New Smart F-5

[chubakkah]

Lawrence just emailed me the tracking number...due here tomorrow at noon. Lawrence has been just the absolute greatest person to work with...the greatest. It's an F5 Fern, and I haven't asked for pictures of the finished mando on purpose...I want the full experience when the case opens tomorrow.

Yeah...I'm just a little bit excited...

[George R. Lane]

Make sure you take a few deep breaths before opening the case. Otherwise you might faint. :))

[jasona]

Aw man, enjoy!

[Kerry Krishna]

Pay close attention to the Temperature too. Many Guitar Forums suggest leaving the instrument as long as 10 hours after receiving it before opening, to prevent the lacquer shattering...

[Marc Berman]

Welcome to the club! I love my Smart :mandosmiley: Post some photos when you get a chance. With the cold weather most of the country is experiencing I would definitely let the package acclimate before opening it.

[Don Grieser]

You have amazing will-power, not asking for photos. Congrats on the new mando and post some photos for us!

[Marc Berman]

You have amazing will-power, not asking for photos. Congrats on the new mando and post some photos for us!

I agree. Chip Booth a Cafe member and friend of Lawrence sent me many photos of my build. It got to the point that if I didn't hear from Chip for a while I started to need my "fix" :crying:and would drop him a line.

[SternART]

Woo-hoo!

[carolinamark]

Congratulations!

[Jim Garber]

So, is it past noon where you are? Did you receive the package?

[mandopete]

Yeah, inquiring (jealous) minds wanna see it!

[chubakkah]

Got it tonight. Opened it right away...it was over 60deg here all day, and it's been at the post office since this morning. Man, it's awesome. The wait was long, but worth it, and Lawrence was a great, great builder to work with.

I feel so fortunate to have been able to acquire great instruments from Lawrence and Fletcher (Brock) this year; great builders, and great people. I can't recommend Lawrence (or Fletch) enough...we talked about the sound I was after, and I left it up to him. He nailed it.

Chip Booth-
Lawrence said you had taken some pictures of this one...would you mind posting some more professional looking pics? I can't recall if there were other F5s in this batch, but mine is the tobacco sunburst Fern.

Back to playing!

[Chip Booth]

I was moving fast the day we took pictures of this F5 so I didn't get a ton of pictures, and they aren't the best I have taken. I haven't had time to do an editing job yet but here are a couple of rough pics to get it started. I will try to get a few more finished later this week.

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Here it is with a special friend! (More about this instrument later)

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I feel like one of the things that makes a top tier builder special is their ability to make a great instrument every time, and Lawrence definitely falls into that category. That said, some of his instruments speak more to my personal preferences than others. This F5 along with Mark B's are two of my favourites that he has made. Congrats, chubakkah! I know you will enjoy this mandolin.

[chubakkah]

Thanks Chip! I really appreciate it...those look way better than something I would have taken here at home, and I wanted to do Lawrence's work justice.

As I said previously, Lawrence was just a great, great builder to work with. This F5 is built a little different than one of his standards, just based on the sound I was looking for. We talked about the sound I was after, then I picked the tuners, Fern inlay, and requested a tobacco burst (I think he nailed it), and Lawrence did the rest. I was looking for a keeper, and Lawrence delivered.

Thanks again to Lawrence for a great experience, and a wonderful instrument.

Thanks again for the pictures, Chip.

Chris

[Chip Booth]

One more... That back is an amazing piece of wood, it looks wildly different from every angle, but always beautiful. I also seem to recall that you have a "speed neck" on this one. The neck is stained and oiled but unvarnished. I have a Smart like that also as does another friend of mine and I love it.

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