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Thread: Cheap D'Angelico F-Style mandolin - what?

  1. #1

    Question Cheap D'Angelico F-Style mandolin - what?

    Hi folks,

    I'm a long-time guitar player but a rookie to mandolin. In the new year I'd like to have a mandolin in my armory so I went out for a hunt. Not quite a lot of mandolins in the local stores (well they are actually guitar shops so I don't blame them for it). In my budget range it seems the only choice is an old stock Epiphone mm-50. While I do appreciate its f-5 resembling style, the reddish finish was rejected by my eyes.

    So the shop owner says he has access to a batch of D'Angelico mandolins, not in the shop though but he showed me some pics on the phone. They look quite good, but $349 for an D'Angelico? What kind of gimmick is this?

    It's so suspicious. I searched the whole Internet but found no trace of this model. Although I do learnt from the D'Angelico website, they have some inexpensive guitars and ukuleles in the same price range, so it's actually possible they have these entry-level mandolins too, just for some reason they are not listed anywhere.

    On the other hand, if I'm going to make some counterfeit mandolins, why do I invent a model? Why do I want to make a counterfeit D'Angelico? Or, why do I want to make counterfeit mandolins at all - given that I could sell much more quickly and make much more money by making guitars with the same resources. So I tend to believe these are genuine.

    My best guess is, they did produce a small batch of them, maybe by a China OEM, but never bothered to promote them and probably have already cut the production due to low demand.

    Anyways, they seem fairly priced, look stunning, and have a pickup! What else can you ask for? So I pulled the trigger and asked the shop owner to bring me one. We'll see what's going on in days!

    Happy new year!
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  2. #2
    Registered User Eric Hanson's Avatar
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    Default Re: Cheap D'Angelico F-Style mandolin - what?

    Please keep us posted on this.
    Inquiring minds want to know.

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    Martin Stillion mrmando's Avatar
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    Default Re: Cheap D'Angelico F-Style mandolin - what?

    Sigh. I owned a real D'Angelico once.

    That little piece of foam under the bridge means it hasn't been set up. Is your guy offering you a setup as part of the deal?
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    Default Re: Cheap D'Angelico F-Style mandolin - what?

    Quote Originally Posted by mrmando View Post
    Sigh. I owned a real D'Angelico once.

    That little piece of foam under the bridge means it hasn't been set up. Is your guy offering you a setup as part of the deal?
    They should be coming out directly from a warehouse, so yeah I'd expect them not set up. I'm quite familiar with guitar setting up, is mandolin any different?

  6. #5
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    Default Re: Cheap D'Angelico F-Style mandolin - what?

    We handle the nut and frets the same way. Perhaps we go for less relief in the neck. The action at the 12th fret should be 4/64" between the top of the fret and the bottom of the strings on the bass side, a shade lower on the treble.

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    One of the best mandolins I ever played was a 2 point oval hole built by John D'Angelico. Big fat sound. Jethro Burns would have loved it. A hint for any builders who want to try something like that: D'Angelico placed his transverse brace a bit farther back than what we find in oval hole Gibsons.

  7. #6
    Registered User grassrootphilosopher's Avatar
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    Default Re: Cheap D'Angelico F-Style mandolin - what?

    Let´s not confuse John D´Angelico´s instruments with the current brand. This is what Wikipedia has to say (I took notice of the relaunch back then):

    "In 1999, Brenden Cohen, John Ferolito Jr., and Steve Pisani purchased the D'Angelico Guitars trademark from John Ferolito Sr., cofounder of Arizona Beverages.[3][11] In 2010, Cohen and Pisani began constructing a new showroom for the brand.[3] D'Angelico Guitars was officially launched in 2011.[5] That year, original D'Angelico guitars were honored at the Metropolitan Museum of Art as part of an exhibition titled "Guitar Heroes: Legendary Craftsmen from Italy to New York."[15]

    D'Angelico began broadening their product line, first starting with reissues of original John D’Angelico designs, and then introducing new semihollow and acoustic models.[16][17]

    By 2014, the brand had 125 partnerships in the United States and an additional 200 international dealers.[15]

    In 2014 D'Angelico Guitars sponsored Mountain Jam, a summer music festival in eastern New York.[18]

    The brand launched its first line of acoustic guitars in January 2015 when it displayed 150 guitars at the National Association of Music Merchants' annual trade show in Anaheim, California.[2][5]

    In 2016, D'Angelico Guitars won the award for Best in Show for Companies to Watch at the NAMM show.[19]

    In 2020, D'Angelico Guitars acquired Supro USA and Pigtronix.[20]"


    So the mandolin pics that you posted concern an east asian product that is modeled after the famed D´Angelico instruments. As far as I know, John D´Angelico never made an F-style mandolin. I have ben wrong before though.
    I´d be interested to know if the product flies. I wouldn´t be able to identify the customer group that this type of instrument is aimed at.
    Olaf

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    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Cheap D'Angelico F-Style mandolin - what?

