www.gibson.com

I start with Gibson because, in my eyes at least, the Gibson mandolin is the granddaddy of all bluegrass mandolins. Often copied but never bettered!

CLICK HERE FOR MORE GIBSON MODELS

It is a "must have" mandolin for the professional musician and has a distinctive tone that is it's signature. I can listen to a recording and distinguish a Gibson mandolin from any other. The F5 is nothing short of iconic in status, and as their website proudly proclaims "Gibson F-5s from 1922-24 were designed, built, hand-tuned and signed by acoustic engineer Lloyd Loar and are considered to be the finest mandolins ever made".

Gibson Service Phone: 1-800 4 GIBSON

email: service@gibson.com

 

 

www.ashmandolins.co.uk

Modelled on a 1930’s vintage Gibson Mandolin, Ash Mandolins are hand crafted by Sean Ashley. All solid timbers are used in the making of these mandolins.

Each mandolin carries a lifetime guarantee and should the finish become damaged Sean will refinish it free of charge.

Mobile: +44 (0)77 666 429

Email info@ashmanolins.co.uk

 

www.paulshippey.co.uk

Paul makes truly wonderful mandolins. His ethos is making only a few at a time to keep quality levels consistent. He uses only the finest tone woods. Here is an extract from Pauls site:

My workshop is in Weston-super-Mare, North Somerset, England. I specialise in building carved-top instruments of the Mandolin family; working on a small group of instruments at a time, I can maintain
a consistently high standard of craftsmanship.

Telephone : 01934 418999 [ from outside UK : +44 1934 418999 ]

Mobile: 07974 540967

email : paulshippey@hotmail.com

 

www.moonguitars.co.uk

Just about everyone who plays one of these fabulous mandolins instantly falls in love with it - they should carry a warning label saying "caution - these instruments are addictive" Here's an extract from their website:

Moon Guitars was established by Jimmy Moon in 1979 in a small workshop on the Island of Arran, off the west coast of Scotland.

Combining his engineering skills and love of music, Jimmy first began producing dulcimers….progressing quickly on to acoustic guitars. His reputation as a fine craftsman soon flourished, and with the help of his musician brother, Brendan, he was soon making and repairing instruments for many of Scotland’s finest musicians.
By 1985 Moon Guitars had outgrown the small workshop on Arran and all was moved to the present workshops in Glasgow.

During the following years, Moon Guitars established themselves as a producer of custom built instruments of a very high quality, combined with a comprehensive repair service for both visiting and local musicians.

MoonGuitars Ltd
974 Pollokshaws Road
Glasgow G41 2HA
Scotland

Tel: 0044(0)141 632 9526
Fax: 0044(0)141 632 9526

email: moon@moonguitars.co.uk

 

www.sjryder.com

Steve makes some truly amazing musical instruments that are made to be played by the best. Here is an excerpt from Steve's website: "Steve Ryder Stringed Instruments has been in operation since 1987 and has grown from basic instrument repair into professional refinishing, repair, and designing/building of custom stringed instruments. The shop is located in South Portland, Maine. Steve's electric mandolins and services have been used by musicians and other makers for the past twenty three years".

Member of the GUILD OF AMERICAN LUTHIERS since 1983
Finishing and final assembly for DANA BOURGEOIS GUITARS in Lewiston, Maine for 3 - 1/2 years
Finisher and toolmaker for SBS Guitars (under the Schoenberg label) for 2 years
Guitar and mandolin player since 1967
Finishing and final assembly for DANA BOURGEOIS GUITARS in Lewiston, Maine for 3 - 1/2 years
Finisher and toolmaker for SBS Guitars (under the Schoenberg label) for 2 years
Guitar and mandolin player since 1967

Ryder Stringed Instruments
93 Washington Ave.
Portland, ME 04101

Phone: 207 939-4848
email:sjryder@midmaine.com

 

www.brianmooreguitars.com

Pictured alongside is a little beauty from the Brian Moore Guitar Company. Here are the specifications from this amazing piece of equipment - oh boy, do I want to own one of these !

