I love my Stiver

[Garry Nance]

Hey y'all. I just joined the cafe. Not sure how it all works yet. Does anyone out there play a Stiver? I've owned one since it was born in December of 1986. I love it to death and it only gets better with age. I've played on lots of different mandos over the years and in my opinion they don't get much better than mine. Its got lots of miles on it and in it's 4th fret job. I've played several other stivers and mine sounds the best.

[JeffD]

Welcome Garry. I play a Stiver as well. Its a two pointer made in 2012. I have only owned it for a few years. The previous owner did a pretty good speed neck on it, which I wouldn't have done but have learned to love anyway.

Lou Stiver does a great job. Mine has a great ravenous barking chop and a sweet creamy tone that is perhaps more Gibson than Gibson if you know what I mean.

[Jstring]

I love my Stiver!

It’s my third one... during my MAS phase I sold my first Stiver, and then my second, to buy a Givens, then a Brentrup, then a Collings, and an Ellis... (not all at the same time, lol!) Today, they’re gone and I have a Stiver again. Best combination of loud chop, complex tone, strong G string, and clear trebles.

They are especially good value for the money... I think you’d need to spend $12-20K to get something better... a good Gibson MM, Ellis, Gilchrist etc might be a little better, I suppose. But not by much, and I got my current Stiver used for $3500!!

I’ve visited Lou many times in Polk, PA (he does stellar repair work) and I’ve gone to see his band, Wildwood Express. Great bluegrass band. Lou’s really funny and will talk music all afternoon.

His new mandolins with the torrified tops are supposed to be EVEN BETTER!

[Zach Wilson]

Hello and welcome!

Your mandolin and I are the same age. Right on!

[AlanN]

Dang, you might have the Stiver I didn't get. It was a toss-up in 1986 between a Flatiron F-5 Artist hanging on the wall at Mandolin Bros. and a Stiver F-5 at Elderly Instruments. I went with the former.

Where did you get yours?

[Garry Nance]

I got mine through Elderly inst. I actually got to talk to him on the phone before he started on it. He put giant frets on it instead of the smaller wire they usually put on them. I like the big wire a lot better than smaller wire. Big wire is far easier to play in my opinion. I live in Elk city okla. There use to be a pretty good bluegrass festival here. The Tennessee gentlemen played here a few times. I got to know Troy Castlberry. He played a stiver. He's the reason I chose stiver over other mandos. A few years later the band I played in performed at Turkey track festival in Waldren Arkansas. We were up before the Tennesee gentlemen came on. Back stage Troy tried to get me to swap mandos with him. I almost did. Whenever Troy would get a new stiver he would take a pocket knife and pop the tone bars off. He said it allowed the top to vibrate more. He also said the top would eventually the top would start to cave in. He said that's when he would call Lou to start another. I don't know if any of his mandos caved in or not. I recently had the privilege to play a Loyd Loar. A friend of ours bought it and was kind enough to let me pick on it. It was awesome but my stiver sounded just as good. I didn't tell him that.

[danmills]

I bought my Stiver from Elderly in 2005 and was cured of MAS for many years. Eventually it was badly in need of frets and some work on the nut, so I got to thinking I really should own two mandolins. I bought a 2008 Gibson Fern and have really been enjoying that. A couple weeks ago I got the Stiver back fully refreshed and I haven't really put it down since, except occasionally going back and forth between the two. They're definitely different, but I like them both.

On New Years Eve I got to spend half an hour or more with a friend's crazy collection of mandolins, including a Nugget, Gilchrist, Dudenbostel, and '24 Loar. I had brought my Stiver with me. They all had distinct voices. I'd choose the Gilchrist for solo work (rich full G & D strings), the Dude for what I usually play (bluegrass jams), with my Stiver a close second to the Dude. I didn't spend as much time with the Loar, which sounded pretty cool but was suffering from very low (original?) frets. Hopefully I'll get another crack at it at the next party.

[JeffD]

...with my Stiver a close second to the Dude..

That doesn't surprise me. I have sampled some really nice mandolins, I don't recall if I have tried a Dude, but I have come to the conclusion I would need to spend some serious money to do better than my Stiver.

Mine came with J75s. My normal go to strings are J74s, but I read somewhere (here at the cafe?) that Lou designed with the J75 in mind. Like having the tires recommended by the car manufacturer for your make and model.

It sure tears it up. And with a ToneGard I can focus the darn thing and get folks to blink.

[fatt-dad]

I miss mine! The nut was too narrow after I started playing at 1-3/16ths. Dude that owns it really loves it though!

Lou does great work!

f-d

[Stephen Cagle]

For so long I wanted to start a thread regarding Stiver and just never did. I wonder about your stiver?? I played one that elderly had so here is a good a time as any to ask about it. I'm not sure when you bought yours but I played one that I totally fell for at IBMA 3,4, or 5 years ago. It was a 85 or 86' and not a dark tobacco but a lighter color. It was in great shape and nut width must have been 1in maybe. I did everything in my power to trade for this Stiver but we just couldn't get close enough to make it happen. If this Stiver is not the one and who ever purchased the one I'm talking about I would love to see some pic's of it. Like I said it was at IBMA the last year it was in Nashville and Elderly had it.

[T.D.Nydn]

Without question Stiver makes just about the nicest 2 pointer out there...

[William Smith]

Stivers are real good horns! They are real popular here in Northwestern PA where I'm at and a bit further south as Lou lives in Polk, PA. He is a real nice guy, great mandolin player also, He has done some fret jobs for me on some of my old Gibsons. I have a few friends that play Stivers and they sound pretty good. Some that I've heard that stand out is Lou's personal A model with a 5 style neck and another one just like it that a guy plays down Lou's way-the only 2 like it I was told, made in early-mid 80's I believe.

? for Gary Nance-Why in the world would someone pop the tone bars off a mandolin, of course the top would cave in!! That's a bit excessive to ruin a mandolin that way just to get a better sound "for awhile", one can really take the tone bars down and it'll be structurally sound, and sound better. CRAZZZY in my opinion anyway. I thought I heard it all well almost all. WoW

Quite a few years ago I bought an old beat up Gibson A-50 and popped the back off and re-graduated it and fixed a few cracks and got a Siminoff A-5 neck and had Lou set the neck and put her back together and even with the bridge a bit in front of the F-hole points it had a great tone/volume! Also a perfect player, Sounded like an old Gibson but played like the Stivers I've played. I've seen it for sale a few times in the classifieds here and I'd pry buy it back if it was up for sale again cause it was a real decent mandolin.

[Rush Burkhardt]

Hey, Bill!
I think I have the A-50 you're speaking about! I bought it a couple of years ago from a Baltimore guy who said it had been reworked by Lou. It has a long neck with a slight radius on the fingerboard. The bridge is placed well above the sound holes. It is, for its breeding, a great mandolin!
Rush

[William Smith]

Yep that would be the one if there is a slight burst/shading on the sides of the peg head if I remember correctly, also speed neck with no inlays in board and head, I did the re-graduation and tone bars, I thought the overall piece sounded pretty good!

[Demetrius]

I'd love to see some pics of some Stivers!