1985 Ratliff K4

[tmsweeney]

Just acquired this 1985 Ratliff K4 Mandocello, a beauty to be sure! The action is nice and the sound to me is great. Not sure what gage the C is but I am thinking its less than 0.70

Thought I would try a little Billy in the "Low Low" Ground on it.

[MontanaMatt]

That mando sounds great, congrats on the low low tones!
Happy pickin

[colorado_al]

What a beauty! Nice playing!
RE: C strings, most mandolin tuning pegs don't have holes large enough for .070 or .075 strings. If you're sizing up to those, you may need to ream out the holes in the posts to accept a string that big.

[tmsweeney]

Thanks guys, I 'm thinking its a 62 or 64 but could be a 68 or 70, gonna try an figure that out so I don't to do trial and error, never could manage those 72 and 74 gauge strings on other cellos I have had.

Love this box, hats off to Audey Ratliff!

[MontanaMatt]

My 2017 Ratliff is top notch. He's a master! Enjoy.

[mrmando]

Glad you're diggin' it, Tim!

Audey says this is the first cello he built. I found it in an estate sale and had Audey do some work to get it back into playing condition before passing it along to Tim. I can't recall if I sent Audey those strings or he came up with them himself. If they came from me the C string would be .070. You can call Audey, who's a pleasure to talk to anyhow, and ask if he remembers.

[tmsweeney]

Funny story - I had an Ovation Mandocello for a long time, and while it was cool, the neck just felt more like a standard guitar, well one day the bridge popped off the top, I kind of gave up on it, and so I survived on my custom electric cello, which also has a standard guitar neck, I almost bought one of those new Gold Tone Cellos, but the local store wanted to charge $200 non refundable for special order, so I was insulted enough to decline. I saw Bernuzzio has one for a very good price, and almost took the drive to Rochester, but this gem popped up on reverb and I could not resist! I can work with this neck, can't put it down and chomping to start working in the band (shameless plug) with it, though I'm not sure how I am going to amplify yet, (against installing a pickup at this point in time), and in other news - My wife is speaking to me again!