The P-5 MANDOLIN is the ultimate instrument for the performing musician. It features a slimline body with sound chambers. The P-5 utilizes the RMC piezo pickup which offers the incredible natural acoustic sound of the strings without the worry of troublesome feedback on stage. The P-5 can also be upgraded with our 13-pin system, giving the mandolin player endless possibilities.

P5 Mandolin Features

Mahogany body
Acoustic Chambers
Figured Maple Top and Back
Mahogany neck
Rosewood fingerboard
RMC Piezo
RMC 13 Pin
Sperzel locking tuners
3+5 sculpted headstock
13 7/8 scale
Available in all of our translucent colors and bursts

 

Phone 800-795-PLAY * 845-486-0744 *
Fax 845-486-0745

General Email: info@brianmooreguitars.com

 

reddiamondmandolins.com

These are beautiful mandolins - but not just beautiful, they sound amazing. Here's a brief extract from their website:

"In the early 1980s Don began the work of converting an old building on his small farm outside of Athens into a makeshift woodshop. Over the years he has worked with this space expanding it, aquiring equipment, and developing his personal techniques for creating handmade instruments efficiently. Three additions later that building is now a one-man production facility equipped with machinery and tools (many designed by Don himself) for every stage of instrument production. There are on average 12 Red Diamond instruments produced in a year - each one created entirely by Don".

Red Diamond Mandolins
15310 Fossil Rock Road
Athens, OH 45701
email don@reddiamondmandolins.com

www.phoenixmandolins.com

Mandolins for connoisseurs of handcrafted instruments, and for musicians who want outstanding volume, tone, and playability.

Rolfe Gerhardt, builder of the legendary Unicorn mandolins in the 70's, has spent the last thirty years applying new musical instrument technologies to the 8-string American mandolin. Using the finest tonewoods and forty years of luthiers experience, he crafts the musicians' dream mandolins

Phoenix Mandolins
159 St. George Road,
South Thomaston, Maine
04858-3023, USA
Telephone: 207-354-0397
e-mail: pxmandolin@aol.com

www.bacornguitars.com

Roger Bacorn is not only a nice chap, he also makes some of the worlds finest Guitars and mandolins, but don't just take my word for it, here's some feedback from one of his customers

"Got the mandolin!!! I LOVE IT!!! It's EXACTLY what I wanted and expected. I love the finish and the painting/staining, it's perfect. Overall it's perfect. The sound is great too. It has plenty of volume, and a very sweet tone. The neck width is perfect (nut with). The V shape is perfect. The depth of the neck is exactly what I asked for. It's a beautiful instrument. I'm absolutely delighted with it. After playing and owning a bunch of F-5 and A style mandolins, this instruments embodies all of the desirable qualities of both, but has a unique quality that I'm thrilled with. From an engineering point of view, it makes sense! It has the MAGIC combination of volume and projection and tone! The appointments are perfect for me. I love the minimalist quality of the instrument. The wood is the hero! Your craftsmanship is superb! I couldn't be happier. If someone were to offer me an F mandolin of my choice in trade for this mandolin I wouldn't do it. " - need we say more??

Bacorn Custom Guitars
& Mandolins
2230 River Rd.
Nichols, NY 13812

Phone: 607-699-3094
email: reb@clarityconnect.com

www.rigelmandolin.com

Pete Langdell produced his first instrument in the mid 1960s. Since then, he has crafted and honed his ideas about acoustical theories, which led to the development of the Rigel concept in the late 1980s. He combined his love of music, his innate ingenuity and his attention to detail (from being a machinist) and arrived at a whole new concept in stringed instrument development and construction.

The versatility of Rigel mandolins makes them suitable for a wide range of music, from bluegrass, jazz, country, old time, and Irish, to the more classical stringed arrangements.

