Mandolins previously produced in Bozeman, MT between 19, in Nashville, TN between 1997 and circa 2003, and China between 20. 83' Flatiron A5-1 #83110137 - a really great mandolin - I found it hanging on the wall at a Guitar Center.
Really like this new site - the media archive and tabs and lessons hold alot to study.thanks for the help! Seems he has moved on from the building side of the business, never seen any posts etc.from him.
(my brother lives there) and as I understood it he was doing custom inlay and carved top graduation work for a number of companies. The 84' A5-1 they have 2950 - has anyone seen a pickguard like this and what it's called? I've never seen one like that.Ĭoelhoe- I once found a website with a list of custom inlay companies - which included Steve Carlson.
Jeffs - your serial number is also one of the earliest I've seen - with a Backporch Production label no less - is it a carved top A?Ĭheck Intermountain Guitar & Banjo's mandolin inventory - 2 Flatirons for sale, 84' A5-2 4000 - ever seen one this clean before? Say its unplayed. I have some questions about Flatirons maybe someone could help me with? and possibly some answers.įbounds - Is the 81' the earliest year for carved top mandolins, A or F? I've not seen any sooner than that - weren't they all flat top before this date? Have any idea what the first (or earliest known serial number) might be for the carved top mandolins? If I ever find a better mando, I'll try to take better care of it. Anyway, a friend gave me a bridge off another flat top and I modified it to fit. I should have looked in the Lincoln Logs. When I was gluing it last time, one of my kids wandered off with the compensated bridge and it never turned up again. I tried several, all imports, nothing was louder, played or sounded better. Last year I thought I might look around for a better mandolin and I tried everything in town. I've been playing it so much I haven't wanted to stick it in the vise. This past weekend seems to have overdone it.
It's been re-glued but gets drug around to campfires a lot. I had it in a hanger on the wall and the roof leaked during a tropical storm. The back is separating from the sides where it got wet a few years ago. Like me, it ain't fancy, it ain't pretty, but it's pretty loud and doesn't sound too bad. The best sounding mandolin in the store had been made by a arch-top guitar maker in Brooklyn, D'Angelico or D'Aquisto, (I don't remember which) but it did not look anything like a BG instrument and they were asking $10K for it. I set them out on a couch in the mando room and one by one I played Fisher's Hornpipe on each. Maybe some one here knows what has become of Steve Carlson?Ī few years ago I went to visit Mandolin Brothers in NYC and I spent an afternoon trying out all of the new Gibson mandolins they had, eight different "signature" models, all F-5 design. However, Gibson has improved both quality and marketing on mandolins, and the prices for used A-5 models seem to be holding better than those for Weber, though the "signature" models look to be taking a hit on the used market. I think they are still better value than Gibson. But some of the workers did not want to leave Montana (who would?) so they stayed and started Weber mandolins, still excellent quality though the prices are not as attractive as they were 25 years ago. Yes, some time in the late 80's Gibson got tired of the competition since Carlson and his staff were building and selling much better instruments at cheaper prices and Gibson bought them out, and took Carlson and a few of the workers to the new Gibson shop in Nashville. I should taken the extra money and bought two Flatirons. The first one was it! I didn't need the others. He said he'd send me three that he thought met my criteria. In '84 I contacted Carlson at Flatiron and told him what I was looking for in terms of style, tone and volume. Very heavy construction, but I used it for about ten years. I had '72 Gibson F-5 that looked very pretty but had practically no projection at all.