Mandolins
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1923 Gibson F-5 Lloyd Loar, Maple/Spruce
Amazing. This is among the rarest, and finest, Gibson mandolins we’ve had the pleasure of hosting: a 1923 F-5 Lloyd Loar. All original, right down to the virzi inside, and still in great playing shape today, 100 years later. That in itself is amazing–this beauty is still going strong! This ’23 Loar comes to us with serial number 72857, carved body of Maple body with Spruce top, light sunburst finish, smooth tuner operation and weighs in just over two pounds.
The Loar era has forever changed the definition of the American mandolin, and here we have a pristine example of his early magic that’s inspired so many generations of builders and players.
Check out this link through Mandolin Central to learn more about the provenance of this piece of Gibson history: http://www.mandolincentral.com/lloyd-loar-mandolin-zeibarth
Other keywords: loyd, f5, f 5, verzi, drew matulich, f-style
$113,300 Add to cartScale Length 13.937 in Nut Width 1.063 in String Spacing 1.531 in Woods Spruce - Adirondack (Red), Maple Add to CompareBrand New Mendel Octave Mandolin, Katalox/Sitka Spruce
Here’s something we don’t see every day! Our friend and fine luthier Joe Mendel has brought us a punchy and powerful flattop-style octave mandolin upgraded with a multiscale fretboard for easy lefthand work. Combined with the guitar-style body’s smooth waist, this makes for a very comfortable playing experience—no more fighting to keep the neck up like you’d have to with a traditional mandolin-shaped design! Joe outfitted this beauty with EVO frets, Katalox back and sides, plus Sitka Spruce on top, and Curly Maple bindings throughout.
Other keywords: al petteway, mandalin, octo, fan fret, multi scale, multi-scale, flat top, flat-top, mendel stringed instruments, 017097
SOLD Add to cartScale Length 22.875 in - 23.375 in Nut Width 1.25 in String Spacing 1.56 in Woods Spruce - Sitka, Katalox Add to CompareAdd to CompareAdd to Compare2003 Breedlove Cascade Mandolin Flamed Maple/Sitka
We’ve got a live-wire of a mandolin from the folks at Breedlove Guitars in the story today! In addition to making distinctive and expressive guitars, Breedlove also makes fine mandolins, like this 2003 Breedlove Cascade. With Flamed Maple for the back, sides, and neck, and Sitka Spruce on top, this modified F-style (which Breedlove has coined the “K-style“) has great drive and an energetic, punchy tone. The clarity and articulation of this mandolin set it apart from others in this price range (no damp, flubby notes here), making it an excellent buy for either the guitarist looking to expand his repertoire or the mandolinist looking for a great gigging mando. This one is set up great for Bluegrass, but it could be easily adapted for Blues or Traditional music. Lastly, this mandolin comes with the original briefcase-style Breedlove hardshell case.
SOLD Read moreScale Length 14 in Nut Width 1.19 in String Spacing 1.69 in Woods Spruce - Sitka, Maple - Figured Add to Compare2010 Collings MT2 O Flamed Maple/Adirondack (Red)
Here we have a Collings MT2 O A style mandolin. We know Collings well through their guitars, which are wonderful, but their mandolins are equally deserving of renown. This A model is smooth, both in playability and tone, and its voice is warm and inviting but surprisingly loud! If you are looking for a sweeter sound than the F model but still want to cut through the fray of a heavy jam session and don’t want to break the bank, this here is your mandolin.
SOLD Read moreScale Length 13.75 in Nut Width 1.19 in String Spacing 1.44 in Woods Spruce - Adirondack (Red), Maple Add to Compare2006 Collings MT2-V Flamed Maple/Adirondack
Collings Guitars is widely recognized for the impeccable playability, tone, and fit-and-finish of all their instrument lines, and their mandolins are some of the finest on the market. This MT2-V A-style model in Adirondack Spruce and Eastern Flamed Maple clearly illustrates Bill Collings’ pursuit of perfection, from the outstanding tone, courtesy of the seasoned Red Spruce top with parallel tone bar bracing, all the way down to the finest details, such as the hand-rubbed sunburst and oil-based varnish finish, as well as the supremely comfortable V-shaped neck profile. Tonally, this mandolin packs a wallop, with a clearly articulated chop and a warm, woody voice that projects effortlessly.
