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Thread: Namm 2019

  1. #1
    Administrator Mandolin Cafe's Avatar
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    Default Namm 2019

    Couple of surprises to start out the show. Just arrived so haven't had a lot of time to prepare much to report but for starters:

    The new Waterloo (from Collings) flat top mandolins to match their guitar line. VERY nice, pricing still under consideration but somewhere in the $2K range. Superb fit and finish, play beautifully, sounded great (both), radiused fingerboard. Left: WL-M Serial 2917, Solid Spruce top, Mahogany body and neck, Sunburst, Ivoroid top and soundhole binding, 1/5/16" nut, truss rod, ebony bridge, customer nickel tailpiece.

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    And, introducing the Eastman ER-M El Ray Mandolin - Top wood solid Maple, Back/Sides solid one piece Mahogany, Finish nitrocellulose, pickup Lollar mandolin Humbucker. Sweet! Didn't pick up an estimated price today but will look into it further rest of show.

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  3. #2
    Administrator Mandolin Cafe's Avatar
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    Default Re: Namm 2019

    Folks we ran into today: Dennis from The Mandolin Store, the entire Weber team, Collings team, Schertler (Dave, new U.S. Sales Manager), Christie and Walter Carter, Cathy Pelosi and Tom & Walter Ellis from Ellis/Pava/Precision Pearl, Dan from Peghead Nation, staff from Mass Street Music. Lunch with Roger Siminoff and Kali from Straight Up Strings. Now headed for street taco night with Adrian from Northfield. Grand old time to kick off the weekend and just getting started.

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  5. #3
    Registered User jefflester's Avatar
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    Default Re: Namm 2019

    Quote Originally Posted by Mandolin Cafe View Post
    The new Waterloo (from Collings) flat top mandolins ... customer nickel tailpiece.
    Dang, customer has to supply their own tailpiece?

    And, introducing the Eastman ER-M El Ray Mandolin - Top wood solid Maple, Back/Sides solid one piece Mahogany, Finish nitrocellulose, pickup Lollar mandolin Humbucker. Sweet! Didn't pick up an estimated price today but will look into it further rest of show.
    I just happened across it today on the TMS site.
    List:$1,299.00 TMS: $1,039.00
    https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/t...man-ERM-El-Rey

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  7. #4
    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: Namm 2019

    Quote Originally Posted by Mandolin Cafe View Post
    The new Waterloo (from Collings) flat top mandolins to match their guitar line. VERY nice, pricing still under consideration but somewhere in the $2K range. Superb fit and finish, play beautifully, sounded great (both), radiused fingerboard. Left: WL-M Serial 2917, Solid Spruce top, Mahogany body and neck, Sunburst, Ivoroid top and soundhole binding, 1/5/16" nut, truss rod, ebony bridge, customer nickel tailpiece.
    Hmmmm... very interesting. It looks like Collings either found a supplier or there is someone making repro cloud tailpieces. That is great news. And those mandolins looks pretty sweet, too.
    Jim

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  9. #5
    Purveyor of Sunshine sgarrity's Avatar
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    Default Re: Namm 2019

    Loving the Waterloo mandolin but $2k? Will probably buy one anyway to go with my WL-14.....

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    Default Re: Namm 2019

    Collings is making their own tailpieces.

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  13. #7
    Administrator Mandolin Cafe's Avatar
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    Default Re: Namm 2019

    I have not seen this mandolin in person. Brian at The Mandolin Store sent this and since Gibson is at the show we'll share this. Brian tells me David Harvey sent the photos and the mandolin is at the show. Not sure if I'll try to stop by or not. My experience in the past is that you had to have an advance appointment or you'd get turned away.

    Gibson F5 Hall of Fame Mon Master Model

    Hand Carved Red Spruce Top
    Maple Back and Sides
    Tuned Parallel Tone Bar
    Bound Ebony Fingerboard
    Aged Gold Plated Tuners (Grover’s)
    Reproduction Ebony Bridge (Bill Monroe)
    Hide Glue Construction
    Varnish Finish
    Vintage Flowerpot Headstock Inlay
    Pearl Tuner Buttons
    Aged Leatherette Case Embossed “Bill Monroe Father Of Bluegrass Music”
    Signed Monroe Label
    Custom Distressing done by David Harvey Master Luthier

    Retail: $35,529
    MAP: $24,999

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    Default Re: Namm 2019

    That is one beautiful case!

