Ellis vs. collings mf5v

[pjlama]

Hi folks I know asking opinions on sound is silly but here goes. I was getting serious about the MF5VD but than got an MM. I still want something a little different. After speaking to someone very knowledgable I've been really thinking the Ellis would be the ticket. I'd like feedback from owners on both plus folks who've played them both.

[mandopete]

Describe "different". #We've had quite a few threads here on the cafe that compare the Gibson and Collings sound and I think they really compliment each other. #That's why I've opted to keep my Flatiron (sounds Gibsony to me) along with my Collings. #I can't speak for the sound of an Ellis, but the pictures I've seen make them look pretty nice. #Hard to imagine that they wouldn't sound just as nice too.

[Jonathan Peck]

Dunno, but if you're looking at the smoky mountain guitar website, they have my vote for the most creative and misleading add copy on the internet. Looks like every mandolin they sell is the greatest on the planet. Me thinks they've kissed the Blarney Stone, but then again, if you read it on the internet....it must be true

“chop” that can be felt in the soles of your shoes

a pure “cannon” that will take charge in a jam session.

Make one “G” chop and all your questions will be answered as you will hear and feel the domineering power because this “baby” will set grass fires and split 2x8’s.

This is a very limited edition with this “special” wood and one like this is indeed a rare find.

exploding volume, “go thru you chop”, great balance, melted butter playability,

The “chop” is such that can be heard over the loudest guitars & banjos and when “warming it up” it takes over.

Outstanding sounding mandolin with tremendous power and a “G” chop that will knock leaves from a tree.

if total power is what you want in a jam session then this is the answer as it is extremely hard to stand in front of this “Bad Boy” for any length of time.

“STAND BACK”!!! This is an ICBM with total domineering power and when striking an “A” chop will boil water

Make a “G” chop and it can be heard in the next county. The midrange that you want to make those pesky banjos self destruct is in here along with those piercing highs and sustain that will get you noticed very quickly with people asking you “Man what kind of mandolin is that?’’

Remember Mount St. Helens when it erupted? You will re-live that moment as soon as you make a “G” chop on this incredible instrument. Awesome power with an E string that rings so strong it will crack concrete and a D string that will singe hair so we looked for a volume control but there is none.

This one will measure 9.5 on the Richter scale when you make the “G” chop as you will experience “The Quake” move thru you because this is one of the most powerful instruments we have ever picked up and played.

Before you play this one make sure you are strapped in because the power of this baby is going to move something.

Then there is the “G chop” once this is struck its pretty much over but move up to the “A chop” then it will defrost a roast.

[Doug Edwards]

I got to hold and play Earl's Ellis at the Argyle festival. Flawless fit and finish. The mandolin was only a few months old so I do not think its tone had fully developed. A nice mandolin to say the least.
http://www.mandolincafe.net/cgi-bin....l+ellis

[SternART]

Crunch.....those Smoky Mountain guys obviously learned from the best.....the way Mandolin Bros. does their descriptions......

PJ......I'd go with the Ellis.......I played VERY nice examples the past two years at Loarfest. Tom is a great
guy to boot......YMMV but since you asked for opinions......there is mine!

[soapycows]

I have a Collings and I have played quite a few Ellis mandolins (he lives here in Austin and I see him at jams, sometimes with a spanking new mandolin).
I love my Collings and it sounds great, don't get me wrong, but those Ellis mandolins are something truly special. You would be happy with either, but every Ellis I have seen is incredible.

[testore]

You can't compare the two. Toms work is off the charts and he's not a factory. He's a great guy also. Buy the Ellis and never look back.

[Jonathan Peck]

Crunch.....those Smoky Mountain guys obviously learned from the best.....the way Mandolin Bros. does their descriptions......

Aye...the Captain of Crunch says...MB copy is just stupid in an I'm trying to be funny kind of way, SMG copy is bordeline misleading and questionable IMHO.

[Jonathan Peck]

Hmmm, maybe I should take that back..I submit for your opinion two add copies from two separate vendors.

