Jacobson #17 has found home....

[Markkunkel]

I have a great fondness and respect for your folks who make "playable art," and especially so for those who are passionate, smart, skillful, and nearby. So as someone an hour away from his shop, I have been following the work of Marty Jacobson (http://martinjacobson.com/id/, and have been privileged to visit and see his work several times over the past year. Everything about those visits confirmed my impression that Marty is for real: he has come up with an innovative and increasingly efficient way to craft, more or less reliably and replicably, mandolins with a striking aesthetic and a full and generous and distinct tone. So I asked him a while back if he would honor me with one of his mandolins, and he came up with this design (I told him it looked like what kind of mandolin might grow if you plant a mandolin seed).
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He proceeded to grow the mandolin through its seasons:

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until it was finished,

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and yesterday accompanied three of its littermates on a visit to our home where Marty placed it in my care:

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Wow. Full report to follow. For now, I'm very pleased and very very grateful. Bubinga back/sides, old redwood top, kingwood bridge, Honduran mahogany/maple neck, Bolivian rosewood fretboard and peghead overlay and accents, and a full and already mature tone. Loud without being brash. Playable art.

THANKS, Marty!

Mark

[Michael Bridges]

I had a chance to see your new baby a couple of weeks ago the the "Mando Tasting" at Marty's shop. You are a lucky guy! It's a beauty. You're gonna have a lot of pleasurable years playing this. Congratulations.

[Caleb]

Love the description: "playable art."

[bigbendhiker]

Congratulations on your new Jacobson mandolin. She's a real beauty. I'm sure you can't put her down. Enjoy!

I don't live close enough (Texas) to hear them in person, but I've listened to all of the soundclips and watched the YouTube videos numerous times and I've even run them through a small amplifier with speakers. They all sound awesome.

Just curious, what made you choose the one you did?

I'm real close to pulling the trigger on one myself......I almost have approval from the CFO.:):mandosmiley:

And thanks for not choosing one of the ones I'm considering. :grin:

[Steve-o]

Mark - Congrats my friend. I enjoyed your garden analogy and photo essay - some very artsy pics there. I take delivery on it's cousin #18 this week. We'll have to compare notes. I admire your tastes, and when I learned that you commissioned Marty to build #17, it was the last confirmation that I needed to pull the trigger on #18. Looking forward to your full report.

[mandolinlee]

Hi Mark and hopefully, Marty Jacobson -
The pictures of your instrument are beautiful. One question about the back -is the floral design inlaid stringing? It's very outstanding.
Lee

[Markkunkel]

Just curious, what made you choose the one you did?

I'm real close to pulling the trigger on one myself......I almost have approval from the CFO.:):mandosmiley:

And thanks for not choosing one of the ones I'm considering. :grin:

Happy that I could help, Scott! This one just seemed special and unique to me at its conception (I saw Marty's drawings, and we bounced some ideas around), so it was a very nice bonus that it turned out so well aesthetically (Marty worked VERY hard on the French polish finish, and it's velvety and deep) and sonically (to my ears it's the best of the bunch for the kind of folk-world music I play...respectable chop and "cut" and all that, but mostly a "round" and rich sound with very full and not tubby G and D courses and very fleshed-out sparkly and not tinkly A and E courses, and the blend of fundamental and harmonic, and attack and sustain, that I find very delightful)... Hope you can find a way to give one of Marty's instruments a home. They're unparalleled especially at the price...

MK

[Markkunkel]

Hi, Steve...SO glad that #18 is finding home with you! It's by all accounts an exceptionally good-sounding mandolin, with sonics to match its looks (and that's saying something). Please do let me know how you like it!

Mark

[Marty Jacobson]

Thanks, Mark, for your encouragement and patience. #17 mark II is definitely my favorite transverse-braced mandolin I've built so far. It's a hard instrument to set down, and the tone is exactly what I have been shooting for in a modern oval-hole mandolin.

I love it. But after working on it, and the scrapped #17 mark I, for nearly six months, I am glad to have it out of the shop and into your hands.

[Markkunkel]

Hi Mark and hopefully, Marty Jacobson -
The pictures of your instrument are beautiful. One question about the back -is the floral design inlaid stringing? It's very outstanding.
Lee

Hello, Lee... the floral design inlay on the back is CNC cut and then inlaid with a mixture of maple dust (from the neck carve) and epoxy, I think, and although lacking the grain of the neck maple section and the tailpiece inlay, it's very very "woody" looking and adds that last bit of "cool" to the instrument. Marty has such creative ideas...

[Markkunkel]

, I am glad to have it out of the shop and into your hands.

Me too, Marty! Thanks again...

Mark

[Jim Garber]

Marty's video of #17 mark II

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[OldSausage]

Mark, I know for a fact that you're going to have a great time with that mando, even though it's the only one I never got to play. Good luck with it, I hope we run into each other some time so I can finally get to hear it in person.

[Michael Bridges]

Steve, you're gonna LOVE #18! It's got the Nouveau F holes, and just a great overall sound. Plenty round and full across the board, but with enough balls to cut thru if you really honk on it. I was admiring that one at the shop, and it's evil twin, #19 were my 2 personal favorites of the new builds. (All were excellent, those 2 just spoke to me!)You a lucky man!
Mark - Congrats my friend. I enjoyed your garden analogy and photo essay - some very artsy pics there. I take delivery on it's cousin #18 this week. We'll have to compare notes. I admire your tastes, and when I learned that you commissioned Marty to build #17, it was the last confirmation that I needed to pull the trigger on #18. Looking forward to your full report.

[Markkunkel]

Thanks, David. Now I just need to work on Jerusalem Ridge a bit more (say, 20 years more)! Hope I get to meet you soon as well.
Mark

[Marty Jacobson]

A last video of #17 mark II, which I took minutes before hopping in the car to bring it to Mark.

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[Markkunkel]

Wish I could make grandfather's clock tick like that, Marty, but this beautiful mando of yours is doing its part, and then some. I am playing it daily and it is finding an even richer and more balanced voice, and has been rock stable in terms of set-up. Thanks again for all the many hours of work you put into it...what a gift to the world.

MK