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Thread: Northfield Mandolins

  1. #1
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    Default Northfield Mandolins

    I would like to know where these mandolins are made. Country, State, Town. The reason I ask is I thought they were made in the US, but I looked on the Elderly site and they have them listed as Made in China.?????????????????????

  2. #2
    Registered User doc holiday's Avatar
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    Default Re: Northfield Mandolins

    China...

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    Registered User almeriastrings's Avatar
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    Default Re: Northfield Mandolins

    Indeed.

    I recall the days of Chinese roll-film cameras called "Great Wall" and "Pearl River", there was something else called the "Long March" (but I think that was a rocket!) which did give a quaint, but fair, idea as to origins..... now you have "Kentucky", "The Loar", "Northfield", "Michael Kelly", "Ozark", "Trinity College", "Celtic Star" and so on. Irish and American-tinged names rule the roost, it seems. There was a mandolin called "Jade" which does suggest origin, but apparently, they are no longer in production:

    http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/sh...andolin-owners

    Eastman.... well, made in the East!
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    Registered User Ivan Kelsall's Avatar
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    Default Re: Northfield Mandolins

    Your row of question marks seem to imply that you're rather surprised ?.It doesn't sit easy with some folk that China is capable of producing excellent 'western style' instruments. We must consider that China has a history of 1000's of years of producing incredible works of art. It was China that introduced Porcelaine ceramics to the western world,something that the west wouldn't make for themselves until close to 800 years later.The Chinese also have a reputation for making awesome works of art & producing incredibly complex carvings. It's no wonder then,that given the traditional expertise of the Chinese people,that they are currently making some of the best 'value for money' musical instruments,as well as possibly 80% of all the world's electric/electronic equipment.
    To take the Northfield instruments as an example.Many top players have found them to be as good as many instruments costing a heck of a lot more. I believe that it was Emory Lester who said they he thought that they were the best mandolin for under $10,000 US.
    There's a thread on here dedicated to the Northfield brand of mandolins & i can't remember reading anything bad about then,other than the waiting time for one,
    Ivan
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    Default Re: Northfield Mandolins

    Yes, the advertising would have a nice ring... "Northfield Mandolins: from the people who brought you porcelain ceramics during the Shang dynasty."

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  8. #6

    Default Re: Northfield Mandolins

    The marketing strategy is similar to that of the current Asian auto importers. 'Tucson' and 'Forerunner' probably sell better than the 'Shanghai' or 'Rickshaw' models might.

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    Default Re: Northfield Mandolins

    My question marks were just from my lack of knowledge. I am new to the world of mandolin and only assumed that these were made in the USA. I own three Chinese mandolins and all are great instruments. Just had it in my head that these were made here.

  11. #8
    Registered User Ivan Kelsall's Avatar
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    Default Re: Northfield Mandolins

    Well,budashoots - i was (not exactly) preaching to the already converted.You already understand my remarks re.the high quality of the Chnese instruments.The 'Northfield' brand seems to be just that much better than the others,not that those are poor by any means,& guess where my Samsung PC display,my Microsoft keyboard & my Trust PC mouse were made !!. Incredibly clever these Orientals,
    Ivan
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  12. #9
    formerly Philphool Phil Goodson's Avatar
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    Default Re: Northfield Mandolins

    Quote Originally Posted by Ivan Kelsall View Post
    ...... Incredibly clever these Orientals,
    Ivan
    Umm... Asians.
    Phil

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  13. #10
    Registered User rb3868's Avatar
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    Default Re: Northfield Mandolins

    "Oriental" simply means "Eastern" as "Occidental" means a sharp or flat. I mean "Western"

    Doesn't Northfield do significant work on the mandolins before sending them out?

  14. #11
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    Default Re: Northfield Mandolins

    I think some of the skepticism of Chinese craftsmanship owes to the sense many have that the great multi-millennial tradition of the many fine arts and crafts is, unfortunately, *not* unbroken. Some still remember Mao's "Cultural Revolution" and doubt that the incredible liberal arts component of society that he set out to systematically destroy has yet had time to fully recover. He may have eliminated the artists and craftsmen, along with their tools, but we're seeing that the crucible still seems to be bubbling away.
    == JOHN ==



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  15. #12

    Default Re: Northfield Mandolins

    Hello everyone. I tend to stay away from these threads for a few reasons, but I'll try to contribute. Many of you have already read some of the press materials out there (articles, interviews, threads, etc) about our small company. For those that haven't, I invite you to visit this page on our site: http://www.northfieldinstruments.com/about-us or to email direct questions to me at info@northfieldmandolins.com I'm very open to talking about our company, brand and ideas about building musical instruments.

