Re: Monroe Signature F5s
I am familiar with 2 of the Monroe signature mandolins. Both belonged to people I knew when I lived in Houston back in the late '90s. One was owned by Craig Coleman of the Coleman Brothers and, although I never had a chance to play it myself, I remember it being a very nice sounding mandolin. Not outstanding or anything to go crazy over but nice. The other was owned by a friend that I played in a band with. I played it pretty frequently and even recorded a couple of tunes on it. I have to say that it was a really average mandolin. At the time I owned a 1984 Kentucky KM-850 and, for the most part, I actually liked the Kentucky better. The Gibson Monroe was a tad louder but there wasn't really that much difference in tone. In fact I recorded a CD and used my Kentucky on all but 2 tunes and, several years later, was listening to the CD and honestly could not remember or tell by listening which mandolin I used the Monroe on. Not that it was a bad sounding mandolin, but for the $8500 that it cost in 1994(?), it wasn't really any better than my $400 Kentucky.
I have heard that they were pretty inconsistent. Some were very good and some were average.
Larry Hunsberger
2013 J Bovier A5 Special w/ToneGard
D'Addario FW-74 flatwound strings
1909 Weymann&Sons bowlback
1919 Weymann&Sons mandolute
Ibanez PF5
1993 Oriente HO-20 hybrid double bass
3/4 guitar converted to octave mandolin
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