I am finally posting on my new Hester F5 mandolin. Gail delivered it to me in February, one week before Wintergrass. I had been on the "list" for quite some time. And believe me, Gail has quite a list, and deservedly so. Anyway, during the entire time I was waiting for my mando, I had a nagging fear of "what if I don't like it" or "it doesn't turn out like I hope". I even had a dream where it looked and sounded like a plastic blue Smurf guitar like the ones you find at Toys-R-Us. So when Gail handed it me (my mando, not the Smurf guitar) and I played the first note, I knew it was everything I hoped it would be. During the time that I was waiting for my mando, I tried lots of great mandos, including Kimble, Duff, Red Diamond, Altman, Gibson, Dudenbostle, Nugget, and others. All of them good. To my taste, Gail's mandos are up there with the rest. In fact, to my taste, she's in the same league as the Dudenbostel and Nugget. Her craftmanship is second to none. Everything is done by hand, no CNC. If you are a fan of the Loar sound, you will find her mandos to your liking. A couple summers ago the mandolin player in my group played his Hester and a Loar together in comparison. Same feel, same sound. Anyway, while at Wintergrass, I put my Hester in the hands of anyone and everyone I could, including David Grisman, Ronnie McCoury, Lou Reid. All of them seemed to be impressed with my mando. Anyway, I love this thing. I can't wait to get home from work everyday to play it. I know that I'm spoutin off about how great Gail's mandos are, but every day I see posts about comparisons regarding good mandolin builders, and they always include the names I mentioned above, and I very rarely see Gail mentioned in those posts. I can only assume that it's because she hasn't made as many mandos as the others, so there are less of them out there being played. But her name should be mentioned in those posts as she is a master craftsman and deserves to be recognized.
