"Bites"

"My Clark F5 is one of the finest mandolins I have ever played. It is responsive, loud, looks beautiful and sounds beautiful! Austin has also been great at taking care of the mandolin, and has proved himself as skilled at mandolin maintenance as building them. I highly recommend Clark Mandolins." – Ethan S - Winner of the Walnut Valley National Mandolin Championship 2014

"A really fine instrument can truly change your life for the better. It's exactly like having a loyal friend. And for a professional musician, a really great instrument can be not only a source of joy, but a reason to create. A magical machine that draws you back to music every day, and gives you not only pleasure but a pathway to something much bigger. Austin has hit the bull's eye with his re-invention of the octave mandolin. It's a voice I've been waiting to speak with for decades... finally here. Thanks, Austin!" – Darol A - Musician Extraordinaire

"I first played a Clark Octave backstage at the Northwest String Summit.  It belonged to Darol Anger and he said something to the effect of, 'Ben, you have to check this out.'  I spent much of the weekend falling in love with the instrument and soon after had my own being built.  There are many things to love about this instrument but my favorite moments are when I hand it to other musicians and say something to the effect of, 'You have to check this out.'  They light up the same way that I did.  The Clark Octave is quite simply inspiring."

– Ben K - Yonder Mountain String Band

"We commissioned our first Clark mandolin, a delicious 2-point "Cherry Cola-burst" mandolin 8 years ago, and have been infatuated with his builds ever since. This mandolin currently adorns the opening page of the JazzMando website, and since then we've commissioned a 2nd personal, and recently a 3rd instrument, the cutting edge 5-string Clark JM guitar body mandolin and months ago his first tenor guitar.

It's not easy taking the chance on any builder starting a project from scratch—wood, frets, and glue, but we've had complete confidence in the world-renowned Idaho craftsman, having auditioned additional instruments as close as Lawrence, Kansas and from as far away as Brighton, UK. His work is first class, and skills we couldn't recommend high enough."– Ted E, JazzMando.com

"Just finished tuning and playing my mandolin!  Not only it is incredibly beautiful, it sounds amazing.  Mike left his office to come see it, pronounced it "f...ing" amazing, (excuse my French).  But it does have a great sound and I know I am going to love playing it. Thanks for the great work, the wait was well worth it." – Joan