Will Kimble J Model Mandolin

Photos By Bud Osborne Modern bluegrass mandolin players differ in many ways from their predecessors. Emerging players are more open to non-conventional bluegrass instruments, such as the lightweight Nechville banjo or the thin-bodied Bourgeois Guitars Odyssey Dreadnought played on stage by Andy Falco. Even Monroe acolyte Andy Statman joined that trend several years ago when he played a Kimble J, a two-point mandolin, instead of an F-5 for multiple projects and performances. (Current Kimble players include Mike Gugino, Nathan Livers and Phil Barker.) Sitting in the middle of Will Kimble’s mandolin line-up between the traditional A-5 and F-5 style instruments we find his elegant, classically proportioned, J Model. This symmetrical two-point design echos classical mandolins from Lyon & Healy, among others. While the extra points do not add as much mass to the J body as the points and scroll of an F-5 do, that extra material certainly imparts a good bit of throaty bass and punc