Made it out to Irrigon, Or. today and met with Sonny Morris to see what he had on hand and to disuss a custom build. I left with a beautiful A5 (#393) and plans to start an F-style next month. This mandolin has beautiful maple back and sides and an Engelmann spuce top. 1 3/16 nut that makes for the most playable mando I have spent any time with. Fit, finish, action, and set-up are all stellar. Tone is a hard thing for me to attach proper adjectives to, but it already sounds great and I will get no small joy out of hearing it open up and mature. I have got to say this was best experience I have had buying an instrument in the 26 years I have been doing so by long shot. Sonny and his lovely wife were extremely warm and gracious (had 2 young kids with me). Sonny picked us a tune, gave me a tour of his shop, let me sample 7 completed instruments, and showed #'s 399 & 400 which were drying (both stunning). Just great people and wonderful instruments. If is feasible, I highly recommend visiting Sonny!
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