I’M GARY NAVA, A PROFESSIONAL LUTHIER MAKING MANDOLINS AND GUITARS BY HAND, TO THE HIGHEST STANDARDS, IN MY ANALOGUE WORKSHOP. HERE ARE VARIOUS TALES FROM MY WORK BENCH.
Tuesday, July 29, 2025
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.
The latest Standard mandolin is now complete and is
available. Below are some photos for you. This one is built using the classic
tonewood combination of rosewood and spruce and my oh my it does sound good!
The current price of my Standard mandolin is £925, which
includes a Hiscox case: shipping is extra. If you’re interested in this one,
please feel free to contact me via my website.
The latest Standard
mandolin is now complete and ready for sale. You can see the full spec on my website and I run through most of the details in the above video. If you’re
interested in owning this mandolin, please feel free to contact me. You’ll find
my email address on the website.
If you follow the blog, you’ll be aware that I tried a
couple of new things on this one: how did they turn out?
Firstly, the tuners. We all know that the Gotoh mini sealed
unit tuners are super smooth and function superbly. I guess my concern was that
they are a bit heavier than 4-on-a-plate tuners, but playing the mandolin, I
don’t think that it makes an appreciable difference. Also, visually a “traditionalist”
might not like them, but I think they suit the minimalist look of this
mandolin. Would I use them again? A resounding yes!
Secondly the 360 mm scale length. This is only 8mm longer
than the traditional 352mm scale so it increases the tension in the strings by
2.3% which, is negligible but, it does seem to give your fingers a bit more
room. So again, a resounding yes! To the question would I do it again?
The archtop is now ready for sale at £1475 including a
Hiscox case + shipping. You can find full details here on my website.
And here is the last video of the current series; presenting
the complete mandolin. As always, I try to demonstrate it and as always, I fail
to do it justice. You’ll have to imagine what it would be like in the hands of an
expert!
As you can see in the photos below, the Walnut archtop
mandolin is coming together nicely. The next stage is to make the bridge and
get it playing in the white. Getting exciting now!
You may have seen the cocobolo twin-point that I’ve been
building recently. I’m just in the middle of French polishing it, and sadly my
client has had to cancel the order due to ill-health: Amanda and I send him all
our best wishes for the future.
This means that in about 6 to 8 weeks time, I should have a
cocobolo twin-point completed and ready for sale. The last time I had one of
these available was in 2009! So if you wish to circumnavigate my 10 to 12 month
waiting list this could be for you. For more details send me an email (you’ll
find the address on my website). I should add that due to the new CITIES
regulations this mandolin can only be sold within the EU.
I’ve just completed “Standard”
mandolin V (i.e. this is 5th mandolin built to this design). If you wish you can read a totally
independent review of Standard III by its owner here-
So, number V has: American Black Walnut back & sides
with maple bindings, American Black Walnut neck with maple laminations and carbon-fibre reinforcement strips
European Spruce soundboard with a bound soundhole,
You may remember that I’ve introduced a thin black line
around the soundboard? Looks good eh?
Rosewood, compound radius fingerboard
with MoP dots & side markers, and wide gold evo frets
Burr Walnut head overlay with Golden
Age tuners
It has an open-pour shellac satin finish.I really like the look of this one and
it plays very well too: I only wish I could play better so that I could do it
justice in my demo videos! And here is that video:
It’s on sale now at 770 GBP which
includes a Hiscox case; shipping for the mainland UK is an extra 30 GBP. If you’re
interested in owning this mandolin, contact details can be found on my
web-site.
Hi, I make mostly mandolins and guitars, entirely by myself and by hand. Although I’m based in the Norfolk Fens, my instruments can be found all over the world. I made my first guitar when I was 14 and during the 1970s studied luthiery at the prestigious London College of Furniture. I’ve been making them ever since!
