The Mandolins: Select • Neoclassical • Jazz • Bluegrass • Special Order Mandolins

About: About the Builder • Construction Features • Shop • Dealers/Links • Special Mandolins • Feedback • Care and Feeding

 
Mandolins for connoisseurs of handcrafted instruments, and for musicians who want outstanding tone, volume, and playability. Models include: a highly-refined Select model for all styles of playing; a unique light-string model for classical, folk, and Celtic music; a model designed for the jazz enthusiast incorporating dual pickups; and a model engineered and set up for the Bluegrass sound. Other models are available by special order and one-of-a-kind artistic mandolins are occasionally available.

The Phoenix mandolins are built by Rolfe Gerhardt. Rolfe was the builder of the legendary Unicorn mandolins in the 70's and has spent the last forty years applying new musical instrument technologies to the 8-string American mandolin.

Don Novare wrote that "In February I played with a string quartet. There was a composers' forum and one of the pieces was for mandolin, violin 1, violin 2, viola, and cello. I was asked to play the main part. At the first rehearsal, one of the V1 players asked me what kind of mandolin I was playing -- I asked why did they want to know -- she said it was the first mandolin that actually sounded like an instrument rather than just a mandolin." In a nutshell, that's why I build.

Teresa Earle, from the Yukon, recently took a course in media creation in nearby Rockport, and she chose the Phoenix mandolin builder as her subject. You can watch her six minute production at: https://vimeo.com/42911389.

The Mandolins: Select • Neoclassical • Jazz • Bluegrass • Special Order Mandolins
About: About the Builder • Construction Features • Shop • Dealers/Links • Special Mandolins • Feedback • Care and Feeding