"Collings MF-5 Mandolin
Description: Collings MF5 Mandolin – New – Adirondack spruce top, highly flamed Maple back, sides and neck. This instrument is truly one that is outstanding in regards to volume, tone, sheer power and appearance. The “chop” is such that can be heard over the loudest guitars & banjos and when “warming it up” it takes over. The flame is simply beautiful and as always the craftsmanship is impeccable. This instrument is the total package and will inspire you when you hit the first string. Priced with hard case."


"Collings (new) MF-5 Varnish mandolin #F437, with hard shell case.
At the highest level of production luthiery is situated the Collings Mandolin Factory, a subdivision of the Collings acoustic and electric guitar factory. Manned by actual human beings wearing white lab coats with gold-plated stethoscopes around their necks, Collings mandolins are made in a rarified atmosphere of 21% oxygen, 78% nitrogen in fully controlled humidity mixed with a small amount of carbon dioxide, argon and, yes, well, trace methane from the adjacent cattle farm. The woods chosen by Mr. Collings for this one-model-under-the-top-of-the-line are highly figured maple for the two-piece back, the ivoroid-black-ivoroid bordered sides and the one-piece likewise bound “deep-U” shaped neck. Tuners are so fancy, deeply engraved and gold-plated with ivoroid buttons and gold screws that most of the guys on our staff have been buying them to wear as a neck ornament. The carved spruce top is so closely grained that there is a veritable eddy of cross-silking (a medullary whirlpool) at the center below the bridge, that, while having no effect on the staff has sucked two of our white mice (we train them to sing first tenor in the bluegrass quartet) into the maelstrom. The black, ivoroid-bordered, headplate hosts the script Collings logo and the intertwined flourish of festivity inlaid below, with the spearpoint ebony adjustable truss rod cover there under. The ebony fingerboard with its asymmetrical south end is inlaid with 6 mother of pearl dots of decreasing size. The bridge is two-piece, ebony, adjustable with gold-plated elevators. The tailpiece is likewise gold-plated and quick-change, the elevated ebony pickguard is ivoroid bordered and the tailpin is ebony. This mandolin enunciates each note and chord with dense, woody, acoustic jubilation – it makes everything you can play on it sound the way that other, older F-5 mandolin sounded in the hands of the Father of Bluegrass. It accomplishes, in a way that few other new mandolins can, the recreation of the auditory satisfaction last felt when Lloyd Loar took his Christmas turkey and set out into the night, jobless, but with kaleidoscopic dreams of continued artful acoustic engineering reflecting off of his eyeglasses into the crisp winter evening on Christmas Day in 1924 Kalamazoo."

[lawdawg]

By far the best sounding, playing and looking mandolin I've ever played was a used Ellis @ Smoky Mtn Guitars. He also had a Gilchrist, several Collings, Gibsons, Flatbush-s and a Chek mando ??. Ellis blew them all away. I wish I could afford one right now.

[mandomick]

I think the descriptions on the SMG site are refreshingly different and entertaining. I haven't bought a mandolin from them (yet) but from what I understand they have a fair return policy. It's not like a used car "There's an ### for every seat" deal.

[64lusso]

I have Ellis #89, I bought it after playing a friends (#81??) off in corner at a noisy jam, it is a well put together mandolin and looks wonderful, the neck is slightly wider/larger than normal and with the arched fingerboard and perhaps one of the better set-up jobs I have seen on a new mandolin it is second only to my Monty B in ease of playability. It has a wonderful balanced sound from new and I am looking forward to it as it ages as I am sure it will only get better. I bought mine from Gruhn's and hadn't seen those adds the Cap'n is referring too, their claims are way over the top IMHO but you can be sure of getting a fine instrument with the Ellis. On the other hand the only Collings I have played was an A and it was a few years ago but I remember being very impressed with it so if you are not able to compare the two in the same room it makes it a tough decision but you will most likely have a fine axe either way.

[SternART]

64lusso......been meaning to ask, is your cafe name your ride?

[woodysny]

Well, I played an Ellis right next to my Collings Varnish Deluxe and the Collings was far superior in tone to my taste. The Ellis was beautifully crafted and certainly a fine mandolin. The one I had was from SMG, but I played another at Gruhn's and it sounded pretty much the same. I did not like the rounded neck on the Ellis either. The Ellis is a pretty good value (if $10,500 can be considered a value) but my preference from head-to-head testing is for Gilchrist, Heiden, and Collings MF5-VD.

