Gil, Dude, Brentrup, Duff, Stanley, Collings, Pheonix, & Brunk

[DougC]

Brunkalla. A nice mandolin. Can you tell us more about it and it's builder?

Also I noticed the sound of the room in a very 'up front' way too. The bathroom effect vs the closet effect is certainly at play and it, unfortunately effects this 'tasting'.


If you use the room for 'selling' mandolins, perhaps you could add a rug and some drapery on the windows.

[Manfred Hacker]

Nice playing, but I am sorry, I don't think that this kind of pick attack was suitable to coax the best tones from these mandolins.
Even with my modest skills a Brentrup Stealth sounds very different. German spruce, red maple, here are two of the many recordings I did for the Song-a-Week Social Group:
Blue Grass Stomp

Midnight on the water

[Josh Levine]

Perhaps everyone should just send their mandolins to Manfred so that he can show us the correct way to demonstrate a mandolin tasting.

Thanks for sharing the clips. I need to get in on one of these mandolin tastings.

[Atlanta Mando Mike]

You guys did a fine job with the mandolins. The pick attack is fine, the micing is great for what you were doing. Mandolins sound different for different people. When we listen to a mandolin live it isn't close mic'ed.

[Manfred Hacker]

Perhaps everyone should just send their mandolins to Manfred so that he can show us the correct way to demonstrate a mandolin tasting.

Thanks, Weatherman, I look forward to receiving all your great mandolins.
I only posted this due to the above comments about the Brentrup.

[Demetrius]

Hey DougC!
The Brunkalla is a fine mandolin, it belongs to my brother Alex.
He'll chime in here and tell you all the details.

Thanks Mando Mike!
Yeh, honestly just a bunch of us got together to enjoy a nice summer afternoon of mandolins.We originally had no intention of recording or posting any of it, but once we had them all layed out on the couches, we started snapping pictures with our phones. Next thing you know we recorded a video on an iPhone so we could each take the experience home to enjoy looking back on. Then when I watched it on my tv I thought hey! Id love to share this with the fine mandolin folks on the cafe.I know videos arent always a true representations of the tone of each Mando, but I just wanted to share the spirit of these beautiful creations. The luthiers put so much work into them, that it's nice to just share with others what we can. I watch mandolin videos all the time on YouTube and honestly despite the sound, I just enjoy watching someone play on an instrument that they love. It's infectious.

[Demetrius]

On another note, manfred hacker I dig your videos...
Brentrups are to me some of the best mandolins I've ever
Played including my brothers stealth. Huge fan of those mandos

[f5joe]

These tastings are fun and the OP's effort is greatly appreciated. However, I would never select the "best" mandolins from any video ..... anywhere. In my hands is the only way to find a favorite. In the end, all of these instruments are worthy.

Thanks to the OP.

[Jim Hudson]

Great post. The Dude, then the Collings MF5, but they all sound great, and the Stealth is surprisingly sweet and fat sounding. the phone doesn't seem to record the lower frequencies well, which is important to me, but may not be for others.

[darylcrisp]

thanks for posting, this was a fun watch and i enjoyed hearing these and the style of play of the testers.

all of them sounded really nice. i preferred in this order, Dud, Stealth,Collings F5,Duff, GilChrist.

liked the MTV a lot as well, but to me it had a different tone than the others(huge MT fan btw) and stood out on its own.

the Kentucky sounded fine as well. impressive set of mandos there.

d

[Frank Farley]

Thought they all sounded great!

[barry]

Hi Barry,
#14

I think this instrument has the most mature sound of the group. That's the one that one that was originally made for Thile. Correct?

[Relio]

Thanks for doing this -fun to watch. I thought they all sounded excellent. I liked the Duff, Stanley, Gil, and Dude.

[stevedenver]

am i correct in thinking the brentrup has a swiss top? if its the one i think it is, its voiced a bit differently than his loar clones.

btw....thanks, very nice.....
but whut? no gibby for comparisons sake?

[Northwest Steve]

It was nice to have your post the videos. It is great to hear so many great mandolins all together, especially for those of us who would not get a chance to play these instruments. They all sounded very good to great, not a bad one in the bunch. It was interesting that the Kentucky was "revoiced" from the outside?
The one thing I would really like to see sometime is a blind tasting. To get the players opinions on how they played and we could hear the mandolin with out any preconceived notions.

[Mandobar]

the Brentrup has an italian top.

[Mark Wilson]

enjoyed! I thought they all sounded fine. The tune gave me an ear worm - thx

[TEvans]

Wait.....Officespace - Dudenbostel #14 was Thile's mandolin!

Wow! What an instrument to own! I thought it was Thile's because of the broken headstock scroll, but then I saw #14 and my suspicion was confirmed. Wow!

How'd you end up owning that instrument???

[Andrew B. Carlson]

Wait.....Officespace - Dudenbostel #14 was Thile's mandolin!

Wow! What an instrument to own! I thought it was Thile's because of the broken headstock scroll, but then I saw #14 and my suspicion was confirmed. Wow!

How'd you end up owning that instrument???

The missing frets up high is the giveaway that it was Thile's. The broken scroll too, but that's more common.

[stevedenver]

the Brentrup has an italian top.

that is what I meant, but the by the time I realized what I had mistakenly typed my post was not able to be edited.

lest I get my head blown off by those some this forum for the comparison, nay, using the two names in the same sentence,

I think owning a Chris Thile owned mandolin could possibly well prove to be right up there with ole bill or dave Appalon, at sometime in the future.......wow!

[Larry S Sherman]

The Bentrup mandolin project the most.

I couldn't agree more. Brentrups remain my favorite among the top builders, but someday I would like to own a nice bluegrassy Stanley for a while.

Thanks for posting the video!

Larry

[Andrew B. Carlson]

Surprised there were no Gibbys in that pile. But Duffs are looking more appetizing every day. Thanks for the MAS.

[tburcham]

Really enjoyed the Mass Mando tasting. I thought the recordings were just fine. While they all sounded great, I was particularly taken with Brunkalla and the Duff. The Dude was tops in my opinion.

[Demetrius]

Larry Sherman! You're invited to the next one sir...
Also here's my thoughts, the Brentrup was significantly easier to play than
Anything else we tasted. Actually everyone present would say the same thing.
It was the most responsive and that's saying a lot because it isn't been broken in yet.
Practically new? I also think it was the loudest and most explosive. Honestly a tragedy
Hans isn't building mandolins anymore.
Every mandolin there was simply beautiful in sound tone and appearance.
They all had their strengths. For what I do I like the dude the most, and very close to that
The brentrup, followed by the Gil, then the duff.

Thanks for all the kind words.
There is already talk about a 2nd
Mass Mando Meet, and we'll probably film that too, but
Until then my brother and I will make another video
Featuring our mandos.
The Brentrup, the Brunk, the Dude, and the Collings.

[Nick Gellie]

No Ellis mandolin there for comparison though!