before I don't believe.

Jonathan James

Jul-02-2012, 4:30pm

Mike's the best....great picker, great guy, good sense of humor, and fantastic taste in hats. What more could you ask for?

Really wish he'd do a DVD tutorial series on his Monroe-style approach...Happy Traum, you listening??

Mike Bunting

Jul-02-2012, 4:35pm

What a thrill!

Don Grieser

Jul-02-2012, 4:48pm

What a thrill! Yep, and as much fun as I've had playing music. :grin:

mtucker

Jul-02-2012, 6:02pm

Yep, and as much fun as I've had playing music. :grin:
very nice, Don. You sure looked like you were having fun! Both Gil's sounded great...although Compton's has been played into submission.

Dave Hanson

Jul-03-2012, 2:30am

Wonderful.

Dave H

Wilbur James

Jul-03-2012, 6:39am

Thanks for sharing, mike is an inspiration, I believe he is a living library of styles and songs and thank goodness he strives to keep those ancient tones alive, also not a bad mandolin he plays out the songs in his head. I have had the privilege of sitting in front of him on a few occasions, one memory that sticks out is when he played "The old gray mare came tearing out of the wilderness" it was awesome, he is a very nice gentleman as well!

Perry

Jul-03-2012, 7:37am

Really wish he'd do a DVD tutorial series on his Monroe-style approach...Happy Traum, you listening??

I often hoped for the same thing but when I took webcam lessons from Mike Compton I recorded them per Mike's suggestion. Now I have a library of personalized Monroe instruction videos. There's always some nuance to learn even after repeated viewing.

Still a high quality Homespun Compton DVD would be purchased by myself immediately.

MC handed me his "5" once too..he seems to do that a lot :) My first impression was how broken in it felt and sounded.

JEStanek

Jul-03-2012, 7:57am

I took these last summer at our Philadelphia Folk Festival. He said the wood came from a log on Sigorney Weaver's property IIRC. I wish I had asked to play it. I was feeling tallent low. Stupid mistake. How often will I have an opportunity like that again?

As magnificent as it was to see and shoot it up close, it was more fun watching and listening to Mike play it up close.

Jamie

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Marty Henrickson

Jul-03-2012, 9:11am

Thanks for sharing the videos, PJ and Don! The one chance I had to meet Mike, I got too distracted by spotting and talking to Roland White to approach MC.

AlanN

Jul-03-2012, 9:19am

I often hoped for the same thing but when I took webcam lessons from Mike Compton I recorded them per Mike's suggestion. Now I have a library of personalized Monroe instruction videos. There's always some nuance to learn even after repeated viewing.

Still a high quality Homespun Compton DVD would be purchased by myself immediately.

Somewhere in the stack I have a semi-professionally-filmed video of Mike showing his thing. He was in a classroom, there was a blackboard in the background. Must be an hour+ long DVD. And there was disclaimer crawl which basically said 'Freely copy and share'.

Anyone remember/have this?

Marty Henrickson

Jul-03-2012, 9:30am

Alan, that almost sounds like a command! :))

AlanN

Jul-03-2012, 9:48am

Just askin' if anyone remembers that, it was several years ago that I watched it and the memory is admittedly faint.

Don Grieser

Jul-03-2012, 9:58am

Alan, that was recorded at Kaufman--Mike's presentation on the Old/Lonesome tunes. I think the DVD said it shouldn't be sold but you should send Mike some $ if you got one and were learning from it.

Fred G

Jul-03-2012, 11:29am

Alan, that was recorded at Kaufman--Mike's presentation on the Old/Lonesome tunes. I think the DVD said it shouldn't be sold but you should send Mike some $ if you got one and were learning from it.

I think that is what it says. I might have it somewhere if someone wants PM me.

Mike Bunting

Jul-03-2012, 1:11pm

Somewhere in the stack I have a semi-professionally-filmed video of Mike showing his thing. He was in a classroom, there was a blackboard in the background. Must be an hour+ long DVD. And there was disclaimer crawl which basically said 'Freely copy and share'.

