Wienman is striking a beautiful balance between vintage and modern tonalities, with looks to kill.

New Wienman in the house! These are still pretty new to the shop, this one being only the second Wienman F model we have hosted, and the first we have had to feature an X brace. As with the first model we received this Wienman F-5 AX hits a great sweet spot between vintage and modern sound and design cues, and offers an outstanding value in a handmade F-style mandolin.

Right out of the case, this is an impressive sounding mandolin. It has a lot of low-end content, as you might expect from an X-braced mandolin, with round mids and a very pleasing, smooth, chimey high end. Playability, fit and finish are nicely dialed in, too. The neck has a nice, full carve with a soft "V" profile that feels quite comfortable. The spirit-varnish finish in Bourbon Burst is picture perfect.

The praise Will and Wes' mandolins have been garnering over the last few years is well founded, to say the the least. With folks like Jarrod Walker (Billy Strings) and a recent profile in Fretboard Journal (55) raising their profile, we are hoping to see many more mandolins from them in the future!