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.
Sunday, September 27, 2026
Making a Mandolin Rosette
I’ve just started building my next mandolin. In this video,
I look at making its rosette in quite some detail. Hope that you find it
interesting.
About a year or so ago, I built myself a short scale bass,
inspired (aesthetically) by the Kay EB-100 that I had previously restored. I
play this bass pretty much daily: it’s set-up with flat-wound strings and I love
its smooth richness of tone. However, having recently restored the Westone
Thunder Bass which has a long-scale and round-wound strings and spent some time
playing it, I have found whole new range of tonal possibilities, which contrast
and complement the short scale.
So, whilst having a brief breather from mandolins, I thought
that I would make a bridge for a bass guitar which I intend building at some
point in the future!
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.
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.
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!
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.”
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!