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I love and have loved various F-5 models and an old Gibson F2, but when I experienced accelerating MAS, I decided that I could get much more bang for the buck with nn A model. Love my current A5...

Sometimes when I get together to play tune with friends, we may a lot of clam chowder. And it can turn into a tasty mix.

Ooo-La-La! Gorgeous! Now the wait during shipping!

Over the years, several Loar-signed F5's, including the Griffith's F5 (subjected to random hippie sanding & refinished in the '70s, and in sore need of new frets) all sounded slightly different &...

What a great way to wake up yesterday! Thanks for posting the interview!

My #1 is a Nugget A-5, which is all I should ever need. However, because of mandolin polyamory, I have a great Ellis twin point, a '23 Snakehead A, and a 1917 Lyon & Healy A. All have different...

I think Sam played Fiddle and Mike Marshall played mandolin on Old Gray Coat.

Tom:

There have been quite a few posts, and I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned getting a good set up. Often factory-built instruments have issues with high nut slots, the intonation can be...

Sounds Great, Don!

Jim:

I look forward to new licks in '24! Appreciate this series.

I got drafted to play electric mandolin in a pretty traditional C&W sometimes Western swing band and only had a MandoStrat and guitar amps. The band features a hot lead/rhythm tele player, a steel...

I'm lucky enough to be the temporary (during my lifetime) custodian of a mid-90's Nugget A5 - It is my holy grail ff-hole and a '23 snakehead plain-jade A that serves as the oval-hole equivalent.

An invaluable review for folks who don't have double-stops under their fingers yet! Thanks on their behalf, Jake.

That is very similar to the way I play tis tun, but the way I play it, measures 18 and 24 end on an A rather than Emin: 6-2-0-x. Great tune that Surette played so well!

I have two wonderful ff-hole carved top mandolins - one with drier and one more modern tone but missed the Gibson oval hole sound. I prefer the slightly tighter sound from a snakehead vs teen's...

Spectacular! Can't wait for the full release.

I don't know for sure what guitar Tommy is playing in the video, but he is a big fan of Mason guitars, made in Australia. He has collaborated with Jerry Douglas, and was all over MerleFest last...

Not quite Bluegrass, but always fun:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WotNXYSKDA

Good to see you back at it, Jim! Sometimes Life is what happens in between the plans. Hope all is well.

I have tried the line: "I just bought an expensive case, but look at the wonderful mandolin that I got for free!" And I do have an empty case...

I've learned a variety of ways: Violin with a classical violin teacher; I think my parents paid her to supervise my practice once a week at times. Jamming a finger playing JV football was the...

Thanks for posting this, Scott. Boy, if you miss a couple of days on Mandolin Cafe you never know what you're going to miss!

I have played the "catch and release" with a few higher end mandolins and the most frequent cause for release has been the neck - too skinny, too wide, too deep, not deep enough, too V'd, not V'd...

A couple of times when I knew there was a full flight and couldn't get early boarding, I've approached the gate agent before boarding, mentioned my concern about having to gate check my mandolin and...

NMC, but a legend who played in The Band with a mandolin player (or two):

RIP Robbie Robertson

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/robbie-robertson-the-band-obituary-1234803234/