Anyone remember/have this?
Yes, I do. To avoid him being flooded with emails, I won't name the member who had them, he can respond if he wants to. I believe it was shot at a Kaufman camp some years ago and were available through this member for a donation to MC hisself.

blauserk

Jul-03-2012, 10:35pm

Thanks for posting the pictures and video, Don (and PJ)! You sounded great, Don. The fact that you stood on stage and played with Compton and did not burst into flame is more than most mortals could have done.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have some photos to save to my hard drive.

pjlama

Jul-03-2012, 10:54pm

My pleasure, I'll post some more from the concert but they are only sections of tunes when I get a chance.

Don Grieser

Jul-05-2012, 12:11pm

Here's the start of the second set out at Music Beneath the Mesa. The moon broke through the clouds, and there's a bit of light still on the rock on the mesa. This is about the best place I know to see live music.

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Earlier in the show, while it was still light, you could see the moon. Mike called Lonesome Moonlight Waltz. Wish I had had the chance to run through it a couple times more recently than I had. I made it through with just a few brain #####.

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Marty Henrickson

Jul-06-2012, 10:17am

Thanks for sharing the videos, Don! How great you got to play onstage with Mike!

RobP

Jul-06-2012, 10:48am

That was real nice don!

Mike invited Jon Pickens and me to join him at the start of the show out here. We got to run through it once during soundcheck. I think you can hear the difference in the mandolins (and the players).

wbCOFrKJNj8

tuhker

Jul-06-2012, 11:17am

What is the F5 S/N? I have 03539 and think I heard they were "in the same batch" for what that's worth.

pjlama

Jul-06-2012, 11:50am

What is the F5 S/N? I have 03539 and think I heard they were "in the same batch" for what that's worth.

He said that one is 10 years old and yours is a 93' so not likely.

tuhker

Jul-06-2012, 12:14pm

He said that one is 10 years old and yours is a 93' so not likely.

Mine is 03.

pjlama

Jul-06-2012, 12:31pm

Sorry my bad Dave. So it's probably very likely. Steve would know, he's always quick to respond to email, info@gilchristmandolins.com

pjlama

Jul-06-2012, 12:32pm

BTW Mikes mandolin is a hoss. I think the driver puts some heavy mojo in it.

Don Grieser

Jul-06-2012, 12:43pm

tuhker

Jul-06-2012, 1:51pm

I made some notes as we had them all spread out on the table. Mike's Model 5 is #536, so it could very well be from the same batch as yours. His Model 4 is #565. His two Gilchrist mandolins are the best of the best.

Here's his 4 in action.

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PS are you the same dave berry from the old CoMando days?

Cool tune, yes that be me. I think I still have your old 4 track cassette machine some-where's downstairs ;) I'm going to his workshop tomorrow so maybe he'll do a quick comparison.

Don Grieser

Jul-06-2012, 2:07pm

Cool. That old Fostex(?) 4 track made some good sounding recordings.

Take some photos at the workshop. I'd love to see the two side by side.

Perry

Jul-06-2012, 7:58pm

Don great quality videos. Really nice backdrop on that stage! MC has really got that solo vocal mandolin thing going great. Nice job hanging with the Tater! All your Gils sound "right" but of course.

ninevah

Jul-07-2012, 8:05am

How is Mike's Gilchrist F4 braced? The Gibson single transverse brace?

Don Grieser

Jul-07-2012, 10:19am

Yes, the single transverse brace. Gilchrist uses that bracing on his Model 1s as well.

Elliot Luber

Jul-07-2012, 11:03am

This was shot with my iPhone so not the greatest

YouTube lets you edit the video on-line. In particular you can lower the contrast to lighten the foreground. It's actually not so hard to do, but thanks for posting this -- it SOUNDS fantastic! Wish I could play with ease like that.

MarkusSpiel

Mar-06-2016, 2:04pm

Nope, that's a Duff A5. It was an all Aussie mando gathering at my house. 4 Gils/2 Duffs

88725

Together 100 K? :D

pointpergame

Mar-06-2016, 3:49pm

It is a delight to see what joy we take in these odd little wooden boxes. Isn't it?

JonZ

Mar-06-2016, 4:10pm

He said the wood came from a log on Sigorney Weaver's property.

Well, that explains the mojo right there.

I'm always skeptical of these "best ever" descriptions. People hear what they expect to hear. But it doesn't generally pan out when blind testing is done.

I'm sure it's a fine mandolin.