Who is the best builder we've never heard of?

[frankenstein]

i'm gonna have to say Mike Blohm of course.. Jamie, i live about an hour from Jack Spira, pity flattops aren't my thing, still i should pay him a visit hey !! his guitars look purty darn good.

[JEStanek]

Frankenstein, You absolutely should pay him a visit. Jack's a great guy. His instruments are all very classy. You can hear his guitars played by Penelope Swales. For the quality and the sound his instruments are very competitively priced. Since Emerald is close to Gembrooke, I call him the Wizard of Oz.

Jamie

[Jim Garber]

Im gonna say Marty Macica of Schuylerville, NY. Very humble/honest builder of beautiful mandolins.

Very nice-looking mandolins and he is only a few hours from me. He must have some reputation if he can get these prices. Perhaps he is known more as a violin maker?

Macica mandolin page

[Steve G]

There's this guy in Prescott, AZ named Carl Brehmer who built my F5. He only built 3 or 4 mandolins and I got the last one. He really got a hold of some special maple. It sat in a music store for about 6 months and I finally checked it out. What a cannon! I bought it the next morning and all these years later, I've yet to play a mandolin I like better.

[Phil Goodson]

Ward Elliott should qualify as a "little talked about" luthier. You may remember him as a maker of some of the great Stelling mandos a few years back.

I just picked up #63 mando today. It's the only mando he made in 2008! Spends most of his time doing repairs these days.

Bragging & pictures to follow in another thread within a few days.

[Fiddler3]

I'd say Steve Donald out of Claremore OK...Kicker mandolin...don't know if this is the same that Mike Snyder was talking about the mystery guy in Oklahoma calling them Thumpers, but these Kickers have the VOLUME PLUS! Sells around at the festivals, ordered me one at Starvey Creek this fall. Can't wait!

[G'DAE]

Anyone ever heard of Orla Nielsen? I played a couple of his mandolins and was very impressed.
Bob.

[Mike Snyder]

That's gotta be him, Fiddler3. Wish I could get ahold of one for a test drive, as what I've heard is hearsay. the word i got was "LOUD", which ain't a bad thing.

[grags]

I am honored to have a beautiful looking and sounding two point built by Bill Neeley of Damascus VA. Beautiful simplicity!

[Michael Cameron]

Couple of names that have not been mentioned. I truly regret not acquiring an outstanding A-style,oval-hole mandolin made by Peter White. I believe he was in Albuquerque at the time(early '90s). Very plain,violin-like,with a great radiused fretboard...tone dripper.

John Zeidler's "Carrara" model mandolin is another one I wish I had purchased back when I had the expendable income. Check out John McGann playing a Zeidler 3-point on youtube. VERY cool mandolin and superb musician !

Not sure how many mandolins John Zeidler made. He passed in 2002. I would really love to see pics or hear anyone play their Zeidler mandolin. He also built exquisite archtop guitars.

c

[John McGann]

John Zeidler's "Carrara" model mandolin is another one I wish I had purchased back when I had the expendable income. Check out John McGann playing a Zeidler 3-point on youtube. VERY cool mandolin and superb musician !

Not sure how many mandolins John Zeidler made. He passed in 2002. I would really love to see pics or hear anyone play their Zeidler mandolin. He also built exquisite archtop guitars.

Thanks for the kind compliment, Michael. I'm also not sure how many Zeidler mandos are out there - less than 2 dozen, I'd say. There is a mandocello and a mandola owned by a friend of mine; both beautiful F style instruments.

I think there were somewhere around 180-190 or so total Zeidler instruments, including fiddles, electric guitars and basses, mando family, banjos, all size flattop and arched top guitars.

I have a tribute page here.

[Trey Young]

I haven't seen his name mentioned here yet, and rarely see it mentioned at all, but Robb Brophy who builds under the Elkhorn name gets a vote from me. I own his #3 build, an A5, which just keeps sounding better and better and looks great too. I am pretty curious about how his more recent mandos sound if his 3rd attempt is any indication I bet they are outstanding. I know he has a website, I think it's www.elkhornmandolins.com and he has a myspace page too. Check him out, good stuff. NFI and stuff.

