When it comes to finding the right mandolin, it's easy to get caught up in the fancy F-Style hype. F models may be beautiful, and yes, they can provide the right cut and chop for traditional bluegrass. But an F-style might not really be the right mandolin for your playing style, and that delicate carved scroll—though beautiful—may just become an expensive strap holder.
This Collings MT Torrefied (serial #4204) certainly makes a great case for the mellower, rounder, more-balanced A-style tone. It is a responsive instrument with a powerful voice for its size, and for folk music where a little more low-end and mid-range are desired, this MT Torrefied absolutely nails it.
Construction: A-Style with dovetail neck joint
Top: Torrefied Sitka Spruce
Back & Sides: Eastern Flamed Maple
Top Finish: High-Gloss Nitrocellulose lacquer
Body Finish: Satin Nitorcellulose lacquer
Top Binding: Grained Ivoroid
Pickguard: Ebony Floating Collings
Bracing: Tone Bars
Scale Length: 13-7/8"
Nut: 1-1/8" bone
Fingerboard: Ebony with 5-1/2" to 11-5/8" compound radius
