Jim Shenk mando #172

[Ethan Setiawan]

I got this mando at the beginning of the month. Jim is a fantastic builder in Goshen Indiana who makes great mandos except nobody knows who he is! If any of the mandolin cafe cats are ever in Northern Indiana, I'm sure he would welcome a visit just to chat about mandos. NFI

[Eric Michael Pfeiffer]

Very nice....there are alot of great not very well, or unknown mandolin builders in america...and they are "everywhere"

[Denman John]

Very nice looking mandolin you have there! Yes, there are a lot of luthiers that don't get the attention they deserve. I'm amazed at some of the quality instruments that come from basements or backyard workshops. If you're not hung up on the name on the headstock, there are some fantastic instruments out there.

[coletrickle]

Great mando Ethan! I hope you'll post some videos of it...maybe a few more with Don!

Jim is a fine builder of mandos, as well as guitars and other stringed instruments. While he may be less known, it is not because of the quality of his work. I have an octave mando of his and it is both a great sounding instrument and a great looking one. One of his F-5 mandos is currently played by the Jay Lapp of the Steel Wheels, if you want to hear it on recordings. Several of his instruments were also featured in a band called the Goldmine Pickers, who Jay was a member of. That included two mandos, an octave and a guitar he built. That is how I learned about his work. Here are a couple picks of my octave.

[billhay4]

I'd like to hear it.
Bill

[Denman John]

Beautiful OM ~ please tell us more about it. Mahogany? Scale length? Headstock overlay? Gorgeous instrument!!!

[Don Grieser]

I dropped by Jim's shop with cafe member Phil Good-Elliot back in 2007 or 2008 when I was visiting family in Goshen. Jim really studied the Gilchrist Model 1 that I had with me. I was very impressed by the instruments I saw and played in his shop. We had a really fun jam in his shop that afternoon, too. I haven't been back to Goshen since then. Great guy and good to know he's still making instruments.

That octave is gorgeous and so is the F5. Congrats!

[Ethan Setiawan]

Here's a tune.

@coletrickle: That's a cool octave.
Jay Lapp's mando is #115 I think? Or thereabouts, the year is 2004. Jay's mando is great but Jim himself says that he's gotten a lot better at building mandos since then. He says he's refined the cosmetic details quite a bit since then.

@Don Grieser: Good to hear another cat that's hung at Jim's shop!

[Marty Jacobson]

That sounds like an excellent and responsive instrument, nice warm tone. Congrats. Nice picking, too.

[Don Grieser]

Ethan, that's some great picking and you're getting some wonderful tone from that mando. Very very nice! Congrats to you and Jim on that mandolin!

[Ethan Setiawan]

Thanks all for the kind words! As Don Stiernberg said, "now you won't need another mandolin til next year!"

He said this in December of 2013.

[Phil Goodson]

...

Jay Lapp's mando is #115 I think? Or thereabouts, the year is 2004. Jay's mando is great but Jim himself says that he's gotten a lot better at building mandos since then. He says he's refined the cosmetic details quite a bit since then.
....

I remember asking Jay about his mandolin a couple of years ago after a Steel Wheels concert when I noticed how nice it sounded. He told me about the maker, with the comment that few know of him.
If the mandos are sounding better than Jay's, you can't go wrong!

[Dobe]

Nice stuff Ethan, I like your Bowl of Bula & the Don Stiernberg stuff. I subbed !