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    Registered User mtucker's Avatar
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    Default Re: Namm 2019

    Thanks for the pics and enjoy your stay! It's been cold in SCAL lately 50's to low 60's, but we're headed towards a nice warm weekend.

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    Default Re: Namm 2019

    Regarding the Collings “Waterloo” mandolins, funny how USA makers are re-discovering flat tops. Nothfield coming in with their own line earlier this year. Do those Waterloo’s come with a hard case included in that 2K price? Seems to me it should. As for the “cloud” tailpiece that’s getting so much attention, you can’t tell from the pictures whether it’s two piece with a removable cover like the originals, or something else. It could very well be a one piece faux cloud tailpiece, like the ones on the cheap-o Gretsch New Yorkers.

    Regarding the Hall of Fame Mon, how did Gibson manage to raise Bill from the dead to sign labels for them?
    Don

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  20. #11
    Lurkist dhergert's Avatar
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    Default Re: Namm 2019

    Thank you for the excellent reports and pics!!! It's like being at NAMM without damaging my hearing.
    -- Don

    "Music: A minor auditory irritation occasionally characterized as pleasant."
    "It is a lot more fun to make music than it is to argue about it."


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    [About how I tune my mandolins]
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  21. #12
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    Default Re: Namm 2019

    Have a grand time! I have not been to a big show in a long long time!
    Timothy F. Lewis
    "If brains was lard, that boy couldn't grease a very big skillet" J.D. Clampett

  22. #13
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    Default Re: Namm 2019

    That Waterloo logo font sure looks familiar... Kalamazoo maybe?
    "The paths of experimentation twist and turn through mountains of miscalculations, and often lose themselves in error and darkness!"
    --Leslie Daniel, "The Brain That Wouldn't Die."

    Some tunes: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCa1...SV2qtug/videos

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  24. #14
    Administrator Mandolin Cafe's Avatar
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    Default Re: Namm 2019

    Had the annual Northfield/Mandolin Cafe taqueria extravaganza and unofficial State of the Mandolin Union meeting last night at a location we refuse to disclose, blew close to $30 on a gut busting pile of 18 street tacos, a quesadilla and sodas at our favorite location remote from the NAMM Show and far, far away from the perfect little white Disney princesses. Always a great time.

    Got to play this beast last night, the new Northfield F5 (4.0).

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  26. #15
    Administrator Mandolin Cafe's Avatar
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    Default Re: Namm 2019

    Got the inside scoop on an exciting change at Peghead Nation from Dan Gabel. They have a new mandolin instructor coming on board to teach a style/genre they don't currently have covered and I couldn't be happier hearing who it is, but I'll let them make the announcement. Amazing amount of news, new products for just a couple of hours at the show yesterday.

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  28. #16
    Mando accumulator allenhopkins's Avatar
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    Default Re: Namm 2019

    Quote Originally Posted by Mandolin Cafe View Post
    ...Gibson F5 Hall of Fame Mon Master Model


    ...Retail: $35,529
    MAP: $24,999
    My house cost $41K. Of course, that was 40 years ago, but still...
    Allen Hopkins
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  30. #17
    Administrator Mandolin Cafe's Avatar
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    Default Re: Namm 2019

    Info from Adrian on the new mandolin. I don't state things like this lightly, and you shouldn't listen to me because it's obvious I have a long-term relationship with Northfield both as a friend and as a supporter/business partner of this site, but that was a mandolin I played last night I'd be proud to own the rest of my life, assuming I was in the hunt for one. I'm not. You should play one if you have the chance and decide for yourself. I love being around people like him, the Ellis', Weber team, Collings, Roger Siminoff and Kali, Schertler, Peghead Nation and others passionate about what they do as a choice with their lives to further this thing called music.

    His words:

    4.0: we call it this because it’s really the 4th time, in our 10 year history, that we’ve revamped our approach to the F5. New directions, new motives, new design/dimensions/fixtures/materials... new sound. Everything is about interpretation.. I think every mandolin player and maker is drawing from specific examples (or experiences) they have come across and as time goes by and the years start to accumulate you draw from a bigger well of information. For us it’s been about finding the links between the sounds we like, and the instruments we want to play. We’ve been incredibly privileged to work with world class artists and get incredible feedback (even buy precious instruments) from some of the best mandolin builders on earth. Of course, even those instruments, by those legendary builders, are interpretations of the old Kalamazoo made F5s. It’s kind of like the telephone game - they said/did this (pass along), they said/did this (pass along) .. on and on. And the story changes. The context and the application for how you use that information (irregardless of whether or not it’s still it’s original form) is what ends up being important.