[D.E.Williams]

I'm very new around here, and you folks may be well aware of him for all I know, but Dave Smith of Smith Creek Mandolins makes on heck of a Mando. He's one of the most fussy builders I've ever been around, and being from the guitar building side of things, I've seen some pretty fussy folks. Dave's instruments are fantastic. Here's his website.

[Sadee]

I'll throw in a vote for Bob Altman builder of Altman Mandolins... simply sublime.

[Cheryl Watson]

My vote is for Lon Williamson although he has been briefly mentioned in a thread before. Lon is a very talented and accomplished upright
bassist/guitarist/mandolinist/vocalist/songwriter/professional studio musician and he studied mandolin building with Monteleone. He definitely knows what a nice sounding/playing instrument should sound and feel like.

I now own his #4 which is roughly 5 yrs. old, and it is a fine, mature sounding mandolin with a very open response and it is VERY LOUD too! Lon either voices for light or medium gauge strings. My Williamson is gauged for light strings and it sounds very articulate and powerful with them and they are easier on my hands. It has a very Gilchrist-like tone, perhaps the closest to Matt Flinner's Gil and Greg Turner's Gil.

I have heard at least five of his F5s now (two of them are owned by Jason Thomas of the Claire Lynch Band) and Lon is currently building an A5. He uses either varnish or nitro per request of the customer.

The website link to Lon's mandolins is not finished yet, but contact info is here:

gatorbone.com

Cheryl

[bennygale]

Thanks for the kind compliment, Michael. I'm also not sure how many Zeidler mandos are out there - less than 2 dozen, I'd say. There is a mandocello and a mandola owned by a friend of mine; both beautiful F style instruments.

I think there were somewhere around 180-190 or so total Zeidler instruments, including fiddles, electric guitars and basses, mando family, banjos, all size flattop and arched top guitars.

I have a tribute page here.

Glad to run into you here, John. I will second the kudos.

I meant to contribute something to your Zeidler tribute page, but like many a worthwhile thing it has gotten away from me, too many instruments, too few hours. I am reminded again.

Fred Oster in Philly told me he thought JR might have built as many as thirty mandos.

I have played two, one in 1997, Elderly had it, it was new, it was wonderful, it was sold. Otherwise I would have had it for $7500. That sounds like such a pittance today.

Within the last couple years, Elderly had another from the mid eighties. It was completely unplayed and very much asleep. Still the glimmer of greatness was there. It was available at $25 k though I passed on it. At the time I had two Monteleones.

They did sell it for that in short order.

I have two Zeidler guitars. An archtop and a flat top. Both wonderful.

Here

http://www.myspace.com/bennygale

you can see and hear the archtop (on the YouTube insert), my Monteleone seven string archtop and hear on the first track my Monteleone teardrop which I love.

On the fourth track is a teardrop by George Rizsanyi of Nova Scotia which I like a lot. It isn't a Monteleone but at one quarter the price it works fine. My Monte needs frets so that is what that is.

A year ago I took the violin back up, something that I usually end up regretting and it is down with mandos. Not enough hours in the day. Although I have been playing a Steve Andersen mandola occasionally which I cherish.

That is all I know.

[bennygale]

Couple of names that have not been mentioned. I truly regret not acquiring an outstanding A-style,oval-hole mandolin made by Peter White. I believe he was in Albuquerque at the time(early '90s). Very plain,violin-like,with a great radiused fretboard...tone dripper.

John Zeidler's "Carrara" model mandolin is another one I wish I had purchased back when I had the expendable income. Check out John McGann playing a Zeidler 3-point on youtube. VERY cool mandolin and superb musician !

Not sure how many mandolins John Zeidler made. He passed in 2002. I would really love to see pics or hear anyone play their Zeidler mandolin. He also built exquisite archtop guitars.

c

I was meaning to offer the previous post also as a reply here.

