2009 Gilchrist Model 1

John Reischman demonstrates his round soundhole Gilchrist.

Australia’s Stephen Gilchrist began building instruments in the late 1970s, and in the four decades since, he has become one of the world’s most acclaimed builders of mandolins. Peghead Nation instructor John Reischman met Stephen in San Francisco in 1981, at which point he ordered an F-5 model from him. However, not long after, John came across the Lloyd Loar-signed 1924 Gibson F-5 that would become his main instrument to this day. Buying the Gibson meant that John had to cancel his order, but he and Stephen remained friends, and he often wished that he would one day find a Gilchrist to call his own. That day came in 2016, when he visited Nashville’s Carter Vintage Guitars, where among the dozens of fine mandolins in the store, a 2009 Gilchrist Model 1 got his attention. “I was able to work out a trade of some instruments I wasn’t really using,” says John, who just launched a new Old-Time Mandolin course on Peghead Nation. 

Gilchrist introduced the Model 1 in 2007. Modeled after the simply appointed Gibson A Jr. (which was built from 1919 to 1927), the instrument has an A-style body with a round soundhole, simple black binding on the top and the inside of the soundhole, no binding on the back, and basic dot position markers in the fingerboard. John’s Model 1 is built with a red (Adirondack) spruce top and highly figured sugar maple back and sides. 

“I’ve had many Gibson round soundhole mandolins over the years, and I’ve loved the sound,” John says. “But the thing that’s unique about this one is that I can play it with the same attack as my Lloyd Loar. With some of the Gibsons, I had to either lighten up, or the bass response was overly present, but this one has a nice, balanced sound.”

To learn mandolin from John Reischman, enroll in his Melodic Mandolin Tunes or his brand-new Old-Time Mandolin course. Gilchristmandolin.com. 

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