    China doesn't make Northfield Mandolins. Here's who does: Jidou Qin, Lao Yin, Adrian Bagale, Kosuke Kyomori. Here's some more information about our building process: The mandolins were designed by Kosuke and myself, custom options are handled completely by the two of us as--we're also the two mandolin players in the group. The woods are sourced, purchased and dried all in North America. Every mandolin starts with the sets of material being selected by me from our racks here in my small Michigan workspace. Sets are matched for acoustic qualities and special options regarding figure and other cosmetics are paired together to meet our customers requirements. Nearly every single set used to make our top of the line mandolins was "picked" by the customer. The wood set is then serialized, packed and shipped to Qingdao. The mandolin is made by two people: Kosuke and Jidou. Jidou does all the hand assembly and final graduation. Kosuke does all the machine work, fretboards and other fine tuning. The mandolin is varnished by Lao Yin--for master models he's using a spirit varnish with a french polished top coat, for our S-Series we're using Nitrocellulose lacquer, thinly applied with a hand rubbed top coat. Then the mandolin is sent to me in Michigan. It is then completely inspected and set-up.

    This note is meant to be informative, not defensive. We truly are a small co, with an extreme sense of multiculturalism, working from 3 entirely different backgrounds, growing up in 3 different countries (China, Japan, USA). We're very familiar with the skepticism and stigma surrounding building instruments in places outside of the USA. For us, it's about this team of people, who I think deserve the front billing and not the origin as if that alone tells the whole story. For what it's worth, I really do appreciate the comments, even the skeptical ones. We're always happy to hear all the different sides of the story, which is why I've decided there's good reason to tell ours. -Adrian

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  17. #13

    Default Re: Northfield Mandolins

    I was about to jump in and say much the same thing Adrian. It seems a mistake to conflate where an instrument is made with the method of production. Many people on this forum seem to use “China” as a synonym for “mass production”. If people want to be wary of mass produced instruments, fair enough. Whether or not they offer good value is another argument.

    Adrian and the Northfield craftsmen are a small five person shop. If the guys in China move to Michigan will these suddenly be better instruments? On Breedlove’s web page, I see they employ twenty-two craftspeople. Does that make Breedlove a production shop? Is Northfield a better shop than Breedlove because it’s smaller? These are all the wrong questions. Company size doesn’t inherently determine quality anymore than where the shop is located.

    One has to ask a different set of questions to get to the bottom of that. As mentioned previously in this thread, Adam Steffey and Emory Lester play Northfields. You can see from this forum that pretty much everyone who has a Northfield loves it. Considering the opinion of players seems one way to get at the question of quality.

    Customer service is another kind of quality question. When I was ready to order a master model, Adrian let me play a bunch of Northfields so that we could both understand the sound I like. Then we picked the wood together. Then when I made a change request about the spruce after the fact, Adrian went out of his way to find a soundboard in the new wood that would give me the sound he knew I wanted. That’s going the extra mile. While not everyone who buys a master model can go to Marshall, MI, the day I came in to pick my wood, Adrian had just finished Skyping with a guy in Japan so that customer could also pick his set. For me, working with Northfield has been a remarkable experience that’s led me to owning a remarkable mandolin. Both my Eastman and my Northfield were put together in China—you’d never have a problem telling them apart.

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  19. #14

    Default Re: Northfield Mandolins

    I think that is mostly just kneejerk xenophobia.

  20. #15

    Default Re: Northfield Mandolins

    I dont know why some people think that instruments only can be made at a high level by guys named Frank, Tom and John. Silly.

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  22. #16
    Registered User Marc Berman's Avatar
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    Default Re: Northfield Mandolins

    Quote Originally Posted by shortymack View Post
    I dont know why some people think that instruments only can be made at a high level by guys named Frank, Tom and John. Silly.
    I know of a guy named Antonio who was pretty good at making instruments. His last name was Strad something or other.
    Marc B.

