A Kentucky KM900 Review

[Don Grieser]

barrangatan, are you going to use the clamp with the abbreviated ebony guard? or just the pins? I have one on another mandolin but it used screws, not pins.

[Clement Barrera-Ng]

barrangatan, are you going to use the clamp with the abbreviated ebony guard? or just the pins? I have one on another mandolin but it used screws, not pins.

Don - no clamps, just the pins. The Stewmac small ebony A pickguard uses 2 pins, and it has a pretty thick reinforcement strip on the side of the pickguard adjacent to the mandolin fingerboard to keep it stable without the need for a clamp.

[Don Grieser]

Thanks for the info. I may have to get one for mine.

[J Mangio]

I' m not able to put my hands on one of these fine sounding mandolins.
Can one of you fine folks give a profile of the neck, and the width of the nut?
I play a Gibson F-9 that has a slim v shape to it, and hope to get another mando
with a similar profile.

[Clement Barrera-Ng]

Can one of you fine folks give a profile of the neck, and the width of the nut?

The nut width on mine is 1 1/16". I've never played a Gibson F9 before so I can't comment on the neck profile between the two. The KM900 has a fairly pronounced V to the neck shape that, to me, feels great. I've taken some quick measurement of the depth of the neck at a couple of points along the fretboard that may be of use to you as a point of reference:

- Depth of the neck measured at the nut: 0.975"
- Depth of the neck measured at the 5th fret: 0.991"

Both measurements were done with strings on the mandolin.

[Hillsdale Leroy]

Thanks for the great review. I can't say enough good things about the service from the crew at the Mandolin Store. Enjoy your Kentucky.

[f5loar]

My 900 has a sleak lightning fast slick thin neck. It allows my left hand to pop off notes like a machine gun.

[J Mangio]

Thanks for reaching out guys..with that nut width and thin neck profile, I'm sold!
Back in '02 I owned a KM-675; it had a chunky neck that I didn't like, sold it off and
bought the F-9.

[f5loar]

I see one popped up on the cafe today from a dealer in TX today for $900 including case. Good price for a 900! Looks like an earlier model with the lighter tobbaco cremona sunburst.

[Clement Barrera-Ng]

Saw that too f5loar, and definitely seems like a good deal. However, anyone buying this hoping for an earlier one should contact the dealer to find out first. I know that they use stock photos on their site and may not be most up to date. In any case - seems like a good buy no matter what, and it's from a reputable dealer to boot.

[Steve Ostrander]

I have previously owned a km505, km855 and a km900 (all from TMS) since 2008. The km900 is the the best of the bunch. Every time I take it out and play it, I marvel at how good it sounds for the price. I have never ABd it with a km1000 but I bet it hang with it.

[f5loar]

That's the way mine is. I let it sit a few days and then pick it up and WOW! I'm thinking it gets better just sitting in the case unplayed if that's possible.

[mandotrout777]

You guys are killing me. I had a KM1000 that was absolutely great, but it developed an "issue" and I sent it back to Saga. They tried to repair it and weren't satisfied with the repair, so they sent me a new one. This one is good but not as good as the first one. You have me wondering if these KM-900s aren't a little more consistent and maybe I should just snag one and then decide which one to keep.

[Mark Seale]

Saw that too f5loar, and definitely seems like a good deal. However, anyone buying this hoping for an earlier one should contact the dealer to find out first. I know that they use stock photos on their site and may not be most up to date. In any case - seems like a good buy no matter what, and it's from a reputable dealer to boot.

I played BOTH KM-900's at Fiddler's Green yesterday. This light tobacco one is the better of the two and has a spectacular piece of maple on the back. It's a very good instrument. The other one is no slouch, I just happened to like the one pictured better.

[Teletodd]

Sober why Saga changed the finish from Cremona (light tobacco burst ) to whatever it's called now? I think the Cremona may be the more historically correct color, I could be wrong.

[Clement Barrera-Ng]

Sober why Saga changed the finish from Cremona (light tobacco burst ) to whatever it's called now? I think the Cremona may be the more historically correct color, I could be wrong.

I happen to like the lighter finish better (hence that's the one I kept out of the two I had), but the darker finish may actually be more historically accurate than the lighter one. See this picture.

[Teletodd]

Thanks. Great picture. There's an entire thread here about the history of that mandolin with photos.

[Teletodd]

I found several threads here about the iconic Griffith A5 signEd by Lloyd Loar. One in particular discussed that the front was more red, and the back more yellow. Curiously the Cremona km900 looks moe yellow, and the newer darker burst km900 seem to have more red. I like them both. As an aside, I only learned of the Griffith Loar from researching the km900. How fortuitous.

[Clement Barrera-Ng]

Finally got the finger-rest installed. I'm really liking how much it seems to add to the overall look of the instrument:

[Ed Goist]

Wow - That is a beautiful instrument!
Congratulations.

[Clement Barrera-Ng]

By now I'm sure many of you had seen the KM900 that came up in the classifieds today. I just want to post some pictures here for posterity, as I think it's one of the best example of the workmanship that goes into this model:

[Willie Poole]

Those pix look just like mine...

I do have one question for anyone that might have seen or played the original A-5 Loar....

Where the neck joins the body on the KM-900 there is small block of wood under the neck that touches the top of the mandolin, does the A-5 Loar have that block also? I always figured it would be a floating fingerboard without touching the top....

Thanks for any info.....Willie

[Killian King]

I bought Don's KM900 which was the original subject of this thread. I could not be happier with it.

Thanks again Don!

[Irénée]

Hello !
Do you know what is the difference between Kentucky KM900 https://themandolinstore.com/product...mandolin-case/,
and KM906 https://themandolinstore.com/product...mandolin-case/
Thank you by advance,

[gtani7]

Hello !
Do you know what is the difference between Kentucky KM900 https://themandolinstore.com/product...mandolin-case/,
and KM906 https://themandolinstore.com/product...mandolin-case/
Thank you by advance,

I think user Robert F of the Folk Muisician store has given some details about the new workshop that's producing these, you can dig through his posts. The model numbers differentiate instruments with the same wood/construction by color/finish. The only overt difference between 900 and 906 is wider nut (I've only seen one 900 in my whole life and a handful of other Kentucky Master models so I'm certainly not an authority.