Perhaps the closest any luthier has ever come to capturing the unique features, contours, and sonic characteristics of the unicorn of teardrop mandolins, the lone Lloyd Loar-signed Gibson A5.

It is still hard to believe that, throughout the glorious run of mandolins to come off the line at Gibson in the early 1920s, Lloyd Loar would affix his signature to only a single A model, known as the "Griffith" mandolin, for Margie Keelin Griffith, who commissioned its build in 1923. Likely you have heard it before, when David Grisman featured it on Tone Poems, his classic collaboration with Tony Rice and homage to timeless tone.

Enter Max and Lauri Girouard, whose labor of love researching the original instrument and its history has led to the creation of this Girouard "Griffith Tribute" A5 model. A remarkable mandolin, it is perhaps the closest any luthier has ever come to capturing the unique features, contours, and sonic characteristics of this unicorn of teardrop mandolins. The sound is springy, throaty and full, with absolutely best-in-class midrange. As in all Girouard's builds, the fit and finish is top shelf. One of the more unique mandolins we've had the pleasure of hosting here, and a compelling complement to Girouard's usual, slightly more modern mandolin voicing, the Griffith will be a very limited-production model going forward.

*Video is of a previously sold instrument with identical specs.