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Thread: "A" Style Mandolin with Spruce Back

  1. #1
    Registered User Malcolm G.'s Avatar
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    Default "A" Style Mandolin with Spruce Back

    OK, so you're carving/graduating/tap-tuning a spruce front for an A style, and it just ain't workin' well enough - you're just not happy.
    Has anyone used this piece for the back and made a new piece for the front?
    I made a little Sega kit A style last year, and it comes with spruce back and front.
    Held away from the body (think Toneguard), it has the most amazing volume, not to mention unusual tone.
    Any builder(s) done this? For fun, even?

    Love to hear your thoughts.
    Malcolm Grundy from Montreal

  2. #2

    Default Re: "A" Style Mandolin with Spruce Back

    The Saga site says maple back. If you got a spruce back, you got a big mistake from Saga.

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    Default Re: "A" Style Mandolin with Spruce Back

    We built one with a spruce back and a maple top while at the Big G. The experiment was not the most successful in history by any means. It was... uh... interesting to say the least. It wasn't terrible, but it just did not sound like a mandolin with spruce top and maple back. Quieter and not as rich in tone.
    Have a Great Day!
    Joe Vest

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    Registered User bennyb's Avatar
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    Default Re: "A" Style Mandolin with Spruce Back

    Howdy Malcolm,
    James Condino built one with a doug fir top and back but I haven't heard it. I think maybe it got reviewed over at jazzmando. I built two IV A kits(aka saga kits), they both came with spruce top attached to ribs and a separate maple back.

    benny

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    Moderator JEStanek's Avatar
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    Default Re: "A" Style Mandolin with Spruce Back

    I'm with Hans on this. The Saga and International violin kits all (to my knowledge) had maple backs and spruce tops. Not very flamey figured maple but maple... You sure your back was spruce?

    Jamie
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    Registered User Malcolm G.'s Avatar
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    Default Re: "A" Style Mandolin with Spruce Back

    Jamie and Hans,

    Yup,
    Maybe I got a fluke - but I'm really glad I did. The back vibrates as much as the top - kind of like the passive radiator speakers from the 70's.
    Maybe a top got mixed in with the backs before the F holes got cut.

    Anyway, I'm going to hang on to this little guy, as it's kind of neat.

    Thanks and cheers,
    Malcolm Grundy from Montreal

  7. #7
    Mandolicious fishtownmike's Avatar
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    Default Re: "A" Style Mandolin with Spruce Back

    I believe it was Siminoff that talked about this in his book and said the tone was mellow and the volume week with a spruce back.............Mike

  8. #8
    Registered User j. condino's Avatar
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    Default Re: "A" Style Mandolin with Spruce Back

    I've built hundreds of instruments using almost every combination of woods and designs that I could come up with. Spruce back and tops ( or fir or whatever else you are experimenting with) will produce an instrument that have volume, voice, and tonal color that are unique to that combination. Whenever you step outside of the box like that the real question you have to deal with is are you and every other mandolin dork that you show the instrument to ready to judge it on its own terms, or do you want to try to explain ten thousand times that, well, of course it doesn't sound like a @#$%!*& old Gibson- it's NOT an old Gibson, it wasn't built like an old Gibson, it was never intended to be an old Gibson, and so it doesn't sound like an old Gibson. I've got a lot of customers who are so set in their ways and crusty, that I put the Cricket in the closet when they come by, because I know that they are just not capable of making the leap....here is the link: http://www.condino.com/cricket.html

    If you want an old Loar sound the best bet is to replicate and old Loar as best you can- materials, design, every aspect you can. If you are open to other sounds and ideas, then I encourage you to try new ideas like a spruce back. I worked on a Kasha braced redwood top / double x braced sitka spruce back Boaz guitar (over at Dream Guitars, www.dreamguitars.com) last week. It also had Brazilian sides and a soid Brzilian rosewood neck, and no soundhole on the top- just one rather large on the upper treble bout of the side. It's voice was completely unique and stood out for its own characteristics. About 70% of the visitors that came by played it and thought it was a very interesting modern sound that was a LOT of fun. The other 30% just scratched their heads and said it didn't look or sound like thier old Martin...."that's just a whole lotta nuthin'...."

    The main thing that I've found with softwood backs, like spruce or fir or such, is that they appear to have a lot more overtones as long as the back is free to resonate. As soon as the back is dampened (by resting against a belly or such), the sound is choked significantly more than with a maple back. There was a builder - I think over in Idaho or such- who passed away a couple of years ago that used to build guitars with the entire body made out of spruce. I met him at one of the GAL shows a while ago. Very nice instruments with their own voice. I believe he was a friend of Spruce Bruce- you out there lurking today Bruce???

    j.
    www.condino.com

  9. #9
    Registered User Malcolm G.'s Avatar
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    Default Re: "A" Style Mandolin with Spruce Back

    j.

    You are so right about the back only working when away from the belly.

    Toneguard candidate if ever I saw one.

    And you're right about the other stuff too!

    Thank's for your insights, all!
    Malcolm Grundy from Montreal

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    Café habitué Paul Hostetter's Avatar
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    Default Re: "A" Style Mandolin with Spruce Back

    Spruce for a back sounds intriguing. I played James's Cricket and really liked it. He eloquently articulates all the salient points for how (and how not) to evaluate such a thing. I also played another lovely A mandolin made by Sam Albright which eerily was made sides, back and neck from doug fir with a spruce top, finished with a delicate green sunburst - and Sam had never heard of James or the Cricket. He managed to reinvent the same wheel in his parallel universe.

    James - I think the sweet gent you’re referring to might have been Ted Beringer of Billings, Montana. He was a good friend of Bruce Harvie's, and made some all-spruce guitars and mandolins.



    An earlier thread on this topic here

    A short video of him here:
    .
    ph

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