Mandolin

Mandolins

The soundboards on these instruments are steamed and clamped in a mold to dry for about a week. They are then reinforced with a carbon lattice. This makes the soundboard lighter and stronger than a carved top instrument.

	My current design uses a molded carbon reinforced lightweight top. It uses support struts so that the tailpiece isn't compressing the soundboard. It also uses a curved 'zone brace' that separates the edge of the soundboard from the middle. This allows the lightweight top to produce the lower mids of the best carved top instruments, but adds the extra volume and response of a light carbon soundboard. This symmetrical headstock has replaced the asymmetrical ones pictured below as it suits my logo. I am using stainless steel frets because they last many times longer than the standard nickel silver watch videos > Redwing and Country Waltz
	This particular one is a low tension mandolin. (the string length is one fret shorter) This is very handy for a guitar or fiddle player who doesn't want to deal with high tension mandolin strings. (An .011 gauge E string on a normal mandolin is tighter than the same gauge on a guitar, and is then doubled.)
	The Blackwood tops have a dry but very balanced tone. This makes them particularly good for stage use with a pickup. The saddle/bridge design that is used on all my mandolins is better suited to amplification than the traditional Gibson style bridge. The deep saddle slot makes it easy to adjust the height with shims. This avoids the tone loss that is associated with adjustable screw bridges. The saddle slot also makes it easy to fit an undersaddle pickup like the K&K FantaStick, which I can supply and fit for $120Aud.
	This is a prototype of my carbon strung mandolin. It is very sweet and sounds more like an Italian mandolin than a modern bluegrass instrument. It is amazingly good for tremolo playing, having less resistance to the plectrum and a sweet percussive tone. More info on Fluorocarbon strings here.
	A low profile heel coupled with a body join that is only the width of the neck, make it easy to access to the fingerboard right to the top fret. The 5th, 7th, 12th and corresponding higher frets are marked by dots on the side of the fingerboard.
	The zero fret system, tapered head and Gotoh sealed tuners make it tune much better than Traditional style instruments. This is because there is almost no friction at the nut. The extra weight from the sealed heads is balanced by the curved back and sides being double thickness. This results in a heavier instrument, but gives it very good projection. And being so solid, there is virtually no damping from the back touching your body. (Most mandolins lose low frequencies when you hold the back against you.)
	I have recently discovered these beautiful Rubner tuning heads from Germany. I am using them on my carbon strung mandolins, but they are so classic in matt brass and pearl that I might start using some on the metal string models. They are a small factory and have made me some custom 10 string sets.
	I use local Eucalypts on the majority of my mandolins. The mixture of stripe and fiddleback creates a look that I hope will raise the status of this undervalued timber. One of the species I use is the tallest flowering tree on the planet. A long dead one was found that, when it was alive, exceeded the height of the tallest Redwood.
	Ashton Bailey is currently my preferred tailpiece. The solid cast tailpiece balances the headstock and by adding it's weight to the solid laminated body, it helps to project the lower frequencies.

Tom Chippindall is a mandolin player who worked with me for several years and helped me to develop these ideas. He is now producing his own designs using similar concepts.