"With all this talk about mandolin brands, I thought I'd put in a plug for Summit mandolins made by the luthier Paul Schneider. I don't hear them talked about much here on the list, but when I went to Mandolin Brothers last month to look for a new mandolin, the two Summits they had really stood out compared to all their other mandolins.

I spent all day there and played every mandolin they had in the place. The Phoenixes, Webers, and Rigels were all nice and sounded great, better than the expensive Gibsons I thought, but none of them held a candle to the two Summits (they had both an A and F model).

I ended up getting a Summit F-100 and it is one fine sounding instrument. Loud, with a great, sweet ring, and a nice full sounding "chunk" too. Very easy to play. The more I play it the better it sounds.

Anyway...anyone looking to buy a new mandolin in the 2000-3000 dollar range should definitely give these a listen. "

Steve Buckalew
sbuckalew@minitab.com
F100SX, Serial Number 190, dated Jan. 2001