didn't have time to play mandolin over the weekend, but

[darylcrisp]

I took them out of the cases for a breather!

wife and I every two months or so take on a marathon weekend and redo a room in the house. this past weekend it was the girls room. we do 13-15 hour days nonstop saturday and sunday and usually need another day, but typically get the bulk of it done.

this room needed some sheetrock replacement followed by overall general repair, new overhead lighting, new switches, floor is 70 year old oak and rather than sanding to the white for a lighter shade, we are leaving it dark and I'm further staining with walnut for an overall shade, then polyurethane. the floor work will happen tomorrow(I'm off work).

the color is a seafoam green I saw on a 55 Chevy.

in order left to right: Collings MT, Weber BitterRoot F, Northfield F5S

[KarGuitar]

Nice mandos! How do like the Northfield in comparison to the Weber? Never got a chance to play one, but people seem to love them.

[Dru Edwards]

Daryl, beautiful mandolins! If you don't have time to play them you might as well enjoy seeing them.

[darylcrisp]

Originally Posted by Dru Edwards

Daryl, beautiful mandolins! If you don't have time to play them you might as well enjoy seeing them.

thanks Dru, my thoughts exactly
d

[darylcrisp]

Originally Posted by KarGuitar

Nice mandos! How do like the Northfield in comparison to the Weber? Never got a chance to play one, but people seem to love them.

when i dove into the mandolin phase, i did a good road trip and experienced a lot of nice mandolins-names like Collings, Weber, Gibson, and some of the better luthier built mandos. i was looking for the wider nut width( 1 3/16"), which all my mandos have. Wanted to hear the differences of tone and see how they felt in my hands.

The Collings MT i have is a wonderful mandolin. Englemann top so it rounds off that sharpness that an Adi top Collings can have-to my ears. This MT is the standard by which i now judge all mandos. The build and setup came perfect, i adjusted really low action in and its buzz free and plays like a dream.

The Weber is used and well broken in and is the nicest Weber i've played, tonewise. I am doing a setup on it as we speak and it too has almost zero relief and a nice low easy action. I did a speedneck on it as well.

The Northfield F5S is wonderful. Since it arrived about 2 or 3 months ago i honestly have not played the other two. I had played an englemann top NF in my travels but the tone did not grab me. This one has an adi top and just rings clear, sweet, and thick all over the fretboard. It has the wider nut and a one piece back(not that that matters for tone in any way IMO). The Northfields i've played have excellent build quality, very low setups, very smooth tuners, ring clear and nice on the whole neck. There is something very organic in its tone and feel. It just feels like a well worn pair of favorite bluejeans if that makes sense.

The one aspect i did not like was the neck profile on the NF. It has thicker fuller shoulders and the shape IMO is an upside down egg-imagine that or go get an egg and hold the small tip upside down. I find the Weber and Collings neck profiles to fit me perfect, so i've speednecked the NF and removed a small amount of wood from the shoulders and it feels really nice now to my hands. I may tweak the profile a tad more in the future but time will tell.

I could walk away with any one mandolin of the three and feel blessed. They all play easy, have balanced tones, and have nice aesthetics. I will say i would miss the Northfield a lot. It has something very special in its sound.

Here are some pics of the NF:

speedneck






one piece back


as perfect as can be, spaced pearl nut




very clean workmanship on the binding

[KarGuitar]

Excellent info on your mandos. Thanks for the review and thoughts! People are loving these Northfields! I like the idea of their oval hole model also

[Dotneck]

where's the black ice?

[darylcrisp]

Originally Posted by Dotneck

where's the black ice?

I did a trade to acquire a Collings MT for my father-in-law. He played my MT one day and absolutely loved it-I saw the twinkle in his eyes.

The Black Ice was a really good mandolin, but I really prefer the Weber BitterRoot I have over it(picked it up used and played in well-sounds great).

d

[dcopper]

Hey Daryl,
I am just getting into the mando mania. I am currently trying to sell a couple of Taylors, a 2012 Fall LTD GA quilted sapele and a 2003 stunning cocobolo nylon string with Engleman top, to finance my purchase. (Daughter starting grad school and another starting college).

anyway, all three of your mandos are amazing pieces. My guess is, that it is well worth it to buy up rather than start low and eventually trade up? I played a Collings F Style, dont remember the model, but even my pathetic noodling sounded amazing.

They look fantastic against the new wall color. My guess is you secretly picked the paint to match the mandos!

What would you recommend in terms of a good, high quality mando that will play well and sound good. I am looking at the Breedloves for the feel and playability (LEgacy and PRemier series). I am not sure I can go for the Collings although I thought about putting the dog up for sale...
davidc

[darylcrisp]

Originally Posted by dcopper

Hey Daryl,
I am just getting into the mando mania. I am currently trying to sell a couple of Taylors, a 2012 Fall LTD GA quilted sapele and a 2003 stunning cocobolo nylon string with Engleman top, to finance my purchase. (Daughter starting grad school and another starting college).

anyway, all three of your mandos are amazing pieces. My guess is, that it is well worth it to buy up rather than start low and eventually trade up? I played a Collings F Style, dont remember the model, but even my pathetic noodling sounded amazing.

They look fantastic against the new wall color. My guess is you secretly picked the paint to match the mandos!

What would you recommend in terms of a good, high quality mando that will play well and sound good. I am looking at the Breedloves for the feel and playability (LEgacy and PRemier series). I am not sure I can go for the Collings although I thought about putting the dog up for sale...
davidc

David

I highly suggest what you have in mind. you can get an excellent used Collings MT(like the A style of mine)for around $1600-1800. They are regular on the MandolinCafe classifieds. The MT has a huge reputation for consistency. They play great, are built great, adjust and setup great. You simply can't beat a Collings-especially a used one-assuming you like the tone.
Same thing for Webers, great build, sound. They have a different tone than Collings. The BitterRoot is a good Weber to buy used. That's what mine is in the picture. You can find them around $1200 for the A and $2200 for the F.

both companies offer the wide nut width at 1 3/16"(versus the standard 1 1/8"). I prefer the wider nut width, but that's just a personal thing.

the Northfield comes highly recommended as well. again, very different tone than the Collings or Weber. Go to the Northfield website for lots of videos(or youtube). used, these come in around $2200, they cost around $2695 new-they are holding high value in the used market. there's a lot more brands out there-these 3 are built really nice, sound excellent, and hold resale value. they tend to setup with a really flat neck(little relief) so the action can be low and buzz free-easy to fret. that's huge!

check this website for online instruction: mandolessons.com (this guy is very good as a teacher), and also Mike Marshall at artistworks(excellent teacher but it costs some $. there are some free tryout lessons. go to peghead nation for online instruction as well-I have not looked into those but they have well known teachers.

PM me if you need anything else.

I may be selling the Weber soon. I don't have time to play one, let alone 3.

good luck
d

Collings:


Weber


Northfield




You can hear Weber on a CD by Mark Beale called "ardent spirit"(go to CD baby and you can listen to the songs. For a Collings MT similar to mine, find the album "we made it home" by melody walker and jacob groopman.

[dcopper]

Daryl
Let me know if you are interested in a trade for the Weber
I have two guitars I am considering selling
The 2012 fall LTD quilted sapele custom GA and a cocobolo engleman custom NS74 c nylon string
Just a thought - no pressure
Thanks for the sound clips- they were helpful and I could her the difference in tone but they sounded sooooo good!
Davidc

[darylcrisp]

and I forgot to mention a nice album where you can hear nothing but Northfields. Find Adam Steffey " new primitive". he uses nothing but NF on that album.

d