Cherrywood mm on ebay

[man dough nollij]

There is a really interesting Gibson Master Model made of cherry wood on Ebay right now (check it out <a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/Gibson-Cherry-Master-Model-Mandolin-1-of-1-Unique-F5_W0QQitemZ280235376483QQihZ018QQcatego
ryZ10179QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem" target="_blank">here</a>). It seems unusual that they would make a one-off instrument like that. The wood looks really nice. Anyone ever see or play it? How is cherry as a material for back and sides?

[Chris Biorkman]

That's weird. I didn't know Gibson made instruments like that. I like how the price is $28,000 but there is a bubble window that says free shipping. What a bargain!

[sunburst]

Mandolins with cherry back and sides can sound great. Here's a not-so-great picture of one I made about 16 years ago. At the time it was about the best sounding mandolin I had made.
I did some repair work to it for the owner within the past year. I bet you could "Buy it Now" for less then $28000!

[allenhopkins]

It'll be interesting to see how many bid on this. A unique instrument, but I would guess appealing to a fairly select clientele.

[Magnus Geijer]

Oh, neat! I'm pretty sure I played that one at FQMS a couple of years ago. The "(as he compared it to the normal Master models and Distressed Master models.)" statement kinda reinforces that thought. If I remember it seemed a little new and tight at the time, but had a slightly warmer tone than the maple. Half way between maple and mahogany, perhaps.

Of course, this was at least two years ago, and I only played it for five or ten minutes, so take it for what it's worth.

/Magnus

[red7flag]

I had a Stelling Red Fox Delux which was made of figured cherry. Great sounding and playing instrument. After I had the instrument for a number of years I was warned by a friend, who is a luthier, to watch for warping. He said cherry is prone to warp with age. I found that the neck was starting to warp and sold it. I don't think with the much shorter neck of the mandolin that warping would be as much of an issue. Maybe we can get Bruce to chime in.
Tony

[sunburst]

Warping is not a common problem with cherry, in fact it is a very stable wood and was used in pattern shops in place of mahogany for patterns that were to see a lot of use because cherry is "tougher" and doesn't wear as badly.
Maple banjo necks, especially curly maple banjo necks, warp much more often than cherry necks.

[Crocket]

John: You mentioned that you had to do some repair work for the owner of the cherry mandolin that was built. Trying to piece all of your comments together, I'm assuming that the repairs were NOT related to the cherry wood?

[Spruce]

Just my opinion, but that cherry MM back--with it's complete disregard for aligning the joint to the grain line--is just butt-ugly....

No issues with cherry. #It's a great instrument wood...

Ain't it time for Gibson to start using it's flagship wood for mandolins again? #Namely birch?
Maybe not for an F5, but certainly for other instruments in the line...

Like in a new F4/F5 hybrid.... #

[sunburst]

Crocket, like so many, the repair was related to the owner leaving it in the hot car. The cherry is doing fine, it was a glue joint that failed.

[red7flag]

Thank you Bruce and John for the clarification. I guess my Red Fox Delux was just an unusual situation.
Tony

[dmamlep]

I heard a fraley last weekend at a festival, and am sure the mando player for Blue Moon Rising was using one made of cherry. sounded real good to me.

[Big Joe]

I am very familiar with the Cherry MM that is on e-bay. It was a one of a kind mandolin we built to see how it would turn out. We had intended to do a few other one of a kinds but they never materialized. We considered Brazilian Rosewood before Gibson stopped using Brazilian on any instruments and we had a piece of VERY NICE Walnut we wanted to use, but that never materialized. The other really different one of a kind is the X braced blonde MM and the very last one signed by Charlie Derrington before leaving OAI.

Gibson has built several one of a kind instruments and often as a prototype to test ideas. These instruments are often some of the best becuase there is a bit more care and attention to the little things.

The cherry mandolin MM is a great mandolin. It has a different tone from a regular MM, but certainly a great one.