SOLD Read moreScale Length 13.88 in Nut Width 1.13 in String Spacing 1.56 in Woods Spruce - Adirondack (Red), Maple Add to CompareCollings MF5OV Flamed Maple/Adirondack First Ever Oval Hole
This was the very first Collings Oval Hole MF Style Mandolin. It has a one piece highly figured Maple back and a stunning Adirondack Spruce top. It is finished in Varnish for maximum tone. This beautiful mando was so good it sold before we could get on the website.
Add to CompareCollings MT2V Varnish Flamed Maple/Adirondack
Here we have an absolutely prisitine Varnish Finish MT2V mandolin from Collings. We hardly need to introduce this model, it has already earned it’s amount of respect in the music world. But this one is awesome. The Varnish really allows the most tone and volume to come out and this is a big sounding one. The fit and finish are perfection as we’ve all come to expect from Collings and the burst is to die for.
SOLD Read moreScale Length 13.88 in Nut Width 1.19 in String Spacing 1.56 in Woods Spruce - Adirondack (Red), Maple Add to Compare2002/3 Collings MT2R A Style Mandolin Maple/Adirondack
From Collings: “The Collings MT2 is our fully appointed A-model with a seasoned Red spruce top and premium maple back and sides. With its superb tone, elegant stylings and unmatched playability, the MT2 is sure to please the most discerning eyes and ears.” This one is dead mint with gorgeous dark vintage sunburst. The voice is clear as a bell and about as loud as the big bell in Philadelphia….
SOLD Read moreScale Length 13.88 in Nut Width 1.13 in String Spacing 1.56 in Woods Spruce - Adirondack (Red), Maple Add to CompareNew Dammann Mandocello Guitar, Osage Orange/Sitka Spruce
The folks at Dammann Stringed Instruments have leaned into the challenge of modernizing the mandolin family. With numerous ergonomic and playability innovations, these instruments play easily, and offer clarity and depth of tone. We recently landed our first Dammann Mandocello, here in a Jumbo guitar body, and already we’re impressed. Locally sourced Osage Orange back and sides, Sitka Spruce top, and a Cherry neck to keep things interesting. This beauty has 10 strings, and can be tuned from C to E, making this playable with the first eight strings as an octave mandolin, or the bottom eight strings as a mandocello.
They’ve also engineered an adjustable neck angle, so there’s no fear of a neck reset to keep the setup where you need it, and a short 24.5 inch scale for easy fretting and intonation. A small soundport in the upper bout gives the player a bit more “me in the monitors,” and Dammann’s shop-made piezo pickup delivers faithfully acoustic flavor to your amplified endeavors. With the fifth C course, you’ve got an ferociously dynamic tonal palette at your fingertips. Traditional fiddle tunes are a blast to pick out on this Dammann, but there’s also latitude for complex chords, new voicings to accompany your songs, and all the color and sustain a Jumbo guitar body provides.
Something altogether new, this Dammann Guitar Mandocello feels natural in your hands, and is the best choice for expanding your tonal horizons.Other keywords: guitar-bodied mandocello, damann, damman, 10-string, pin bridge, gotoh
SOLD Read moreScale Length 24.563 in Nut Width 1.75 in String Spacing 2 in Woods Spruce - Sitka, Osage Orange Add to Compare2012 Ellis F Style Flamed Maple/Sitka
Here we have a Tom Ellis F style Mandolin in Highly Figure Maple and Sitka Spruce. Tom is widely regarded as one of the best Mandolin Luthiers in the world, If you are a bluegrass mandolin player you know Toms name and his instruments. This F style is easily one of the nicest sounding and playing mandolins we have had, it has plenty of tone and chop to cut through a heavy bluegrass mix, but it is also sweet and excels at solo work. There is little doubt after playing this mandolin that Tom Ellis is a master Luthier, this instrument is flawless in every aspect from construction to finish, a true masterpiece.