[jaco]

These guys are in this buisness to SELL. They also have overhead, rent, morigage, insurance, electric etc. etc. Do you expect them to say" a so so mandolin that is way overpriced, may want to think about this one, but if you want it, it's yours!" Come on, if an instrument is good I have no problem with somebody trying to sell it. When those descriptions apply to an obvious piece of junk then we have a problem.

[Crowder]

I've spoken with Dan at Smoky Mtn. Guitars about the Ellis mandolins, and he's convinced they are the top of the heap right now. Not to say he doesn't have a financial interest, but he knows good when he sees it. His descriptions of the Passernig mandolins are glowing as well, yet the one I got from him exceeded my expectations.

Being a financial advisor and recognizing that $10,000 is a lot of money for almost anyone to spend on an instrument, I would point out that Collings seem to drift down in value while you might expect an Ellis to move up. There will never be a shortage of Collings mandolins, that's for sure.

[Don Grieser]

Anybody remember the picture of that quilted mando back in the old Frets magazine? That was an Ellis. Based on the memory of that picture alone, I'd go for the Ellis. I've only played one and it was a keeper.

[Chris Biorkman]

Nice, Captain. Finally there are words to express my love for my MF-5. That was hilarious. I thought I was the only one wearing a mother of pearl tuning knob as a necklace. By the way, what exactly is a medullary whirlpool?

[Monte37]

Hey soapycow. Howard, where you been?
Whoa, a comparison between a Collings and an Ellis..? Collings has provided to the increased market for mando's by offering product range and costs to meet what we'all got while providing a great mando...and if my info is current, you also buy into some of Tom's handicraft with the inlay.

Tom's mando's give me the urge to believe I have the do ri me to own one of his. His are individual pieces of art, gawd those quilt backs are somethin.

I have to take a high road here a bit and say "what a fun problem to have in deciding between a Collings and an Ellis" if you have the opportunity. Along with all the other great buiders, there is so much more offered now than when I bought mine. Personally, the Ellis mando gives me, what is that...MAS? makes me write bad checks. Now is the time to get them before they go through the roof.

[ninevah]

Without a doubt, I'd go for the Ellis.
These could possibly be the best all around buy today.
The very finest workmanship, flawless. Excellent wood, outrageous figure in the maple. The inlay is the very best, he's the man who does the inlay for most of the biggy guitar companies. Most of all Tom knows what he is doing to bring out the tone. He works on only a few instruments at a time, and knows what he does to make the sound/tone he is creating. In a bigger shop there is more time, and many instruments in between the carving of the top/back and finished instrument. How can the maker keep any of what he did initially to carve the top and back in mind when he plays the final instrument? Keeping good records of measurements maybe, but I'd be skeptical. What the larger shop falls back on is precise measurement and repeatable procedures, or in other words good engineering control. What Tom does is art, and therefore has the potential to produce a really outstanding instrument over and over.

[pjlama]

Thanks guys, I knew it was a tough question. Captain you had me cracking up LOL! Seems most folks favor the Ellis, I'm kinda leaning that way but I could get sidetracked. Don I may need to wait until you come to ABQ to try your Gil that might put me into another direction. Is the Ellis in the Gibson sound dept? I know the Collings is different. Anyway at least I got to laugh and hear some good opinions.

[Chris Biorkman]

So are you getting rid of the MM? Don't you have a RSMM on order too? I don't think you can go wrong with a Collings or an Ellis. If you are looking for a different sound than the Gibson, then the Collings might be the way to go. I've never played an Ellis, but it sounds like they are pretty close to the best out there (and that quilted maple he uses is ridiculous). I feel sorry for the terrible dilemma you have yourself in.

[pjlama]

Definetly keeping the MM it's soooo good. No this would be something a little different, something on the super clean build side with a more modern sound. I don't think the RSDMM will be in until next year at least that's the quoted time but I could get surprised. Either way since I have the Gibson thing covered I'm going for a different flavor, newer style, amazing woods, radiused, etc...

[Rick Schmidlin]

Play side by side, first you then a friend,record playback decide.

[B. T. Walker]

Ellis. #You'll never regret it. #Simply the finest mandos I've ever had in my hands.

Go Spurs Go!