elevated fingerboards

[mcmando]

I think this a question best left to those expert at building...

What does an elevated fingerboard do? What are the primary benefits and drawbacks of this design? Does it contribute to tone? Help protect the top from pick marks (either by creating a seperation in the plane of the pickstroke and the top or by providing room for a floating pickguard)?

I was recently impressed with the tone of a certain mandolin that had an "integral" fingerboard as opposed to an elevated fingerboard, and I'm curious about why the builder may have made this choice given that most modern mandolins seem to employ an elevated board.

[Michael Lewis]

For an oval hole mandolin it doesn't make too much difference, but for an F hole instrument the elevated fingerboard frees up a good deal of the functional area of the soundboard. It really depends on the manner of construction of the structure, but in general I think this is the essence.

[mcmando]

Mr. Lewis,

Thank you for the reply. #The example I saw is an oval hole, x- braced model. #It sounded really good! #

I suppose a concern with the design might be the lack of a pickguard on the particular model I saw. #With only the thickness of the fingerboard seperating the plane of the picstroke from the plane of the top, it seems like pick marks would be inevitable.

M

[Martin Jonas]

I suppose a concern with the design might be the lack of a pickguard on the particular model I saw. #With only the thickness of the fingerboard seperating the plane of the picstroke from the plane of the top, it seems like pick marks would be inevitable.
Not sure about that. I have a vintage round-hole mandolin (flattop Portuguese style) with integral fingerboard. It does have a tortoiseshell pickguard inlaid in the top below the soundhole, but I have never hit it with my pick and there is no sign of wear on it, even though the strings at the soundhole are well below a centimetre above the plane of the top. I think it depends a lot on your picking style.

Martin

[Tom C]

If you happen to be talking about a Flatiron, the tone on mine is fabulous and it
sounds better than many higher end mandos. -That's why Gibson bought them, made changes to make it like the F5-G, then had a reason to discountinue the line.