  23. #17
    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: Northfield Mandolins

    Quote Originally Posted by Mike Bunting View Post
    I think that is mostly just kneejerk xenophobia.
    Partially... when I was growing up, made in Japan connoted pure junk. Then over the years the Japanese got their stuff together and put out very high quality things. The same thing with the Chinese, Koreans, Vietnamese, etc. Times do change but with the mass of imports from a place, it is natural to make an overarching assumption of the quality. It is sort of xenophobic but based at least partially on facts.

    Much of the Chinese output has increased in quality over the years for sure in mandolin production. I think the point taken here is that there are varying level of quality in terms of different means of production and of different levels of talent. Also, much of this is what the goals of the various companies are: whether they want to compete at the low-price levels (say, Rogue) or at the more boutique level (Northfield).
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    Infrequently Smelt Gregory Tidwell's Avatar
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    Default Re: Northfield Mandolins

    Quote Originally Posted by Philphool View Post
    Umm... Asians.
    The standard these days is to say that objects, like rugs or dressers are oriental, while people, like Koreans or Japanese, or Jae or Fujiko, are asian.
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  25. #19

    Default Re: Northfield Mandolins

    Quote Originally Posted by Gregory Tidwell View Post
    The standard these days is to say that objects, like rugs or dressers are oriental, while people, like Koreans or Japanese, or Jae or Fujiko, are asian.
    I completely agree...that is the "standard" these days...in this country.
    The term 'Orientals', (that was used in nothing but a kind, friendly and flattering way) was posted from a country in Europe. Not all cultures/societies are subject to the same P.C. silliness that has been thrust upon us.

  26. #20
    F5G & MD305 Astro's Avatar
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    Default Re: Northfield Mandolins

    Say what you want but I'll bet theres plenty of Asians in asia and loads of Orientals in the orient. But I've been out west a number of times and never once saw no Occidentals. Just wonderin what the world those suckers look like anyway.

  27. #21

    Default Re: Northfield Mandolins

    If you hang around out west long enough, you'll find a few occidentals waiting to happen.

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    Default Re: Northfield Mandolins

    I am in no doubt that you can make first-class products almost anywhere, these days. A case in point, for many years we used a Neumann U-87. Fantastic microphone. Then, we tried an SE Electronics ZE5600A Mk.II, and later added in an SE4400a. We liked then so much we found we rarely used the U-87 any more, so we sold it. Not saying the SE's are 'better', but they certainly are no 'worse' either. Both are superb microphones by any standards. Made in China. So is my Allen & Heath ZED R16 recording desk, and that too is amazing. Designed by A&H in the UK, but built in China. With mandolins, I think most agree that the Northfield's (and the Kentucky KM-1000 and KM-1500) are excellent instruments. Worth remembering that many years ago "Made in Japan" was perceived as a sign of poor quality... boy, that soon changed. It is about QC and perceptions. Unfortunately, the fact remains that there is a lot of "low end" product from China, and I have no doubt that this does create quite a lot of negative perception that must be very hard work for the dedicated, serious manufacturers to overcome. I've only seen one Northfield, and then briefly, but what I saw I liked a lot. Not easy to find over here, though.
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  29. #23

    Default Re: Northfield Mandolins

    Just wait until you can 3D print a mandolin. There'll be tears before bedtime on that day.

  30. #24
    Registered User rb3868's Avatar
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    Default Re: Northfield Mandolins


  31. #25
    Registered User Mike Sutterfield's Avatar
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    Default Re: Northfield Mandolins

    I'm veteran, a proud American and as conservative as it gets without being an idiot. I was initially against a Chinese product that emulates a western instrument. Ok, so I played one. It was awesome. Much better than my American builder made F5. So I did some research. There are 5 people that build Northfield mandolins. 2 Americans, 1 Japanese and 2 Chinese. Ask yourself this. Would you care if they were Chinese if they worked in the US? Ellis has Pava who is not American. I've heard from a dealer who says soon the three Asians will be working in the Northfield shop here in the US. These are not mass produced Asian imports. They are quality. I think they are getting a little bit of unfair grief. I don't hear people degrading Gilchrist. Those are not American. Give them a chance. If you play one and it's terrible, then it's terrible. But don't disregard the quality of a product by it's country of origin. Sorry for getting to serious but all of this comes from looking in the mirror at myself.

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