In addition to the models available, custom work is also possible. More ornate inlay work, custom staining, individual specifications for the neck of the instrument, or other individual preferences can be arranged.

Rigel Instruments, Ltd.
P.O. Box 148,
132 Railroad St.
Cambridge, Vermont 05444
Phone: (802) 644-5900, 800-476-1009,
Fax: (802) 644-2280

Email: sales@rigelmandolin.com

 

www.rattlesnakemandolins.com

Olin Davis is a perfectionist - he designed his mandolins on the famous "Lloyd Loar" mandolins.

Lloyd Loar. That name makes a bluegrass mandolin player's neck-hairs stand on end. For more than 70 years now, these instruments have been the most sought-after mandolins for serious bluegrass players. But, not many folks are finding them. Many of them still exist, but most of the ones that are still around are going to waste in glass display boxes.

That's why Olin has spent so much time looking at and playing every one that he could get near. He used a Loar owned by Tony Williamson( serial #75941 )as the model for his mandolins. Precise measurements were taken to draw the blueprints he used. That research and those blueprints are the basis for his F-5 mandolin.

Rattlesnake Mandolin Works
183 Fox Trot Trail
Pelion SC

Phone: (803) 730-1475

email: memedavis@hughes.net

 

 

www.petercoombe.com

Handcrafted mandolins, built for tonal quality.Made in Canberra, Australia.

Each instrument is carefully crafted from top quality native and imported wood, and finished with a high quality varnish finish. All fittings are best quality gold plated (Schaller tuners), with pickguards, tuning knobs and bindings of wood. These really are sweet mandolins. Tonally perfect and a joy to own.

Peter Coombe Mandolins
27 Goldfinch Crt
Theodore ACT 2905
Australia

Phone: from Australia: (02) 6292 7094 (home) or (02) 6216 4051 (office) International: Dial your International access code, then 612 6292 7094

Fax: From Australia (02) 6291 2164 International +612 6291 2164

email: peter.coombe@bigpond.com

 

 

 

www.dearstone.com

These really are great mandolins with a big heart and a wonderful tone. Here's what people are saying about these remarkable instruments:

"One of the best practitioners in the art of mandolin and guitar construction today is Ray Dearstone, who has been making mandolins and guitars for over eighteen years. Ray's approach to building these instruments is not radical. He adheres to time-proven methods, with great respect for the classic designs. Ray builds mandolins, archtop guitars, and violins in the traditional way, applying great skill to carefully hand-carve the arched top and back, a process that tunes the instrument's body to its most resonant pitch. This critical step is required to deliver volume and tonal complexity. It is one of the main reasons that the mandolin, archtop guitar and violin, have never adapted well to mass production or assembly line methods. Machine precision alone cannot create a great sounding instrument. Variations in wood density and flexibility require minute adjustments in the arching graduations that are best achieved by skillfully applied hand methods. Carving the top and back graduation is the true test for a luthier and it is here where Ray Dearstone's skills really shine. His mandolins and guitars possess a deep, woody tone, with a pronounced bass timbre that retains, amazingly, a sparkling bell-like brightness in the higher treble range. Ray's growing reputation, however, doesn't rest only with making an instrument with great tone. What is most striking is the consistent quality of tone from one of Ray's instruments to the next"

Dearstone Mandolin Works, Inc.
P. O. Box 447
Blountville, TN 37617-0447

Phone: 423-323-3173
email: rdearstone@juno.com

 

 

 

www.andymanson.com

This is one amazing guy making some of the finest and most unusual hand-made quality instruments anywhere in the world. He has made some fantastic multi-neck instruments, you just have to have a look on his website at some of his instruments.

Look at this little beauty he made for Martin Barre of Jethro Tull

To use his own words "Creator of world-class acoustic guitars, basses, mandolins and multi-neck instruments. You dream it - I'll build it" - and boy is that true!

