Description

What magic is this? What if Lloyd Loar had stuck around a little longer at Gibson?  What if demand for the A-5 model had actually ticked up in the 1920s? What would a near-century-old, top-shelf, refined A-style mandolin sound and feel like today? Mr. MacRostie's Red Diamond Vintage A-5 has us daydreaming about what might have been. The mandolin looks less like a 2010 model and more like a well preserved instrument from the 1920s. The super-light build makes for a weightless playing experience, the smallest effort driving the top with ease. Toneful, with that enviable, vocal midrange than often eludes many a modern mandolin. This Vintage A-5 is simply a joy to play and to hear in the room.

Priced with Heirloom hard-shell case.

Specs

• Red spruce top
• Hard, curly maple back and sides
• Hand-rubbed, varnish finish
• Hot hide-glue construction
• Radiused, ebony fretboard w/scooped extension
  
• Two-piece, ebony bridge
• Ivoroid binding
  
• Pearl & abalone inlay w/flowerpot headstock
  
• 1-3/32", compensated, bone nut
  
• Waverly tuners w/ebony buttons
  
• Engraved, hinged tailpiece
• Bound, tortoise pickguard
• Heirloom hard-shell case
• Serial #209