New Ruhland F-5-XF Mandolin no. 25 – SOLD

$5,150.00

The 25th mandolin from Portland, Oregon builder Matt Ruhland is an F-5, featuring Alaska Sitka Spruce one-piece top, fiddleback Maple back, sides, and neck, and Spirit Varnish. Forward-shifted X-braced construction.

Out of stock

Description

New. Serial number: 25. Varnish finish.
Forward-shifted X-brace construction. Width at nut: 1 1/8″

One-piece old growth Sitka Spruce top, from Alaska. This Sitka Spruce may be a hybrid example of Sitka mating with White Spruce and/or Engelmann, which is common along the Alaskan and Canadian coasts. These naturally occurring hybrids, often termed “Lutz” Spruce, are noted for generally being stiffer and harder than typical Sitka. This hybrid occurs between Sitka and White Spruce, Sitka and Englemann, or even all three.
The back, sides, and neck are all atypical Big Leaf Maple, showing beautiful striped fiddleback figure, instead of quilt figure. The back, sides, and neck are all from a piece of wood originally intended for violin family wood as has that character of figure. Three-piece neck with Ebony stringer has full rounded V profile. Back of peghead has Ebony veneer. Ebony peghead face with Ruhland “R” logo at top of headstock. Pearl truss cover. Comfortable 12″ radiused Ebony fingerboard with mother of pearl dot inlays. 22 frets with double-cut, truncated extension. Unbleached bone nut. Two-piece adjustable Gabon Ebony bridge. Multiply-bound top and back of body and along fingerboard. Peghead has single Ivoroid binding. Nickel hardware including Grover tuners with pearloid buttons and two-piece tailpiece. Hand-rubbed Aniline dye medium amber sunburst. Spirit varnish finish.

This mandolin was constructed at a high level by a motivated builder, Matt Ruhland from Portland, Oregon. Matt has impressed us by tirelessly exploring tones with a variety of bracing, all while maintaining a consistent voice with his mandolins. They are acclaimed by noted pickers including Isaac Callender, Richie Reinholdt, and “Chainsaw” Chuck Holloway. These players have noted the impressive “chop”—a dark initial attack with beautiful depth, balance, and presence. The top end is all there too. Great sound, even as a brand new mandolin.

Comes with basic hard case.