Description
New. 1 1/8″ width at nut.
X-braced. One-pc top.
SN# 21.
This is a very nice F-5 from an emerging northwest builder, Matt Ruhland.
Great materials. Beautiful quilt figure Western Bigleaf Maple back, sides and neck. One-piece aged Sitka Spruce top from coastal Alaska. This Sitka is fine wood, and possibly is a hybrid between Sitka-Englemann, Sitka-White Spruce, or possibly a hybrid of all three. This Spruce is very hard and has much more translational and lateral stiffness than most Sitka Spruce examples. This wood was acquired before general talk of the northern west coast “Lutz” Spruce interbreeding and hybrids mentioned above… but that is probably what this wood is. In other words, this Spruce has qualities more associated with Englemann Spruce, Adirondack Red Spruce, or Lutz Spruce, than it does to normal Sitka Spruce.
Multiple Ivoroid bindings, with black line showing at top and back of body, along side of fingerboard. Peghead bound with single Ivoroid.
These mandolins are very impressive for their consistency of great sound. To let you in on what I mean, Matt just delivered THREE new F-5’s to us using 3 different bracing types – Tone Bars, X-braced, and Advanced X-braced… To makes these three bracings is a feat unto itself, but to have the finished products voiced as to sound like they are sisters born into the same family is a very big accomplishment!
Very good voice, even as a brand new mandolin! Plays easy, made with very high grade seasoned woods, and voiced very well. Comes with basic hard case.