Andy Manson
The Ark
18 High Street
Crediton
Devon
EX17 3AH
England

Tel/fax: +44 (0) 1363 773119

PLEASE CONTACT THROUGH GUEST BOOK

www.silverangelmandolins.com

Each mandolin is a work of art in itself, not only for its aesthetic value but for its sound and playability. Naturally a mandolin cannot only be a work of art to be viewed, but is a utilitarian object as well. It must perform. Each instrument is as individual as one person is from another.

On the first day, bending the sides for a mandolin, he can tell that this mandolin has its own personality already. It looks different. It has its own spirit, its own character. This individuality in his work is what makes his instruments stand apart.

Ken Ratcliff
P. O. Box 76
Elliottville, KY 40317

Telephone: (606) 286-8530
Email: silverangelmandolins@yahoo.com

www.stuart.co.nz

Here are Davy's own words from the website of this acclaimed and talented builder:

"Historian by training, musician by inclination, I built my first instruments some 25 years ago. Classes taught by inspirational Edinburgh luthier Bert Kerr in the '80s led to me building instruments full-time when I moved to New Zealand in 1989.
I now produce a comprehensive range of flat-top acoustic and electric instruments from my humidity and temperature-controlled workshop in Christchurch, specialising in 'Celtic strings', using a variety of selected mature imported and native timbers, and quality fittings"

141 England Street,
Christchurch,
New Zealand

Phone 03 9813814 (o/seas +64 3 9813814)
email: davy@stuart.co.nz

 

www.chapmandolins.com

These beautiful instruments are a musicians dream. Not only are they beautiful and well made but they play like a dream. Here's the words from their own website:

"I built the first two of these mandolins in the spring of `96. One of the pair was sold to a Columbia player, and I kept the second as a "show and tell" model. A year later, many good [and some famous] players had played the instrument and liked it very much, so I decided to build more. Also I had eventually sold my "demo" instrument to Mark Bryan [ of Hootie and the Blowfish] and no longer had one to show anyone. I have always loved mandolins....the very first instruments I built in `78 were acoustic mandolins based on a Martin design"

Billy Chapman and Thomas Edenton
WM. CHAPMAN STRINGED INSTRUMENTS
1408 Gregg St.,
Columbia, SC 29201

Phone: 803-799-1482
E-Mail: billy@chapmandolins.com

 

John Sullivan

The tone and projection of John's instruments are renowned. It is agreed by all who own them and all that hear them, that these instruments have perfect tonal balance, excellent projection, and surprising versatility. Each of John's creations possess a unique, yet classic voice that withstands comparison to any mandolin.

Phone: (503) 777-6479

email: jhsullivan@hotmail.com

www.randywoodguitars.com

An icon in the musical instrument field, Randy Wood built his first instrument, an Autoharp, in the early 1960's. After moving to Milledgeville, GA. in the mid sixties to work with Tut Taylor, he built his first Mandolin. The late, "Legendary" Bob Givens also came to work with Tut, and built his first mandolin. "We were both flying blind", Randy says of those early days.

That first RW mandolin is still being played today by the capable Red Henry. Randy's second mandolin is still serving under "The Master", Roland White, and his third may be the only mandolin commissioned by BIll Monroe, the father of Bluegrass.

Randy moved on from Milledgeville to Muscle Shoals, Ala. and Rual's Music Service, and then became a founding member of G.T.R. in Nashville, Tennessee, which later became Gruhn's Guitars. Over the years, Randy has performed his craft for everyone from Elvis Presley, Eric Clapton, and Keith Richards, to Vasser Clements, Clarence White, Bill Monroe and Emmy Lou Harris.

Randy Wood Guitars Voice: (912) 748-1930
1304 E. Highway 80
Bloomingdale,
GA 31302

Voice: (912) 748-1930
FAX: (912) 748-0141

E-mail: info@randywoodguitars.com