Do you have a "Top Five" list?

[Ultra Turtle]

I want to get out and play some some other mandolins.

I'd like to hear what your "Top Five" best mandolins you've ever played. Or top three....doesn't matter.

Woody tone and playability....

Go...

[Russ Donahue]

Pava, Collings Mt, Ellis A in that order...but the sound for all three was in a tight corridor.

[re simmers]

I won't count the 5 Loars that I played.

1. A 1980's Gilchrist.
2. My Buckeye.
3. A Sim Daley from 2009.
4. A 2005 Gibson Sam Bush.
5. Randy Wood, either #1 or #2.
Extra credit: I WANT to play a Hutto!!!

Bob

[Mark Christensen]

I've played two Harvey Gibson F5Gs in the last month. One was the loudest Mandolin I've ever heard with the most headroom right up the neck. The other was right behind it with pop and bell tones. Really outstanding for two new Mandolins.

[UsuallyPickin]

1. Lloyd Loar signed Gibson F5 1924
2. 1927 Gibson F5
3. Steven Glichrist Model 5
4. Lynn Dudenbostel F5
5. Michael Heiden F5
Let me add I have not played a Don McRostie Red Diamond but I really want to .....

[sgarrity]

Compton's Gilchrist F5 and F5
Byron Berline's Loar F5
My Heiden A5
A friend's Red Diamond F5
The Golden Gilchrist A5

[Mike Bunting]

No particular order.

My Duff
Compton Gil
JR's Loar
Friend's Weins.
Friend's Red Diamond

[fatt-dad]

my 1N
my Cohen
my '25 A1
my '20 A3
my Muth A5.

It's so rare I play somebody else's mandolin, but I do like my collection!

f-d

[JeffD]

Best at what? The mandolin that I have played that was (is) best for bluegrass, isn't my first choice for classical or old time. The one I think best for traditional Irish would not be the best for bluegrass.

And, truth be told, none of the "bests" were the most fun to play. The mandolin that was the most fun to play was not the best at anything, but is pretty darned good at a lot.

[sgarrity]

It was a pretty simple question.....

[Phil Goodson]

Nugget F5
My Duff F5
Herschel Sizemore Red Diamond
Duff A5
Gibson DMM
Gibson Doyle Lawson

[Jon Hall]

Nugget F5
Lyon & Healy Style B 1918
Gibson A4 1918
Gibson A2 1924
Weber Big Horn w. f holes

[JeffD]

Stefan Sobell bouzouki
Fylde Touchstone
Weber Aspen

for traditional Irish and Scottish IMO

[tburcham]

1. Gilchrist F5
2. Gibson Master Model F5 (one of Danny's former mandolins...lethal midrange power)
3. Gibson Sam Bush Master Model F-5 (this was a special edition, varnished I think)
4. My 2011 Gibson (Harvey era) F-9 Custom
5. My Dad's 2007 F9 (one of the loudest mandolins I've ever played)
6. Phoenix Bluegress model (wish I had purchased this one)

I've played a couple of Lloyd Loars...I was too petrified to really enjoy the opportunity, but neither of them rocked my world!

[JeffD]

Any bowl back
L&H style A assymetrical two pointer
National RM-1
Weber Sopranino

Most fun to play

[Dobe]

[QUOTE=tburcham;1322458]........lethal midrange power

My new favorite tone description. All I want in a mando is a nice 'woody' bark with 'crystalline' trebles and a 'lethal midrange' that plays like the wind, because buttah's too messy.

[JeffD]

The best bluegrasser I ever played was a 1928 Gibson F5 Fern. Not that there aren't better ones, that's just the best I have ever played.

[Spruce]

I won't count the 5 Loars that I played.

I won't either, because they didn't make the cut...
(OK, maybe the Loar A5)...

1: A Monteleone Grant Artist I used to own
2: Nugget F5 (#200 I think)
3: Caleb Klauder's Sullivan F5
4: A friend's Gilchrist Model 4 (quilted Bigleaf maple and Red Spruce)
5: My John Sullivan F5 (Birds-eye maple and Red Spruce)

[JeffD]

For slow moving emotional ballad playing, something I have been doing more and more of, the best I have played would be a Gibson F4 from the 30s. Again its the best I have personally gotten behind.

My second best choice for this kind of music is a Lyon & Healy style A, with Thomastic flat wound strings.

[Perry Babasin]

Campanella, F or Due style; Collings MF or MT; Silverangel F; Hester F4 or F5; Gerhart F5; Michael Lewis F5; Dudenbostel F5; Nugget A; Ellis A or F; and all the usual vintage suspects...

Really too many to mention, or limit to 5, ha,ha,ha.

[Pete Martin]

1 THE Loar A5
2 Reichmans Loar F5
3 1980 Gilchrist F5 8086
4 A2 1923 paddlehead (can't read the #)
5 TIE Comptons old Gil F5 and his Gil F4

[JEStanek]

For me, any mandolin someone is willing to put in my hands deserves a strum or a tune and a thank you to the owner. Now, I'm no great picker by any stretch but I know what my hands like and the more and varied instruments I handle the broader my knowledge about what I like will be.

I've been very fortunate to try, Old Wave mandolin and mandola, Crump OM, Foley mandolin, Labraid, Spira, A Loar signed mandolin, Collings, Rigel, Morgan Monroe, Martins, teens Gibson ovals, Lone Star, Johnson, Savannnah. Weber, Mid Mo, Ludwig, Brentrup.

I particularly enjoyed the Ludwig Greenie, and the Old Waves in terms of set up and aesthetics.

Jamie

[Jim Garber]

I want to get out and play some some other mandolins.

I'd like to hear what your "Top Five" best mandolins you've ever played. Or top three....doesn't matter.

Just get out and play as many as you can. My top five would not be your top five. It is (sort of) fun to make these lists or hear others but you really have to experience these for yourself. Get away from the keyboard and get out to a store or a festival. it might take some time. I have been playing for decades and I have a list but it took many years to compile it.

[WrapAround]

My list:

- Collings, MTO, MT, MF. but not MFO.
- Breedlove, but not the $500 ones.
- Eastman, various models, they aren't consistent from one to the other like those from Collings and Breedlove.

[sgrexa]

1) Nugget Ajr (the best I ever played or heard IMO)
2) Jacobson Nautilus (best oval I ever played or heard IMO)
3) Girouard F5 (can't decide if I liked my "jr" F5 or my birdseye better, both excellent)
4) Gilchrist F5 and A5 (both were killer)
5) Thile's Dude (exceptional)

You might have a tough time finding these at the local Guitar Center though ;> Good Luck!

Sean