New Phoenix Jazz Mandolin

[evanreilly]

Rolfe Gerhardt of Phoenix Mandolins has passed on the following information to me:

"A jazz mandolin is now being developed by Phoenix to utilize some excellent new
light mandolin strings made of flat-wound stainless steel with a wound A-string made
by LaBella. The combination of the strings and the design of the mandolin will
offer exceptional playability, a wider tonal range, and great sustain. The jazz
mandolin will be built with a premium-grade European spruce top with the acclaimed
Neoclassical-type tone bars for full response and projection. Highly figured soft
maple will be used for the body and neck. The headstock overlay, fingerboard,
tailpiece overlay, and finger rest will be of warmly-striped Macassar
ebony---perfect for the Deluxe finish. Small snail dots will provide position
markers both on the side of the fingerboard and along the base edge of the face of
the fingerboard. The McIntyre pickup with end pin jack will be included. The price
will be $4,000. including case."

[Pete Martin]

Any pics?

[BlueMt.]

Evan, Is this different from the new upgraded Neoclassical? It sure sounds interesting.

[evanreilly]

It isn't on the Phoenix (http://www.phoenixmandolins.com/) website yet.

[Brian Aldridge]

Thanks for the heads up Evan. I have some LaBella flatwounds coming, and am anxious to see how I like them. DBFS uses LaBella strings, and I really like the heavy mando strings. 12,17,26, 40. Not sure what gauges the flatwounds are yet.

[evanreilly]

BA:
That is the same set gauge i use, after experimentation. I get them in bulk from juststrings.com
Rolfe seems to be branching out a bit nowadays....

[PhilGE]

A jazz mandolin is now being developed by Phoenix to utilize some excellent new
light mandolin strings made of flat-wound stainless steel with a wound A-string made
by LaBella.

Just visited the LaBella site and saw no info on these. Also visited the juststrings.com site and didn't find them. Could someone point me directly to a link for these light gauge stainless steel flat wound strings for mandolin? I love my T-I's, but they are pricey.

[Ted Eschliman]

If it's the MF10 Labellas, these are a very new string. I hope to have some of these available on my website soon.
They feel very much like the TI's, except they are a tad brighter in sound.
I probably won't replace my TI's with these yet, but these are definitely a contender. Price is about 1/2, and Labella is known for it's quality niche products.
Gauges are interesting: 11 15 24 31. However, the A string is not wound on the prototype set I've had the last three weeks.
I'll be interested to see if they have the longevity of the TI's; if I can get 3-4 times the life out of them, they will be a steal, but it will be another 4 or 5 months before I can make that judgement.
Still, I think this will be an interesting contender. I've met no success talking D'addario's A.R. department into offering a lighter gauge EXP string. The EXP74 is the lightest and it's just too much for my style of playing. (Can't even get singles)
I'm excited to see Rolfe and Labella tackled this underserved market, though. Nice to have choices.

[Ted Eschliman]

Update--I did place a stock order for the MF10 strings, ETA one week. I don't have exact pricing yet (even if I did, I don't like to do commerce on the Discussion Board). I'd be happy to answer questions offline at ted@jazzmando.com . They are significantly less than the TIs, as they are not imported.

http://www.tannah.net/ted/images/MF10.jpg

I also just found out about the MF20 with the wound A, though I am waiting for some samples next week. Not 100% on the gauging, but Rolfe tells me they are 010 / .020w / .026w / .033w with the A as a wound string. I'll have more on this next week when I get some samples.
I have a quick sound sample I just kind of threw together on my Q-95
here (http://tannah.net/ted/MBMp3/LPIASM.mp3).

[PhilGE]

Looking forward to hearing more about both sets, Ted, especially the MF20's.
-Phil

[Baron Collins-Hill]

i just played a neoclassical (i think) that had the new super-light labellas on it. very very nice. those phoenixs are amazing.