Mandolin & Mandolin Family

Named for the hardy trees that can take the high winds and freezing temperatures of Montana. The slightest breeze cause it's golden leaves to flutter, and together with their white bark the Aspen seems to shimmer against the dark pine forest background.

The Weber List Price is $1299

There are three options on this mandolin: 

1)  the finish is all glossy all over – normally it is matte (satin) all over.

2) the finish is sunburst.   Normally it is natural.

3) it has a factory installed K&K pickup system.

These three options do, certainly, add to the price of the mandolin.Nevertheless, it is a very fine and exciting instrument and immediately suitable for on-stage use.

The Weber List Price is $2624

Kentucky Mandolins has truly outdone itself with this honored KM-1000 model. Largely hand-made by a dedicated group of trained luthiers, this instrument reflects a level of attention to detail seldom seen in instruments of its price range. The crème bound glossy black headplate hosts a “The Kentucky” pearl inlaid logo and a standard powerflot decoration.

The Gibson mandolin line of 1918 stepped off with the Style A- which, although the least expensive model until the even less fancy A-Jr. came out the following year, had many attractive appointments.   Even though this was the entry level model, it was classy, tasteful, elegant and beautifully crafted.   And, it sounds every bit as good as the highest-level Gibson A- mandolins of its time.

When better Bill Bussmann bridges to bedazzlement by way of bewitching bulwarks of brilliance are built, we believe that Bill Bussmann will, himself, build them.  This, then, is one of those burgeoning bouquets of soprano mellifluousness, gorgeous beyond all popular intensifiers.   The parallel grained carved top is not just spruce, it’s Colorado- grown Engelmann (another word with a double “n.”  Mere coincidence?”) but, even better, the underlying top bracing is Adirondack “Red.”

This exceptionally fine sounding instrument has a second interior label that was signed, on August 23, 2007, by one David W. Harvey.  Few mandolins are as immediately attractive or handsome in a traditional American way than the Sam Bush model.  Sam has always favored a 1930s Gibson F-5, and perhaps he still does, and this mandolin embodies the design ideas of that favored period, with a few other niceties included as well.

Striking and compelling beyond all belief, this instrument shows only the most minor signs of having been owned and played – a few small dings here and there.   This mandolin was custom-made for someone who wanted a new instrument based on an early Gibson Florentine design.  According to the builder, in the annals of work performed by Bill Bussmann it is truly one-of-a-kind, being the only one he has made; he recalls that he made it in 2003 or 2004.   

The design of the Rigel mandolin is one of the most original in the fretted instrument industry.   It is the “stressless” mandolin – the one that’s fun to hold and play over hours of performance or practice time.   This silken and inviting instrument comes with its own factory installed pickup; the tailpin doubles as a phone jack.   One may note, upon careful inspection that its carved spruce top “drops into” a circle (and in this instance one can see the outline of the circle against the light when viewed at an angle) that the builder designed in a most proprietary manner.

We special-ordered this in the dark sunburst finish, and with the factory installed K&K internal pickup system.   It is, as a consequence, one of the most versatile (and beautiful) modern Florentine-with-f-hole mandolins being offered from a factory in the northwestern quadrant of the U.S.A.    We reserve this honor for only a few choice instruments, but in our lexicon of greatness (with thanks to Peter Alsop) "It's a Hummer."   Except the pickup doesn't hum - it's pretty darn quiet.

Although the American OO Mandolin is perfect for Celtic or Folk music it can hold its own across the board.  The simple teardrop shape and oval sound hole manifest some of the loudest, most unique sound that you can find.  A true work of exquisite craftsmanship, this model features a Flamed Maple neck and rich Ebony fingerboard and headstock.  Breedlove mandolins are known for their ease of play and comfortable ergonomics and the OO is no exception exhibiting a radiused fingerboard and oversize frets.  The Breedlove List Price is $2299

A Gibson 1916 Style A-1 mandolin can, when it is in excellent and wholly original condition, sell for as much as $1995.  This one is not $1995, because of the issues raised above.   It is, instead, a handsome instrument producing fine sound, much volume and possesses look that only a 96-year-old Gibson mandolin can have, with original hard shell case, offered “as is,” as follows:

This mandolin’s tuning machines have temporarily been replaced with Stew-Mac replicas (engraved plate/grained ivoroid buttons, but the original somewhat yellowed grained ivoroid button 1920 tuners reside in the case and its next owner could, if he or she wished, reinstall them.  Top and back of the body are bound in ivoroid; the back binding has yellowed and even taken on a small amount of blue/green in three areas, leached from the case lining, while the top binding has remained white-ish.  

This extremely rare, extremely beautiful, natural top mandolin with the snaky style headstock, produces a sound that rings like the bells tolled by Quasimoto, the vertically challenged, hearing impaired, socially awkward quasi-musician who enjoyed a more or less permanent gig at the Notre Dame Cathedral.   It is, in every way, “one of the good ones” (our highest possible compliment).

The F-4 model is fancy and elegant, having ivoroidheadstock and neck binding, ivoroid binding on top and back, a large mother of pearl torch inlaid on the polished black (ebony) headplate under the inlaid “The Gibson” script pearl inlaid logo.   The F-4 has a fancy soundhole rosette comprised of rings of black and ivoroid, then a larger ribbon of black and ivoroid parallelograms in an oval, then another black purfling line and a very large crème celluloid swath, followed by the same motif as earlier stated.  The oval soundhole itself (partially covered by the fingerboard extension) is ivoroid celluloid bound.  Our Discount Price is $7,732.00 and Our Cash Discount Price is $7,500.00.

traditional sunburst finish, solid handcarved spruce top, solid handcarved maple back & sides, nitro-cellulose finish, radiused rosewood fingerboard, bound neck and headstock, bone nut and hard shell case.

The K series of Breedlove mandolins became an instant classic.  Through the mind and hands of Kim Breedlove, the traditional Florentine shape has been transformed into a more modern, less frilly version of itself.  The American KO has an oval sound hole which provides nice resonance and an open tone.

The Breedlove List Price is $2260

Finding a John D’Angelico mandolin at a reasonable price is like winning the lottery.  He made, according his logbook, just 47 mandolins out of the approximately 1,163 pieces he is thought to have built in total, or at least there are just 47 entered into his log book.     How many of these were made in roundbelly is not known.  In our forty years in business we have found (and sold) only one other Neapolitan D’Angelico mandolin.  

This exceptional and effortlessly easy-to-play mandolin, made by Rolfe Gerhardt South Thomaston, ME, is similar in appearance to his Phoenix NeoClassical in that it has neither top nor back binding and utilizes (to extremely good effect) Thomastic Enfield flatwound strings which are made in Vienna, Austria.  It has the two-part adjustable bridge in which the bridge base is made from “Timeless Timbre” or “Old Wood” or maybe “Sinker Maple” – wood that was submerged in an extremely deep river under tremendous pressure for over a hundred years, or so says the legend.