Northfierld F5A/Gibson MM/Ellis Tradition Video Comparison

Hey Cafe,

My new Northfield F5 Artist 5 Bar arrived yesterday afternoon and am super impressed with it. Amazed at how well it holds up to my Gibson MM and my Ellis Tradition. Especially for being a day old! I was going to pick up the used 2016 F5A at Carters, but called the guys up in Marshall and they had a blemished (minor) brand new 5 Bar Artist ready to ship so I picked that one up intead. I was lookking for a 5 bar, but couldn't find one at any of the dealers. I stayed with Carter's to broker the deal since I started down this journey with them. Both companies were great to deal with -- a wonderful customer experience.

After the Northfield arrived I brought the strings up to tune and within 30-45 minutes it was warming up tone and volume wise. It really has amazing sustain and depth of tone especially for an instrument that is 1 day old. I can't wait to hear what it sounds like down the road!

So to head things off at the pass, because this community always asks to see and hear new toys, here is a video where I tried to do an equal comparison to all three of my F5's.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvcLpmn1y5Y

tbown...congrats! those puppies are very special indeed. Awesome:)

I prefer the Ellis, but I have an Ellis, so I'm hugely biased. :)

Beautiful instrument collection. Congrats on your new acquisition. They all sound great.

Yup, the 5Bar rocks.
It is nice to hear it next to the other two.
I prefer the Ellis to the Gibson, but I like the Northfield just as much.
The Ellis does have that nice sizzle that would be awesome for Bluegrass.

I have one of the early 5Bars from 2014.
Truly an amazing instrument.
I got to hear Dominick Leslie take it for a spin after a recent concert in San Francisco.
He called it a monster and loved playing it, and it sounded amazing to me as it was the first time I have heard it from the other side. After playing it a while, Alex Hargreaves picked up Dominick's Gilchrist and they jammed a Venezuelan tune. (“Amarilis” by Daniel Maiz).
Everyone was impressed by the 5Bar and how well it meshed with the Gilchrist.
They thought the mandolins were very close in tone, although the Gilchrist has a really sweet open "clunk" to the tone.
I am always amazed by the tone of Dominick's Gilchrist.


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Thanks for the vid. All 3 sound great.

I also prefer the Ellis, but the Northfield sounds great, and on par with the other 2.

Can't go wrong with any of them, tremendous. One of the things I noticed about the 2016 artist series I owned was how nice the high side became as I played it in. Truly professional quality mandolin. Congrats.