SOLD Read moreScale Length 13.88 in Nut Width 1.19 in String Spacing 1.5 in Woods Spruce - Sitka, Maple Add to CompareBrand New Forster 10 String Guitar Bouzouki, Bubinga/European Spruce
Nigel Forster packs more into his instruments than you can shake a pick at. Here we’ve landed a brand new Guitar Bouzouki from him that is set up for extended range, playability, and power. Sweetly figured Bubinga back and sides pair with a European Spruce top that’s been engineered in the Howe Orme cylinder style–meaning the center section of top is cylindrically arched. The result is a very stiff top at about 40% the usual mass, and lighter makes louder in this case. Add to that the extended range afforded to a course of low C on the bottom of the 10 string setup, and you have an instrument for just about every application. Nigel further enhanced playability with a cutaway, subtle arm bevel, EVO frets, and a zero fret nut.
Other keywords: lutherie, sobell, robin bullock, mandolin, mando, guitzouk, gouzouki
SOLD Read moreScale Length 24.625 in Nut Width 1.625 in String Spacing 1.925 in Woods Spruce - European, Bubinga Add to Compare2010 Forster Guitar Bouzouki Camatillo/Italian
The Irish Bouzouki is the result of constant evolution. What began as a bowl-backed, three-course instrument from Greece has undergone a series of transformations in the past 40 years to become the flat-backed, four-course (or more) instrument we now find in Irish and Folk scenes across the world. A select few luthiers have taken the instrument one step further, by experimenting with using guitar bodies instead of the accepted teardrop shape, in an attempt to create a more dynamically-voiced and easier to play Bouzouki. Nigel Forster, former apprentice of famed luthier Stefan Sobell, is one of these pioneers–and the territories he’s exploring are deep and resounding.This, his Guitar Bouzouki (or Gouzouki, or Gitzouki, if you prefer), is a specialty of his, and this one in particular stands apart from his standard Guitar Bouzouki model with a removable neck, which the original owner conscripted Forster to include, in order for him to remove the standard four-course neck and swap it for a fretless version, or a different profile, or whatever caught his inspiration. Alas, this Guitar Bouzouki only comes with the one neck, but the possibility is still there.Tonally, this 2010 Guitar Bouzouki is fearsome. With a voice characterized by its clarity and depth, and a projection capable of shattering windows, Forster has built an exceedingly loud and expressive instrument. This Guitar Bouzouki is louder than an instrument this size has a right to be–honestly, it can achieve volumes most instruments need to be electrically amplified to achieve. Forster has written extensively on the particulars of his building style which result in this magnificent voice, and you can read his own thoughts on the subject below: http://www.nkforsterguitars.com/blog/loud-acoustic-guitars/ Forster’s use of a “cylindrical top,” based on a Howe-Orme design from the 1800’s, allows the Italian Spruce top to be incredibly light (literally: check out the photos below which show light passing warmly through the top)–and all of that lightness translates into dynamic voicings, projection, sustain, and a well-defined top end.This Guitar Bouzouki, with Camatillo Rosewood back and sides and a Cuban Mahogany neck, has an otherworldly voice, at once persuading, ecstatic, thoughtful yet confident, moving but focused.
Add to CompareNew Forster Guitar Bouzouki Camatillo/Italian
Nigel Forster has hit a homerun with this Guitar Bouzouki! The tone is simply magical and had us all smiling from ear to ear. Nigel has taken his 15 years experience with Stefan Sobell and expanded on it finding his own voice for his instruments. Guitar players will find the Bouzouki easy to learn and irresistibly fun to play. It is often tuned to GDAD or GDAE, etc. In no time you’ll be adding this wonderful voice to your solo and group work.But make no mistake this is a pro level instrument so if you are a serious Bouzouki player this is for you as well. Just listen to the sound clips and treat yourself to a little joy in these troubling times.
SOLD Read moreScale Length 25.6 in Nut Width 1.44 in String Spacing 1.88 in Woods Spruce - Italian, Rosewood - Camatillo