MANDOLIN FAMILY

I have loved playing mandolins for thirty years. My first instrument was a horrible Windsor banjo-mandolin. In 1976 I needed a mandolin to play in a Celtic folk band and somehow bought a Harmony Monterrey, a very humble American instrument made in Chicago in the 1960s. I had seen a few decent mandolins in my repair work, but the person who really opened my eyes and ears to quality mandolins was Stephen Gilchrist, when I worked with him briefly in 1978. With him I started building Gibson-style “A” models and progressed from there to the F-style models. Exposure to a Sobell cittern (aka Irish Bouzouki) in the early 1980s led me to build similar carved-top bouzoukis and to adapt the design for mandolas for the West Australian Mandolin Orchestra. I have built many instruments for this group under commission including mandolins, mandolas and acoustic bass guitars.

Recently I have designed a simple Celtic/classical mandolin model with a bent-arched top after the influence of Graham McDonald of Canberra who originated the idea. They are sweet instruments.

Another recent addition to the range is a guitar-shaped Irish Bouzouki. The S model mandolin is the latest development.

Please click on the various photos to see the mandolin family.

The making of mandolins is a very serious matter! As with violins, the graduation of top and back thicknesses is absolutely critical. It cannot be done in a mass production environment. You need to be able to hear and feel what the wood is doing as these vibrating plates are tiny! 0.2mm in the thickness can be the difference between a great sound and what you get when you buy at a music store. The finish is critical also. The complex high harmonics of a mandolin are really destroyed by thick polyurethane and lacquer finishes. This is why the finest lute and mandolin soundboards in historic instruments were merely waxed, or very lightly varnished if finished at all. I finish my mandolins in the lightest possible lacquer which will still protect the wood. Recently, on mandolins which I believe will be well cared for I have been using a seedlac based spirit varnish