Just in time for the summer festival season, Gibson has unveiled two new mandolins priced to catch the eye of the budget-conscious picker. They have a style A and a style F model in this new Jam Master series, both coming in well below the cost of their top pro mandolins.

To keep the price down, Gibson has built these two without neck or headstock binding, a sunburst finish, or a fancy peghead overlay. The body is bound with a simple dark material, and the fingerboards have side markers but no inlays.

Both, however, are made with a carved solid spruce top and figured maple back and sides. The necks are set with Gibson’s radiused dove-tail joint and the mandolins have an adjustable ebony bridge, bone nut and Grover tuners. Each ships is a padded gig bag rather than a hard shell case.

Gibson is also making the Jam Master mandolins with a slightly wider neck (1 3/16” at the nut) and with larger frets, both modifications designed with less experienced pickers in mind.

The A-style Jam Master carries a MSRP of $1199, and the F-style $3110.

They are available now from any authorized Gibson dealer.