The Eastman MD605 represents great value in a quality A-Style mandolin, built with solid woods and wrapped in a gloss nitrocellulose lacquer finish. Introduced in 1905 and based on Orville Gibson’s patent merging violin family techniques with guitar and mandolin construction, the A-Style mandolin has a distinctive teardrop shape and a carved top and back, with either F holes or an oval hole; the F hole provides somewhat more top end. Compared to the F style often seen in bluegrass bands, the A Style body shape has more pronounced midrange and fundamental, and a less percussive attack.
The Twelfth Fret
The Collings MT2 A Style is one of the finest production mandolins available, using top shelf materials and very high level build quality. Built using traditional mixtures of a Red (Adirondack) Spruce top, Eastern Flame Maple back, sides and neck, with Ebony for the fingerboard and bridge, the Collings MT2 A Style is wrapped in an impeccable nitrocellulose lacquer finish. Collings does some of the best finishing around. The body of this example is bound with faux-tortoise plastic – Ivoroid is used on some versions – with black/white side and top purfling.
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MORE →Here’s a Gibson 1958 Les Paul Junior Double Cut Historic Reissue in TV White, built during 2004 at the Nashville Custom Shop. Introduced in 1954 as a simplified, entry level Les Paul model, the Les Paul Junior featured two woods – Honduran Mahogany for the slab body and neck, and Rosewood for the fingerboard – which until the end of the Junior’s production in 1963 meant Brazilian Rosewood.
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MORE →The Beard Road-O-Phonic lap steel first appeared around 2006 and is designed and built in Hagerstown, Maryland at Paul Beard’s shop. The Road-O-Phonic has evolved over several versions and the second version seen here features a Maple body and neck with Flame Maple veneer for the top and back; the fingerboard is Ebony with a 23 inch scale length. The current version 3 uses a 25 inch scale length.
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MORE →Here is a rare Custom Shop Fender 70 Esquire Relic with Rosewood fingerboard in translucent blonde, and sporting an added Lollar neck pickup. This model was built in a run of 20 examples during 2008. The Fender Esquire was the first Electric Spanish style guitar to appear in a Fender catalog (all the others were Hawaiian or steel guitars), making its debut in the spring of 1950. This single pickup model didn’t have an adjustable truss rod, but by the fall of 1950, the two-pickup Broadcaster appeared and adjustable truss rods were standard for all the necks.
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MORE →Here is a rarity for North America – a Julian Mario Rabaza Crossover guitar dating to 1982 and built at Rabaza’s shop in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Julian Mario Rabaza has been well known South American circles for decades, and mostly builds Spanish style Classical and Flamenco guitars. This example is what we would now call a ‘Crossover’ model, meaning that it has a couple of adaptations for those playing other styles – Tango and Latin Jazz for example.
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