    Everything you always wanted to know about D' Angelico mandolins *

    *But didn't know who to ask (If you're young you won't get this reference)

    He did make at least one F style that wasn't real pretty. I don't have time to peruse the entire thread right now.
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    Martin Stillion mrmando's Avatar
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    Default Re: Cheap D'Angelico F-Style mandolin - what?

    Quote Originally Posted by hillin View Post
    They should be coming out directly from a warehouse, so yeah I'd expect them not set up. I'm quite familiar with guitar setting up, is mandolin any different?
    You may need to fit the bridge to the top; if you've done that an archtop guitar, you can do it on an F-style mandolin.
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    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: Cheap D'Angelico F-Style mandolin - what?

    Quote Originally Posted by MikeEdgerton View Post
    He did make at least one F style that wasn't real pretty. I don't have time to peruse the entire thread right now.
    This one: https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/t...l=1#post943112

    Really, this is a lump scroll with binding added to disguise the lump. Clever luthier trick!
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    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: Cheap D'Angelico F-Style mandolin - what?

    As for the OP's $349 D'As. I wonder if they are all-solid or laminated in any way. I would think these were a test and they decided not to market them. They look pretty decent for the price, though.
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    Default Re: Cheap D'Angelico F-Style mandolin - what?

    Most likely ordered by the current company that is importing the guitars with that brand name and for some reason not sold. I remember when Michael Lewis was making the guitars. Obviously that stopped when the name was sold. Like many things it's just a brand name now.
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    Default Re: Cheap D'Angelico F-Style mandolin - what?

    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Garber View Post
    This one: https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/t...l=1#post943112

    Really, this is a lump scroll with binding added to disguise the lump. Clever luthier trick!
    Yup, that's the one.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
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    Default Re: Cheap D'Angelico F-Style mandolin - what?

    Bob Page, frequently lists in Cafe classifieds, has a nice looking 1938 D'Angelico on his Gbase page. Hard to not collect more at times.!

  20. #14

    Default Re: Cheap D'Angelico F-Style mandolin - what?

    Quote Originally Posted by mrmando View Post
    You may need to fit the bridge to the top; if you've done that an archtop guitar, you can do it on an F-style mandolin.

    By fitting do you mean I need to file or sand the bridge to make it in a good contact with the top, or its simply a screw driving thing?

  21. #15
    Registered User Billy Packard's Avatar
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    Default Re: Cheap D'Angelico F-Style mandolin - what?

    NO SCREWS ! !

    Heavens please no screws.

    Yes, the underside of the bridge foot must perfectly match the radius of the face of the mandolin. The result should have the bridge perfectly at right angles to the face of the mandolin. This is master-luthier finish work.

    The saddle should be 'compensated' in the usual way. Again, a master luthier finishing touch.

    PLEASE...no screws. The pictures look to be a decent copy which would be at it's best with the above finish work done correctly

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    Mandolin user MontanaMatt's Avatar
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    Default Re: Cheap D'Angelico F-Style mandolin - what?

    If that’s a solid wood carved instrument, requiring a set up, and it doesn’t sound like a tin can, $350 seems like a steal.
    Since you are new to the mandolin world, $350 doesn’t go far there days!
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    Default Re: Cheap D'Angelico F-Style mandolin - what?

    There's a bunch of this style mandolin for sale new in UK at the moment under various brand names, They usually run about £350, which is often the equivalent instrument buying power of about $350. I wonder if they're all the same thing with different names on the headstock, like the 'mandocasters' in music stores here?

  24. #18
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    Default Re: Cheap D'Angelico F-Style mandolin - what?

