And this too --
https://www.facebook.com/FlattLoneso...3106376391793/
Steve
And this too --
https://www.facebook.com/FlattLoneso...3106376391793/
Steve
Hey brother Steve, That is a killer sounding mandolin! I wish I could have made it to IBMA! That mandolin has it all! You are making some awesome instruments!!!
Thanks, Skip! Missed getting to hang out this year! So excited to be working with Kelsi as she gets acquainted with her VX!
Steve
A bit more from Danny on the prototype VX --
https://www.facebook.com/danny.rober...7513338332586/
Steve
Here is a bit of video from Kelsi's first "test drive" of the VX mandolin at IBMA 2016 --
Steve
Zack Arnold and ClayBank take a Sorensen VX out for a test-drive at their IBMA 2016 Showcase.
Steve
Cool to see Danny Roberts featured on Bluegrass Underground's "Mandolin Mondays" with his VX --
Steve
What a beautiful work! Really exceptional !
A great bravo from France, Steve !
Jean-Luc
LuluMando
Here's a bit of The Grascals' set from the Bluegrass Kinda Christmas Festival --
Thanks to Rick Laitico for grabbing this video!
Steve
Sharing a bit of Joy!
https://m.facebook.com/danny.roberts...8120196183653/
Steve
So, when Kelsi Harrigill picked up her VX at IBMA, she asked if it would be possible to get one with block inlays and a shorter fingerboard extension. After playing the instrument for a few months, she decided that she wanted to keep the same instrument . . . which meant we were in for a bit of fingerboard surgery.
I met Kelsi at the Blythe Bluegrass Festival this past weekend, got to enjoy four sets of amazing music from Flatt Lonesome in weather ranging from an icy windy downpour under a fairground awning, to chilly sunshine at the outside stage. When it was time to head out, I nabbed the mandolin and headed back home to the shop to make the swap.
Here are some pictures of the progression --
Prepping for surgery
Board off
New and old boards
New board on
Everything in place - stainless frets
Frets leveled, recrowned, and polished
Ready to head out
Looks easy, huh?
Steve
Whoah, the new fretboard is a thing of great beauty.
She's a beauty!
The mandolin isn't bad either.
If it sounds anything like Danny's VX, it's a killer.
Drew
2020 Northfield 4th Gen F5
2022 Northfield NFS-F5E
2019 Northfield Flat Top Octave
2021 Gold Tone Mando Cello
https://www.instagram.com/pilotdrew85
Thanks Drew! Danny A/Bed his and Kelsi's VX mandolins while were at IBMA. Hers was brand new then . . . but we decided that they were essentially twins -- I used the same specs and materials, so that was the goal.
Steve
A couple of videos of The Grascals from this weekend with Danny Roberts on his VX. The mando break on Sally Goodin is just awesome --
Steve
Thanks for sharing that clip, incredible version of Sally Goodin. Danny was smoking, and really clean and creative. Congrats on buidling that great sounding mandolin too.
Thanks, Luna.
It is so delightful to hear where Danny and Kelsi are taking their VXs. Both The Grascals and Flatt Lonesome are working on new albums, and I can't wait to hear what they've cooked-up.
Here's a bit of some of Flatt Lonesome's set. Kelsi does a really cool break at about 1:35 which shows her take-no-prisoners synthesis of Bush and Monroe. She says she, "Doesn't want to sound like a girl."
Steve
Great, fast picking by Danny at 1:00 and 2:20 --
Steve
Seems appropriate for the weather in much of the country today --
Mando break at about 1:25.
Steve
What a totally awesome honor to get to see Sorensen VX mandolins on the Grand Ole Opry two weeks in a row --
Kelsi Harrigill with Flatt Lonesome on April 1, and Danny Roberts with The Grascals on April 7.
As a weird Southern California kid obsessed with bluegrass, old country music, and the musicians on the Opry, I would have never imagined this possible. Dang! I am ridiculously proud to be working with such great players.
Steve
Now you've done it Steve. You've VeXed the Opry with your Left Coast Alchemy. Congratulations on making the impossible imagined.
"A sudden clash of thunder, the mind doors burst open, and lo, there sits old man Buddha-nature in all his homeliness."
CHAO-PIEN
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