Andy Statman

Andy Statman: I'm generally a one instrument person, so after making the switch to the Kimble, I've barely opened the case of the A2Z. While liking the sound of the oval hole (A2Z), over the many years that I've played it, I found the neck to be less than friendly, which limited my range of expression.

Will Kimble's comments: I took this picture of the back of Andy's mandolin after varnish but before French polish. It is a one-piece quartersawn back (most one-piece backs are slab) with a very unusual figure that makes an arc across the back instead of running perpendicular to the grain. I thought this back was very cool but didn't think it was suitable for a custom order because it was so strange—wasn't sure who would or wouldn't like it. This mandolin has a red spruce top, sugar maple back, flat fingerboard and Stewart MacDonald "mandolin" fretwire. It has a set of Schaller tuners that I customized by shortening the posts and gluing on ivoroid buttons. And ironically, it has an inlay copied from an old Gibson oval hole, the A3. My original intention for this mandolin was that I would keep it for myself.