Visit to Schoenberg guitars, Tiberon, Ca
Hey all,
I decided to take advantage of a beautiful day and drove over to Schoenberg Guitars in Tiburon, Ca.
Definitely my favorite instrument store out here in California, if not my favorite anywhere.
It is just an awesome shop to visit, as they always have a cool selection of interesting vintage instruments.
I had a great time hanging out with Eric Schoenberg, talking mandolins and dogs.
They are very nice in there and are happy to let me play whatever I want to play.
Here are a few of the mandolins I played today:
Giacomel J5
Gilchrist F5
Gilchrist F4
Dudenbostel A5
Altman F5 (Owned by Mike Marshall)
Mid 1930s Gibson F5 (revoiced)
1934 Gibson F10
1942 Gibson F4 (Used on Tone Poems “Watson Blues” Track 15)
2 Gibson early 3 Points
Gibson A Jr
Lyon and Healey
There are some shots below.
The winner of the day was the Giacomel.
I had a bright refined tone, and played like a dream
It was open and even all the way up the neck.
Plus, it was just a beautiful thing.
The way the front and back are carved is so unique and cool.
I was surprised at how tiny the frets were.
I am used to fat Northfield frets.
The Dudenbostel A5 and Gilchrist F5 were a close second.
The Altman was a beautiful mandolin, but the Dude and the Gil were better.
One of my favorites was a little Gibson A Jr.
It was just fun to play and sounded rather awesome.
Definitely my favorite Gibson A that I played.
The two old Gibson 3 points were super cool.
They are louder than I thought they would be.
Lots of Mojo in those.
The Lyon and Healy was just very very cool.
I think it is my favorite Mandolin design, after the F5
The second winner of the day was an astounding Lewis 10 String Mandocello.
It was monstrous in tone.
Definitely the loudest Mandocello I have heard.
I also played a bunch of Schoenberg guitars, which are pretty magical instruments.
My favorite guitar of the day was a very early Gibson L5.
It was just a stunning thing all round, and had an astoundingly cool tone.
Unfortunately it was $24,000, so it did not come home with me.
After playing all those cool mandolins, I can home to my Northfield Artist 5-Bar, and I am still more than thrilled by it.
I prefer its tone, volume, and playability over anything I played today.
That is a good feeling.
Mandolins: Northfield 5-Bar Artist Model "Old Dog", J Bovier F5 Special, Gibson A-00 (1940)
Fiddles: 1920s Strad copy, 1930s Strad copy, Liu Xi T20, Liu Xi T19+ Dark.
Guitars: Taylor 514c (1995), Gibson Southern Jumbo (1940s), Gibson L-48 (1940s), Les Paul Custom (1978), Fender Strat (Black/RWFB) (1984), Fender Strat (Candy Apple Red/MFB) (1985).
Sitars: Hiren Roy KP (1980s), Naskar (1970s), Naskar (1960s).
Misc: 8 Course Lute (L.K.Brown)
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