[Matt B]

So I was walking around the campground at Grey Fox, and stopped to listen to some folks jamming. The mandolin was incredible sounding and serious eye-candy: a beautiful blonde, with just the right amount of bling. I was ready to bet that it had a red spruce top (it did), but between the dim lighting and the incredible consumables, I couldn't make out the logo on the headstock. Collings? Maybe a Gil? Nope. It was an Otis. "Who is Otis?" I asked. "Mike Otis," came the reply, "He's staying in that camper and he'll be here tomorrow." Well,tomorrow came, and I made it a point to meet Mike Otis. His mission is to make the best A-5 you'll ever see at the price point. So I was right: it's like having a Gil sound at a Collings price.

You can e-mail him at a5-mando@att.net to find out more. FYI, there is NFI on my part. Now, who do YOU know that the rest of us don't?

Well I must agree, having ordered an Otis 5 years ago and my name has finally moved up on the list. Each instrument is custom made so he can only make a few a year. If you are interested in a custom made A5, I would suggest getting on the list now. If you change your mind someone will happily buy the instrument! I have played one of his instruments and it is well worth the price. I will be parting with my Kentucky KM-1000 when I get my Otis in a few months. By the way, his email is now:
A5-mando@inbox.com in case you need to reach him.
Mike can be found at The Old Songs Festival in Altamont NY most years and he also gives mandolin and fiddle lessons for Old Songs.

[barney 59]

There was this mandolin player from Ohio that I met once and he was playing an F5 style mandolin that really rang across the parking lot. I was several feet away and hadn't really focused on it yet. I said something like "Wow that's a really nice mandolin" and he said "Actually,it's a piece of s**t". When he handed it over to me it was the worse looking thing I had ever seen. Like the only tool the guy had was barlow knife. It was in an advanced state of collapse and I thought it would blow up in my hands but it sounded incredible and played really nicely. So some unnamed guy from Yellowsprings Ohio made the best and the worst mandolin at the same time.

[barney 59]

[QUOTE=f5loar;580455]Let's don't degrad anyone and list who is the worst. Unknown builders are everywhere usually only known to locals. .. Wayne Henderson...

Wayne isn't an unknown luthier. He got a Presidential Pardon for it or was it a Living National Treasure designation--yah that's it! They write books about him -he's been on television-one of his guitars was in that hillbilly movie with George Clooney.There was a write up on him in PEOPLE magazine! He's pals with Hillary at the White House because he makes instruments and not even very many of them. There is a whole music festival named after him and he ain't dead. He's one of the few living people making instruments that are known to people who aren't us.

[adizz]

jason harshbarger I have played quite a few of his mandolins they are all amazing. He builds some interesting variations on "traditional" mandolins and an amazing f-5 he calls the copperhead. I have a copperhead and it is amazing. the people i know who have played it get that look on there face, like "eurika I found it"

[Charles E.]

Rick Stone of Banner Elk NC makes very nice instruments. While at a friends house last night playing tunes I got to play a matched mandolin and guitar Rick built a couple of years ago, fantastic.

[Markkunkel]

I want to nominate Gene Dellinger, making Kestrel mandolins and mandolas at the young age of 70 or so for only the past few years but taking it up so seriously that you'd think he'd been doing it for thirty. I've been around a fair bit of luthiers and their work in my time and his (fit, finish, aesthetic, playability, tone, dynamics) is as good as any I've played...plus his instruments are so cool. Here is a review I posted over in the CBOM section: http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=48544 and some pics. VERY cool....

[Fstpicker]

Elmo MacDonald from Fredricton Junction, New Brunswick. Been building mandolins for 40 + years.

+1 !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Right on!!

Jeff

[PhilTod]

Just a comment on the above mentioned Zeidler Carrara model mandolin. A few years ago I was selling high end acoustic instruments in a nice retail store, and a customer came in looking at mandolins. He had a case with him and as I proceeded to assist him, he opened the case and pulled out a Zeidler Carrara. He was a personal friend of John's from Philadelphia days which was how he obtained this mandolin. I knew of John Zeidler from his guitar building (never seeing one, just reading about them) and knew he was a highly respected luthier.

This instrument was simply Remarkable! I have owned and been around lots and lots of very high end instruments for many years, but this was definitely one of those top 1 percenters! It sounded and played like a dream, but probably what stuck with me more than anything was the design and quality of the build-ASTOUNDING. I don't know if I have ever held a cleaner, more visually stunning instrument in my life-it was absolutely gorgeous....