A new mandolin design
Some of you might be interested in my latest project, especially after the discussion about arching.
This mandolin is the end result of a project I have been working on and off for around a year. The aim was to design a completely new arch top oval hole mandolin, based on my two point Lyon and Healy reproduction, but simpler and easier to make and thus cheaper for the customer. It is a bit like a modernised Lyon and Healy style C, but is quite different from the original vintage instruments. I have always breathed a sigh of relief after making one of the reproductions because they are very fiddly and rather a lot of work. However the sound is devine, and I always change my mind and say it was all worth it in the end. So the main structural aspects remain because that is what determines the sound, but since it no longer needs to look like a Lyon and Healy mandolin, that frees me up to try all sorts of things such as different woods. This one is Aussie timbers only except for the Ebony fingerboard and headstock overlay. The principle is to make the mandolin as light as possible, but to do that the mandolin needs a few changes from what I normally do with my oval hole mandolins. The arch is higher, and the neck angle is lower so the bridge is around 5mm lower. It also has a smaller body and scale length of 13 & ¾ which is 1/8th inch shorter. Added together these make it much less likely for a thinner top to collapse. The top is 4mm in the centre and 2mm in the recurve, so quite a bit thinner than my Gibson style of oval hole (~6mm and 3mm). I used the templates I made from my original L&H to get the arch, but the recurve is less prominent. I wanted an adjustable bridge, but at a height of 15mm rather than the usual 20mm that was to be a challenge. In the end Vern Brekke designed and made a brand new Brekke bridge for me, thank you Vern. The tailpiece is the same as what I used on the Lyon and Healy reproduction because people seem to like it and it works extremely well. The top is X braced with Oregon (i.e. Douglas Fir) bracing. Oregon is stiffer than Spruce, but a bit heavier. The extra weight is not significant because the bracing is less then 5% of the total weight of the top. The final top was only about 12gm heavier than the tops on my flat top mandolins.
The pickguard caused a few sleepless nights because I wanted to improve the way it was mounted. The vintage L&H mandolins have a screw through the pickguard and a pin that fits into the fingerboard, but it is not very firm and the pickguard does tend to flap around a bit. The screw is a steel screw that rusts in many of the vintage mandolins which makes it almost impossible to remove the pickguard. I ended up using two M2.5 stainless steel screws that self thread into the Ebony fingerboard, Very tricky to implement because there is not a lot of wood to screw into and the pickguard needs to be mounted at the correct angle. Thankfully I managed to get it all lined up properly and the pickguard is much firmer. The neck attachment is a dovetail as usual, but there is a riser block (missing on the vintage mandolins) to make the top binding easier. The way L&H did the binding close to the neck is impossible to do with wood because you need to bend and twist it at the same time. Neck has a carbon fibre rod for reinforcement.
For the first prototype I decided to use King Billy Pine and Tasmanian Blackwood because that combination has produced many lovely sweet and clear sounding mandolins for me, and I had a hunch it might produce something quite special. So top is KBP, B&S and neck is Blackwood, bindings are Ivorywood, pickguard Blackheart Sassafras, fingerboard Macassar ebony. Something very special this mandolin certainly is. So special it is likely to redefine how I make most of my oval hole mandolins. Blew away one of the best Gibson style of mandolins I have made to date. Beautiful sweet clear tone and so loud and responsive. So lively the whole instrument seems to vibrate in your hands, and massive ring and sustain that seems to go on forever. Huge dynamic range. Plays beautifully picked very softly, but you can really crank up the volume. It seems to combine the best of the flat tops (volume and sustain) and the carved top mandolins (refined tone). I can't put this thing down. It jumps out of the case every time I walk past it. Wow! Very exciting. Crunch time came when I brought it to a noisy session. Passed with flying colours. Most common comment from other mando players was “wow”. Jolly well pleased after 12 months of many sleepless nights thinking about how to make this thing work. Can hardly wait to make the next one.
Here are some pictures
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