Just curious if anyone else here owns or has played one of these. I've played and stood in front and listened to 3 of these and each one sounded surprisingly good. Very consistently great sounding mandolins. This from a person that recently owned a Red Diamond 1922 Vintage F crusher voiced mandolin. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the F5G sounds as good as the RD. But I will have to say the difference isn't as great as I thought it might be. They do sound different, no doubt about that. And the RD has a little more chime and power. The RD is the best sounding mandolin I've ever hand my hands on. But the tone of the F5G is very well balanced with great body, balance, top end clarity and chime when compared to similarly priced mandolins (even some much more expensive ones).
As I had mentioned in another post, I had not expected the F5G to sound this good. I've owned one of the "holy grail" mandolins and was very spoiled. I was in the familiar but difficult position of needing another instrument (for recording purposes) and not having the cash to buy it. I needed a top quality banjo and they're not cheap. I know this is potentially blasphemous in mandolin circles, but the only way I could afford to get a great banjo was to work a trade for my beloved RD mandolin. So, after spending a few hours at Morgan Music auditioning both banjos and some $5000 and up mandolins Alvin Deskins and I arrived at what I feel was a very fair trade. I still ended up with a very good pro level mandolin and a DP Hopkins Phoenix banjo (they don't come any better). It's been about a month now and I'm more than satisfied. It was the right decision for my situation and needs.
Anyway, just curious if anyone else is as impressed with the F5G? It's a bit of a "plain jane" mandolin compared to some others that I auditioned but has a lot of understated beauty. Other mandolins I tried included a Daley F5 Standard, Collings F5V, Weber Rattlesnake and Yellowstone, a couple Northfields, and one or two others. My ears preferred the Gibson F5G. It sounded bigger, for lack of a better description. Nice chime-y top end, great mids and more low end than any of the others. Just better full-bodied tone and over all balance ...to my ears. Some may not like that kind of tonal spectrum and prefer the emphasis of certain frequencies but my ears prefer a balanced tone. I was afraid that I might not be able to find a mandolin I would like after owning a RD. Simply not true. I thought there was no way a large company like Gibson could turn out a mandolin that could match the small shop custom mandolin builders in tone or quality. Also not true. Would I like to another RD someday? You'd better believe it. But in the meantime this F5G will suffice just fine. OK, your turn.
Tom
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