Happiness is………

Had a great day! John and his wife (a delightful couple) came over to pick up his new Nava mandolin.

So, for me, happiness is seeing the delight that a client has with their new mandolin and also, hearing it played properly!

And for John, well he is clearly very happy with his new mandolin. I’ve never bothered with customer endorsements but have a read of his wonderful comment on the last YouTube video.

Thank you John!

New Model Mandolin: 8

 My "New Model" mandolin (as I'm currently calling it) has now been completed. I'm incredibly happy with the final outcome and looking forward to building the next one! Here is the last video in the series and below that a whole batch of photos for you.

Cheers Gary

New Model Mandolin: 7

Well, this is another long video but so, so much to get through!

The bridge is made and I have brief chat about its design, the strings go on and I show you how I set-up my mandolins. And finally……..the New Model Mandolin gets to sing its first notes!

So, cuppa at the ready and off we go.

Cheers Gary

New Model Mandolin: 6

Time now to shape the neck!

Also, I have a brief chat about the tools needed for this process. After running through the shaping process, I start the clean-up in preparation for setting-up the mandolin, “in the white.”

Cheers Gary

Standard Mandolin XX in complete and ready for sale!

Standard XX is now complete and is now available for sale via my website. One of the key features of this lovely instrument is that it has been made without the use of any tropical/rainforest hardwoods or animal derived products.

Here’s the video and some photos for you.

If you’re interested in this mandolin, you can find my email address on the website.

Thanks for looking.

Cheers Gary

Standard Mandolin XIX Completed

 

Standard Mandolin XIX

The latest Standard mandolin is on the bench and will be ready for sale in a few months time. Here’s the story so far….

Cheers Gary.

Latest Standard mandolin

Here’s the latest Standard mandolin, complete and now safely with its new owner and also with its sibling (a Nava e-mando). I always love the elegant simplicity of my Standard’s design.

Standard Mandolin XV Update

Here’s a few photos for you, now that the mandolin’s body is fully bound. By using maple for the bindings, I’ve ensured that no tropical hardwoods will be used on this particular instrument. Looks good too!

Latest Standard Mandolin Completed

The latest Standard mandolin has been completed and now living with its new owner.

Below are some photos of the finished instrument for you.

New Standard: in the white.

Now with a bit more Macassar! Not only looking smart, but sounding good too! I'll leave the mandolin to settle for a while, strip it down and start the finishing process.

Back to the day job!

Just finished shaping the neck of the next Standard mandolin and I think it’s looking pretty smart.

Adirondack (red) spruce top, figured maple back and sides, sapele neck and everything else you can see is Macassar ebony. 

Next One

As the last Standard mandolin was so well received, I thought that I’d follow it up with another one! Here’s the progress so far……

The neck blank has been made. Here’s a photo of the head with a lovely Macassar ebony head overlay and the same black, Gotoh mini tuners which I thought were a great success. There will be some more Macassar introduced later! Also, the neck itself is made from sapele.

For the back and sides, I’m using some beautiful figured maple.

The rim is complete.

Here’s a close up of the solid linings. I glue two layers of 2.5mm maple to the sides to form the linings and this make the side super rigid.

The soundboard is again Adirondack (red) spruce and you can see the bound sound hole below.

Adirondack isn’t the prettiest of tonewoods; often wide grain with streaks of colour. My theory is that’s why so many early American instruments had sunbursts or dark stained tops. However, it’s so stiff, has a wonderful tap tone and does produce a very fine sounding instrument. Personally, I like the character that the visual “imperfections” give; very much in keeping with my shibui aesthetic.

So, it’s no surprise that I’ve just imported 10 sets of “master grade” Adirondack tops from USA!

Standard Mandolin Revisited

I made my first, what I called, “Standard Mandolin” about 10 years ago. As I’ve not made a Standard for a while, I thought that I’d make one and at the same time, try out a few new ideas.

One thing that I’ve noticed about many of my fellow UK luthiers is, the tendency to use guitar tuners on their mandolins. So, I thought that I’d try them on this build, in case I’ve been missing a trick!

The first thing to do was to slightly redesign my head-shape and make a full-size model of it, to check the tuners’ spacings.

I wanted to ensure that all the tuners are aligned and spaced perfectly, so whilst making the model head, I also made a simple drilling jig. It has two holes; you drill through one and insert a pin. Then you can drill the second without the jig moving, then move the pin and drill the third hole etc.

As you can see, I’m using Gotoh minis in black. I’m a big fan of Gotoh; so reliable and well-made.

Apart from the hole spacing I’ve also made the head 12mm longer, this is to visually balance the chunkier looking tuners.

And here’s the finished head with its Brazilian rosewood overlay, looking very cool, if I say so myself!