    Our reason for going back and changing again was because we wanted a specific voicing. We wanted the toughness and clarity in projection, in a band context, that we had heard perfected by a couple instruments: a 1922 F5, an amazing reproduction of that instrument made by Mike Kemnitzer that I acquired a couple years ago, Mike Marshall’s F5 and one of our own Artist Series mandolins. We borrowed, we modified, we built examples and we recorded extensively in a variety of settings.

    The result: a more robustly built, mid range and high-end strong voicing with quick-to-sound responsiveness and the toughness needed to propel projection and carve out sonic space in an ensemble. These are all things we’ve been working on since we started on the artist series mandolins and this is the closest we’ve gotten to defining the character we like and a process that guarantees we can achieve it consistently.

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  32. #18
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    Default Re: Namm 2019

    That's what it is all about. Glad to hear about all you builders so passionate about what you do, and keep pushing the envelope.
    THE WORLD IS A BETTER PLACE JUST FOR YOUR SMILE!

  33. #19
    Registered User slimt's Avatar
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    Default Re: Namm 2019

    Quote Originally Posted by Mandolin Cafe View Post
    I have not seen this mandolin in person. Brian at The Mandolin Store sent this and since Gibson is at the show we'll share this. Brian tells me David Harvey sent the photos and the mandolin is at the show. Not sure if I'll try to stop by or not. My experience in the past is that you had to have an advance appointment or you'd get turned away.

    Gibson F5 Hall of Fame Mon Master Model

    Hand Carved Red Spruce Top
    Maple Back and Sides
    Tuned Parallel Tone Bar
    Bound Ebony Fingerboard
    Aged Gold Plated Tuners (Grover’s)
    Reproduction Ebony Bridge (Bill Monroe)
    Hide Glue Construction
    Varnish Finish
    Vintage Flowerpot Headstock Inlay
    Pearl Tuner Buttons
    Aged Leatherette Case Embossed “Bill Monroe Father Of Bluegrass Music”
    Signed Monroe Label
    Custom Distressing done by David Harvey Master Luthier

    Retail: $35,529
    MAP: $24,999

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    That looks pretty nice.

  34. #20
    Registered User Jake Biddix's Avatar
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    Default Re: Namm 2019

    It would appear that Fender is making an electric tenor in the Telecaster style:

    Fender Launches MIM Alternate Reality Series and Boutique-Style Rarities Line https://reverb.com/news/fender-launc...m_medium=share

  35. #21
    formerly Philphool Phil Goodson's Avatar
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    Default Re: Namm 2019

    Quote Originally Posted by slimt View Post
    That looks pretty nice.
    With all respect: $35K and still can't get the extension frets to line up properly with the curved edge binding leading to the extension. <sigh>
    Phil

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  37. #22
    Gummy Bears and Scotch BrianWilliam's Avatar
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    Default Re: Namm 2019

    Quote Originally Posted by Philphool View Post
    With all respect: $35K and still can't get the extension frets to line up properly with the curved edge binding leading to the extension. <sigh>
    Ha! DH is just trying to save Gibson

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  39. #23
    Loarcutus of MandoBorg DataNick's Avatar
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    Default Re: Namm 2019

    That Northfield F5 (4.0) has a real nice vintage vibe to it in its looks...would love to play one!
    1994 Gibson F5L - Weber signed


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  41. #24
    Registered User G. Fisher's Avatar
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    Default Re: Namm 2019

    Quote Originally Posted by Philphool View Post
    With all respect: $35K and still can't get the extension frets to line up properly with the curved edge binding leading to the extension. <sigh>

    I don't think you can make a fair assessment of the mandolin from a low resolution picture taken at an angle and posted on a website.
    “Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something.”

    My Mandos:
    1981 Lloyd LaPlant F5 #6
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  43. #25
    Administrator Mandolin Cafe's Avatar
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    Default Re: Namm 2019

    Paid a visit to the Gibson exhibit and thanks to James Copeland of Gibson, a great guy I may add, got access to the new Bill Monroe mandolin referenced above. I get it that a lot of people have very strong opinions on the whole distressing, authentication, yadda yadda and everything that comes with it. Here's mine: that is one damn fierce mandolin that sounds every bit authentic Loar to my ears. Feels that way in hand as well. Had a musician friend along and he concurred. I am happy to stand by that opinion. In terms of sound, that mandolin has it, and at that price it better deliver. I think it does. Job well done by David Harvey and Gibson.

    Got a kick out of the rawhide strap, assume added at no extra cost .

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