In 1984 I was commissioned by Robert Schulz, the visionary conductor of the Western Australian Mandolin Orchestra to build a number of mandolins for the ensemble. I presented a sample built in the Gibson A model style with my own arching, bridge and tailpiece design which was well received. I selected a good supply of close-grained spruce from Prince of Wales Island whilst in Alaska and some big billets of Curly Big Leaf Maple from the late Lachlan Docherty in Carlton, Oregon. I have made all the orchestra mandolins from this wood and many more besides. I still use billets from that supply for my mandolins.

The spruce is exceptional. I recall that the log from which it came was from one of the old wartime log bridges. It was 88 feet long and four feet through at the thin end! It is the same spruce you see in a lot of my steel string guitars and I am glad to have a few sets of it left, even though it is darkening with age. It takes a long time to open up in the instrument, but the wait is well worthwhile.

The tight- grained spruce used in these A model mandolins helps accentuate the treble strings. “A “models can be a bit strong on the g string for the orchestra’s uses. To complement this I carved the backs from the softer Big Leaf Maple, which rounds the overall sound a little. The finish is amino-alkyd nitrocellulose laquer toned to resemble orchestral violin amber varnish colours. The tailpiece is quite heavy bent brass with nickel plating and will take ball - end or loop - end strings. I also finish the A models in a more traditional hand- rubbed vignette colouring and for these I will use ivoroid plastic binding as seen on the old Gibsons rather than the rosewood binding I use on the amber coloured instruments.

To the left and rear of the picture you can see a wider, short-scaled mandola which I designed for the orchestra. European mandolin orchestras tune their mandolas an octave below the mandolin at GDAE. The American Gibson mandolas were designed to be tuned a fourth above that at CGDA and don’t work at all in the lower tuning. The Neopolitan bowl-backed instruments were also very quiet in the low tuning with scale lengths much too short to reach the low open G note or to play in tune on higher frets. I had to design a mandola which did work in the European tuning. Having seen the wonderful-sounding Stefan Sobell cittern I based my design on it. I use a similar tear-drop shape tapering flush into the neck joint, but a different neck joint and very different arching and bracing. The back is flat with a slight arching in the braces. I extended the scale length from 380mm to 450 mm, which is still manageable for the small hand to play in first position. It has a deep body and very heavy flat wound strings which the Pyramid company in Germany makes for me. The orchestra’s mandolas sound very strong now!

To the right at the rear of the picture the long-necked mandolin is a carved-top Irish Bouzouki. The scale length is 665 mm and the tuning is the same as the mandola described above, with much lighter strings and generally an octave string on the 4th pair, like a bouzouki. I generally carve the top in spruce. The back and side wood varies, with Tasmanian Blackwood or one of the rosewoods favoured. Although my guitar-bodied bouzouki is popular I still have clients preferring the tear-dropped shape for aesthetic and tonal reasons. These instruments have a stronger mid-treble focus and can cut through in a band situation more readily than the guitar-shaped instument.