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.
Saturday, December 17, 2022
Guyatone LG50 Project: 14 The Final Chapter
Both the original LG50 and my version of it are now
complete. In the latest video you can get an idea of what they sound like. If
you’re interest in owning one or both of these instruments, there are many
details about them, photos pricing etc on the FOR SALE page of my website. Also I've written a bit of an essay on the whole project.
Below are some photos, I’ve alternated Guyatone/Nava-Tone,
so that you can compare the two.
As you can see, the new Standard mandolin is almost done,
the next step is to make the bridge, get it set-up and playing.
I’m very pleased with the mandolin so far. It has a simple,
elegance which depends only its form and its materials rather than any unnecessary
decoration, everything you see is pure mandolin.
The neck is made from figured maple with my usual carbon
fibre inserts. The fretboard, from Brazilian rosewood, has simple circles
acting as position markers and my favourite wide evo frets. One new feature that I am trying, is a slightly longer 360mm scale length (+8mm).
The soundboard is made from Adirondack spruce with stiff
Sitka bracing and the sound hole simply bound in black.
It should be complete in a month or so time and will be
offered for sale via my web-site. If you wish to register an interest, contact details
can be found on my website too.
Over the
past few years the emphasis of my work has changed from mostly guitars to now,
mostly mandolins. What I want to do is sell off some of my “flat-top” guitar
tonewood stock, to free-up space and to allow me to re-invest in wood more
suitable for carved top mandolins.
All the
wood has been kept in my humidity controlled workshop and is ready to use.
Here is the
first batch, consisting of one set of Honduras rosewood and two sets of Indian
rosewood. You’d be hard pushed to find better. I’m only selling as a complete bundle
of 3 sets for £260 including UK mainland shipping (worth about £25). Please note that I will only sell to a UK buyer.
Full
details of each set below.
The
Honduras rosewood is one of two sets (I always buy too much!) I bought in 2010 from Timberline to make a custom OO; here’s the guitar so you can get an idea
of what it looks like finished. It cost me around £120 per set back
then!
Dimensions;
Back 550 x
200 (tapering to 160) x 4mm
Sides 840 X
120 X 3.5 mm
This Indian
rosewood set is one of a number that I bought from Touchstone Tonewoods in 2015
and has an attractive reddish hue to it.
Dimensions;
Back 550 x
195 x 4mm
Sides 860 X
115 X 5mm
Last but
not least, one of a number sets that I imported myself direct from India in
2010. This is quite a large set and will
be suitable for a big guitar and it should finish with a beautiful dark
purplish colour.
I’ve just completed the walnut archtop mandolin and am so
pleased with the outcome. I’ve got an old Gibson T-shirt that says “Tone, Feel,
Appearance” and I’m pleased to say that I think I’ve fully fulfilled those
criteria. It is also the first time that I’ve used JJB soundboard transducers
and they seem to produce an impressive tone even through my cheap and cheerful amp.
So below are number of photos for you and the full spec. I’ll
sort out the obligatory video over the next couple of days!
13 7/8” (352mm) Scale length with 30mm nut width
American Black Walnut back
& sides
European Spruce top
Body fully bound in Ebony
Bird’s Eye Maple neck with
carbon fibre stiffeners
Compound radius Ebony
fretboard with wide gold EVO frets
If you’ve been following the blog you would have seen my new
electric mandolin being built. It’s now complete and currently available at a
price of £800; this includes an Ashbury gig-bag but shipping is extra.
The full spec and contact details can be found on my web-site.
Here’s the obligatory video, followed by some rather smashing
photos!
I’ve just completed the e-mando and I've been having great
fun playing it. We've put together a video to demonstrate it, but not being a
musician, I don’t think that I can show its true potential- you’ll have to use
your imagination!
Rather than spending too much time talking in the video,
I’ll give you my rationale behind this particular mandolin’s design here in the
blog.
Having seen a number of bands playing live, using poorly
amplified acoustic mandolins, I wanted to build something that a gigging mandolin
player could regularly use amplified, with the minimum amount of fuss. Or, of
course, any other player who wants to try a different voice.
Aesthetics:
I wanted the e-mando to look and feel like a mandolin rather
than a mini-guitar. So many of the solid body mandolins that you see are scaled
down versions of classic solid guitar designs and this look just isn’t for me.
The instrument is finished in Tru-oil and wax which gives a
wonderful tactile surface and enhances the natural beauty of the woods used.
Ergonomics:
Thinking that the e-mando’s player could be on his/her feet
for a couple of hours, ergonomics are an important consideration.
The top edge of the body is chamfered on both sides so that
there are not any sharp edges to dig into the left arm.
A 32mm thick body keeps the weight down to just under 2 kg and
comparatively light open gear mandolin tuners help to keep the mandolin
balanced.
With the neck sloping backwards and a 20mm high bridge this
e-mando feels like a traditional mandolin to play.
The use of an end pin jack-socket means that the lead and/or
jack plug doesn’t interfere with the player.
The fingerboard has a compound radius and this coupled with
the wide evo fret wire and a Tru-oil "speed neck" makes for a very easy to play instrument.
Electrics:
I wanted the e-mando to offer great versatility without
overly sophisticated (and pricey!) built in electronics or the need to change
batteries.
There are two pick-ups; one humbucker and a piezo. The
humbucker has volume and tone controls and a toggle switch to allow
series/parallel switching: a centre off position allows for the pick-up to be
completely turned off. These simple controls offer an amazingly wide tonal
variation.
The piezo transducer is mounted in the bridge, under the
saddle to give an approximation of an acoustic sound; a second toggle switch
allows this pick-up to be turned on or off. To get the best from this piezo it should be
used with an external pre-amp.
The out-put is via a stereo jack-socket and the use of a
Y-lead (supplied) allows the two signals to be treated separately.
Alternatively the jack socket is wired so that you can use a standard lead and
just use the output from the humbucker.
Strings:
I’ve designed a tailpiece to take ball-end strings. Having a
magnetic pick-up means that nickel wound strings are required and I think that
in the UK there is a much greater variety of ball-ended strings to choose from,
compared to loop-end. I’ve made up a custom set of strings 11 to 36 using electric
guitar strings and feel that this range helps to balance the volume from string
to string. Buying custom strings is really easy from somewhere like
Stringbusters and this set cost around 6 quid to put together.
Well, I hope that the above coupled with the video gives you
a good in-sight in to the rationale behind this mandolin’s design.
As I said, in the video, this e-mando is currently (June 2013) for sale;
the price of £700 includes a stereo y lead and a semi-rigid gig-bag, mainland
UK shipping would be an extra £30. Alternatively, if you fancy having a custom
one built, I’m your man! Cheers!
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!
