I have a Northfield Big Mon with Engelmann top. It's a great instrument. A buddy that I play with frequently has a Gilchrist F and I think they are remarkably close in sound. If he picks one up without me knowing, it's very hard to hear which he is playing. I want to make a video with him to show that sometime. I'm very happy with mine. Unfortunately I knocked the mandolin over and broke the big scroll off the headstock! I've talked with Kjell about fixing it right but haven't sent it home yet. I have a Collings to play while it is away, but I'll miss it greatly. I need to update him and get some times worked out. I glued the scroll back on but it would only go one way and it isn't perfect. Hopefully I didn't make it harder for him to fix, but I couldn't look at it like that. It'll probably need a new face plate or something.
Mike marshall seems like the chillest virtuosos ever.. i must practice more save up and aquire a Northfield .. i have played several and they all played and sounded miraculous.
I've played five Northfields so far and every one of them has blown me away. I played a Big Mon alongside a Gibson and a Collings and nothing came close to it. Just far and away my favourite sounding mandolins. Only wish I could afford to by one!
I agree. They are simply awesome mandolins. I have played several F5s, several Big Mon, and the Artist model that Mike Marshall is playing in the beginning of this video. They all have great tone and playability. I greatly prefer them to Collings for tone. Actually, I recently bought the very mandolin that Mike is strapped to at the beginning of the video from Northfield. It is an amazing instrument, and I love that it has play wear from Mike Marshall on it. Because it is already broken in and beat up a bit, I can play it with abandon without worrying about it. If it had been new I would have probably treated it like a jewel, rather than plowing into it like I do now. :)
Sorry, but none of that is true, and not sure where you got that idea. They do have a a small shop in China, but it is a small shop, and they are co-founders and partners in the business. They are in no way slave labour, and this is not large factory production. It is a small Master Luthier shop making very high quality mandolins. They also manufacture some models completely in the USA at the Northfield shop. As for reaming musicians, the opposite is true. They make pro grade instruments that rate far higher than their price. An equivalent mandolin from other makers would cost thousands more, so the musician is the primary beneficiary, and are certainly far from being “reamed”. Go to the Mandolincafe.com forums and you will see that Northfields have a large and loyal following.
They're SO MUCH like violins (especially F's) and so many mandolin makers and designers talk about similar issues and problem solving in the way violin makers do. I would think that classic mandolin makers have developed insight from violins. To me, a great sounding mandolin has a lot of "violin" tonal characteristics when played. That's a bit of a challenge too because of the double course strings, string material, picking style as opposed to bowing, and the difference in sound of notation because of the frets. You notice some players like the smaller and lower frets and others (such as myself) like a slightly taller or even wider fret. There really isn't enough variety in mandolin fret wire sized and there should be. ~JSV
I have a Northfield Big Mon with Engelmann top. It's a great instrument. A buddy that I play with frequently has a Gilchrist F and I think they are remarkably close in sound. If he picks one up without me knowing, it's very hard to hear which he is playing. I want to make a video with him to show that sometime. I'm very happy with mine. Unfortunately I knocked the mandolin over and broke the big scroll off the headstock! I've talked with Kjell about fixing it right but haven't sent it home yet. I have a Collings to play while it is away, but I'll miss it greatly. I need to update him and get some times worked out. I glued the scroll back on but it would only go one way and it isn't perfect. Hopefully I didn't make it harder for him to fix, but I couldn't look at it like that. It'll probably need a new face plate or something.
Mike marshall seems like the chillest virtuosos ever.. i must practice more save up and aquire a Northfield .. i have played several and they all played and sounded miraculous.
Very cool. Instruments at a price... for the people...........to play music......... for the people..... Bravo to think outside the box.
I've played five Northfields so far and every one of them has blown me away. I played a Big Mon alongside a Gibson and a Collings and nothing came close to it. Just far and away my favourite sounding mandolins. Only wish I could afford to by one!
I agree. They are simply awesome mandolins. I have played several F5s, several Big Mon, and the Artist model that Mike Marshall is playing in the beginning of this video. They all have great tone and playability. I greatly prefer them to Collings for tone. Actually, I recently bought the very mandolin that Mike is strapped to at the beginning of the video from Northfield. It is an amazing instrument, and I love that it has play wear from Mike Marshall on it. Because it is already broken in and beat up a bit, I can play it with abandon without worrying about it. If it had been new I would have probably treated it like a jewel, rather than plowing into it like I do now. :)
Sorry, but none of that is true, and not sure where you got that idea. They do have a a small shop in China, but it is a small shop, and they are co-founders and partners in the business. They are in no way slave labour, and this is not large factory production. It is a small Master Luthier shop making very high quality mandolins. They also manufacture some models completely in the USA at the Northfield shop. As for reaming musicians, the opposite is true. They make pro grade instruments that rate far higher than their price. An equivalent mandolin from other makers would cost thousands more, so the musician is the primary beneficiary, and are certainly far from being “reamed”. Go to the Mandolincafe.com forums and you will see that Northfields have a large and loyal following.
Dork
“Ribs” is for sale on the Mandolin Cafe classifieds right now.
They're SO MUCH like violins (especially F's) and so many mandolin makers and designers talk about similar issues and problem solving in the way violin makers do. I would think that classic mandolin makers have developed insight from violins. To me, a great sounding mandolin has a lot of "violin" tonal characteristics when played. That's a bit of a challenge too because of the double course strings, string material, picking style as opposed to bowing, and the difference in sound of notation because of the frets. You notice some players like the smaller and lower frets and others (such as myself) like a slightly taller or even wider fret. There really isn't enough variety in mandolin fret wire sized and there should be.
~JSV
Which one was the very last one he played?
I believe that was “Ribs.” It’s actually for sale on the Mandolin Cafe classifieds right now.