    That's a cool mandolin: sort of reminds me of the very plain "Fullerton" F-style that came and went very quickly a few years ago. They got great scores from the people lucky enough to have bought one (for something crazy like $200 IIRC?). Now and then there are gems for very little money.
    ...

  25. #19
    Worlds ok-ist mando playr Zach Wilson's Avatar
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    Default Re: Cheap D'Angelico F-Style mandolin - what?

    Quote Originally Posted by Caleb View Post
    That's a cool mandolin: sort of reminds me of the very plain "Fullerton" F-style that came and went very quickly a few years ago. They got great scores from the people lucky enough to have bought one (for something crazy like $200 IIRC?). Now and then there are gems for very little money.
    I regret not buying one of those blue Morgan Monroe F styles (all solid) from a couple years ago. They were going for like $299 if I remember correctly.

    I'm sure I could have done the set up required to get it playable... enough anyway.
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    Default Re: Cheap D'Angelico F-Style mandolin - what?

    In the photo it appears to be a solid carved top, due to the ridge in the scroll, most laminated pressed tops that I’m aware of are flat in that area, though I’m no expert.
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    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: Cheap D'Angelico F-Style mandolin - what?

    Many of the better Asian shops have become quite adept at luthiery skills and I am guessing these were intended to compete with Eastman instruments with the marketing strength of the D’Angelico label. The mystery is why they abandoned this. Maybe they figured that D’A was more famous for guitars and they would be stretching themselves too thin with mandolins. Plus, I would have liked it if they came up with decent copies of historic D’A mandolins similar to the Eastman ones of a few years ago.
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  28. #22

    Default Re: Cheap D'Angelico F-Style mandolin - what?

    So it has arrived! I took it home, did a brief check and played for a while. I'm new to the mandolin realm so I tuned it to G-C-E-A for a quick pickup. Here are some thoughts (from the perspective of a guitar player who is used to quality guitars, namely some Gibsons and a Santa Cruz, so the following contents are obviously biased, YMMV):

    It has solid spruce top and solid maple back from what I can tell, but I doubt they are carved. Ebony fretboard and bridge. Neck and headstock looks like maple but I'm not sure. The wood is definitely not top grade but overall it looks quite good. The workmanship was mediocre, but still much better than the Epiphone mm-50 I saw in the shop.

    It looks like this little thing has been sitting in a warehouse for some age. There is rust on the bridge adjustment screws, a pinch of WD40 got them treated well. The strings are old and rusty, got my new strings ordered online.

    Action is good even before setup. I did a brief setup by adjusting the truss rod and sanding and fitting the bridge as suggested mrmando and Billy Packard above. It's quite easy to play, but I do feel it has some intonation issues. This could be partly due to the stale strings, but I feel the bridge should be moved back a little bit to make it perfectly octave intonated. The bridge was not fixed in place so I can move it, however there is a piezo cable restricting the movement. I'll try to get it addressed when the new string arrives. It also does not keep in tune very well, which I think is largely due to the old strings too.

    Sound-wise it is not as satisfying as expected for now. This is because, again, the old strings, plus I'm not yet used to the less resonated sound comparing to the guitars. Surprisingly, it sounds quite nice when plugged in.

    As a conclusion, although there are still some issues to address, I think it's a decent entry-level mandolin, especially for the price I paid for. Also I believe it is a genuine D'Angelico, I think they just built a small batch of these mandolins years ago, but somehow decided not to market or sell them, leaving them sitting in the warehouse ever since. Anyways, I'm happy with this new year's gift. Happy new year!
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  29. #23
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    Default Re: Cheap D'Angelico F-Style mandolin - what?

    You said you were new to mandolin, tune it G D A E. that might be some of your intonation issues. Yes the bridge is supposed to be moveable to intonate, similar to an archtop guitar, feel free to move it.
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  30. #24
    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: Cheap D'Angelico F-Style mandolin - what?

    hillin: I wonder if you have a mandolin playing friend nearby who can access it from a mandolin players point of view. The uke tuning is probably ok but after new strings and adjustments might be useful for you and for us. I still wonder how you get that ridge on back and front from steam pressing the top. I would guess to compete with other Asian imports D’A company would have had made it with carved tops and back.
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    Worlds ok-ist mando playr Zach Wilson's Avatar
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    Default Re: Cheap D'Angelico F-Style mandolin - what?

    Nice looking Mandolin!

    Congrats and happy pickin'
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