That would be a very hard choice for me. I’m a sucker for one piece backs.
Silverangel A
Arches F style kit
1913 Gibson A-1
While I like book matched the best to show the symmetry, that one piece back has a very good balance and shows excellently as well.
Wouldn't be disappointed with either.
Not all the clams are at the beach
Arrow Manouche
Arrow Jazzbo
Arrow G
Clark 2 point
Gibson F5L
Gibson A-4
Ratliff CountryBoy A
Love that two-piece quilted Red Maple! Sweet!
Doug Brock
2018 Kimble 2 point (#259), Eastman MD315, Eastman MDA315, some guitars, banjos, and fiddles
Danny Roberts with a bit of his tune "Big Stone Gap" on his VX --
Steve
Well, here's a mashup of shots of Sorensen VX #92. I think it turned out quite nicely indeed.
I've been saving this piece of quilt since the first year I tried building a mandolin . . . so it's a relief that it went to a good use.
The little slab that I had was barely long enough, barely wide enough, and almost not thick enough . . . so I'm glad that I waited to put it under the blade until I had some clue how to make it work.
Steve
Wow!
2007 Weber Custom Elite "old wood"
2017 Ratliff R5 Custom #1148
Several nice old Fiddles
2007 Martin 000-15S 12 fret Auditorium-slot head
Deering Classic Open Back
Too many microphones
BridgerCreekBoys.com
After being on Steve's waiting list for nearly a year, Darren Nicholson's famed VX came up for sale a few months ago, and I bit the bullet. Darren's dialog and laser precise picking on his videos clearly demonstrated this instrument's ability to handle anything bluegrass.. but I felt I was taking a chance as to how it would respond to the other genres I play, which range from country, to folk to delicate orchestral material played with cellos and violins. I received the mandolin and was immediately stunned by the design and workmanship. After a quick set up to my own liking with a set of my favorite strings, I realized my concerns were unfounded. Darren's year with the instrument had opened it up beautifully, and Steve's excellent "facelift" resulted in an instrument of incredible beauty with an open and airy tone, shocking response and volume, flawless fit and finish and ease of playability second to none. Steve.. I know you really wanted me to wait a couple more months and let you build me one from the ground up to my own specs.. I almost did, but somehow I just had a feeling this one would fill the bill, and I was right. I have no reason to believe "consistency" is but one of your virtues. I have posted on this forum of another mandolin that I have owned and loved for several years, and it is important to note that I still own.. and love it, and play it a lot. With the VX I was looking for something just a little "out of the box" that would help keep me inspired in my remaining years as a performing musician, and to that end, Mr Sorensen has delivered. Now.. if we could all just get our gigs and venues back, we'd be in fine shape. Stay inspired. Keep your chops up. The day is coming !!
Incredible as always steve...stunning!
Wow, that is beautiful!
Is #92 your current build?
What an amazing build and backstory.
It would be interesting to know who ends up with this beauty... maybe a sound clip.
Here's a little write-up I did for Ron (SurfnPikr), the current owner of the VX played by Darren Nicholson in 2019, regarding the similarities and differences between the two mandolins and also the challenge of squeezing a mandolin out of the small billet of "Angel Step" quilt that I had been saving for so long --
Ron,
Usually I thickness plane the back wood to 0.68" before shaping. If memory serves, I was at 0.66, for this one and could still see a few saw marks, but was flat and even enough to carve. I left a little extra when rough shaping so that, by the time I was hand-finishing the shaping, I was close to the arching and thickness of a regular back. Of course, I left the recurve area a little thicker than I did on a hard maple back like yours.
The little block of wood that I started with for the back had less than 1/16" extra in width, and if you look closely, you can see that I slipped the upper half of the bookmatch about 1/4" to get enough to have the scroll length needed. It was touch-and-go as my Dad would say.
This quilted maple, which they call "Angel Step" figured maple, is much softer than the maple that I used for yours, so, at least initially, the response is warmer, but with a little less focus, a little less snap -- closer to traditional bluegrass response.
The top is from the same set of one-piece Sitka as yours, very similar in response, although I was less focused on the "scream up the neck" that I hear in Darren's playing, and more focused on "balanced woody response" for the shaping of tonebars and thicknessing of the top. I can definitely hear that difference in the final instrument. I actually ended up using a Mother of Pearl nut to give a little more treble edge to the mando.
Here are a few more shots of Ol' #92 --
That is one awsome back....this VX ...like all the others has monster tone right out of the box.
Click on the partial image below to hear Silas Powell and an open tuning of AAEEaaee on his Sorensen VX --
Steve
Last edited by Mandolin Cafe; Mar-30-2022 at 7:11am. Reason: correcting embed coding but the video was taken incorrectly for landscape display
He makes it sing!
Shaun Garrity
http://www.youtube.com/user/spgokc78
A great hallway jam from SPBGMA 2022 with Joey Lazio on his Sorensen VX --
Steve
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