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Thread: One year old

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    Default One year old

    I first strung up my mandolin build in the white a year ago. Played it that way for a month. Realized how dirty an unfinished mandolin could get and spent the better part of the next two months with the finish. Reflecting back, here are the things that I remember:

    Primarily, this convinced me of the break in qualities of Adirondak spruce. The mandolin was always loud and bright, still is, but the tone has broadened over time. My first impressions were that the G string was about half way between a decent import and a small shop instrument. The low end, while not by any means fat, has lost that G string tone that is so hard for me to describe, but is present in the under 1K imports. This is by far the single thing that stands out.

    No one has commented on the many, and I mean many fit and finish issues. I have to proudly point out the many, and dare I say brilliant, fixes. This is akin to no one in an audience being aware of the train wreck that was that last song at a gig.

    They let me play mandolin at the last gig for a couple of songs. At soundcheck, I played a few licks and told the sound guy that was pretty much the good volume. The mic was muted. Did I say the mandolin is loud?

    I've had MAS lately, and told a fellow mandolin player I was semi seriously shopping. He asked me why. Didn't have an answer. The medium range F 5s I've played, $4-7k, ALL have a more beautiful tone, but they seemed so quiet. Yes, I never would have said $5-7k was medium range, but I now know better. Talking F styles here. Anyway, I haven't played anything in that range I'd want to buy....yet. I'm trying to convince myself that's a good thing.

    A couple of months ago, I needed to do a pretty comprehensive setup, including a fret level. Mandolin settling in, change of seasons? This is when I realized how much I have played it. two hours minimum per day. Also the mandolin shows all kinds of scratches and general play wear. Makes me rethink buying new. I think I'm the twenty year old gigging mandolin kind of guy.

    So back to the top wood. I'm a believer in Adi break in properties, but if anyone wants to send me a new sitka topped mandolin, I'll test it out for a year in the interests of science. In 20/20 hindsight, perhaps a fully bound F style should not be your first build, but then again, maybe it should.
    Silverangel A
    Arches F style kit
    1913 Gibson A-1

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