Red Diamond Mandolin tasting 

Good inputs! I just had propped up the phone on some random table nearby hoping it was pointed somewhat close, and didn’t think it would be so hard to hear talking over the tuning. Sorry about that! Let me know if you have any questions and I’ll try to remember details. As visual discriminators: -Reischman voicing: black trussrod cover, headstock tuner. -Sizemore voicing: white trussrod cover, from case in front of me out of frame. -Crusher voicing: white trussrod cover, from case to my right in frame. -Festival F: black trussrod cover, from case to my left out of frame. No, I didn’t leave with any mandos. This was my first in-person tasting in my great mando hunt, so I have work to do yet before I make a decision. The Red Diamonds here were Don’s prototypes anyhow, and not for sale.

@@PhilWoodhull Thank you very much for your instant response and for the additional information. With your skills and your enthusiasm for the instrument, it would be a great idea to create similar showcases of other luthiers, which would also benefit them.

Good idea! I’ve only got about another month living in OH before we head west to CA. Driving hours with the family (wife and two small kids) to look at tiny little pluckboxes is kind of a hard sell, but they did awfully well at Don’s… maybe I can convince them to tag along a few more places. Next stop planned right now is Carter’s Vintage in TN, early next month (and kid-free at that point.) Not exactly a small luthier, but it should be amazing!

I’ve got a Vintage24 on order! Not quite the replica, but it’s that voicing. Hopefully coming Sept 2022!

@@PhilWoodhull I’m stoked to hear that man! That’s a great choice and probably my favorite of the RD line...

@@PhilWoodhull Sounds great! I got a Reischman voiced from Don in 2009 and have never looked back. I had cycled through over a dozen high-end American and Australian made F-5s in the previous several years. Once I got the Red Diamond I sold everything else and have never even looked at another mandolin.

Thanks! That was “Harvest Time” by Chris Thile and Mike Marshall.

I don’t think any of them did, honestly. The RDs are voiced after absolute top-shelf Loars, and that Loar in the shop was fine, but not particularly extraordinary IMO. It also had a Virzi, which changes the equation a lot.