Cherry for mandolins

[Jim T]

Just something I'm curious about. #I was admiring the cherry wood I used for a dresser I built a few years ago. #It's aged beautifully. #That got me to wondering if cherry is ever used for mandolin building and what parts it might be used for?

Jim

[Bill Snyder]

It is not common, but you could use it for back, sides, neck.

[sunburst]

I built one cherry mandolin in about '91 or '92. Back, sides, and neck were cherry. It was very pretty wood with a lot of figure.
The mandolin sounded quite good for my skill level at the time, and was used by David McLaughlin a little bit with the Johnson Mountain boys in '92.

I think the wood sounds good and I think I can make a much better sounding cherry mandolin now. I have some nice cherry wood now and plan to make some more cherry mandolins in the future.

Here's a rather poor picture of the one I made.

[Ken]

I am just finishing a mandola with cherry for back, sides and neck, and several years ago I did a mandolin also with cherry. Not super traditional in this day of flamed or quilted maple, but a nice wood, looks good and I think that the tone is excellent. I'm wondering if in the early days of Gibson, when they also used birch and walnut if they might not have also snuck some cherry in too.
Ken.

[onthefiddle]

Fruitwood was very commonly used for musical instruments (because of its excellent acoustic properties) until about the 16th century, when the development of coloured varnishes (by the Dutch interestingly - not the Italians) brought Maple and it's incredible figure to the fore.
Flamed Cherry is very rare, at least in the UK, but I have always wanted to make a Mandolin from some. I do actually have a stock of very (acoustically) fine quarter sawn (English) Cherry, but nearly everyone wants flamed Maple (and this Cherry is unflamed). I do particularly like the look of an instrument with Cherry back and ribs, and a Maple neck - the contrast is quite beautiful.
I would certainly never reject an instrument made of fine fruitwoods - it may well blow another Maple instrument away!

Jon

[whistler]

I have used plum wood for staves on a 9-piece back, alternating with(English)sycamore. I also used the plum wood (which is a very rich reddish-brown colour, with pale pinkish streaks) for the fingerboard, bridge, and head veneer.

Pearwood has been used, dyed black, as a substitute for ebony on violin soundboards. Apple has been used similarly (and often has nice colouring of its own), although, like plum, it is difficult to obtain in large sizes.

David Freshwater, in Scotland, uses Cherry for mandolin backs and sides.

[Tom C]

I'm hungry

[Spruce]

You see cherry on quite a few Orville-era Gibson instrument necks, and they seem to have held up pretty well...

I love milling our local cherry....
It smells exactly like cherry cider as the blade moves through the log....

[sunburst]

Bruce, I milled some domestic cherry logs once. At first I kept looking over my shoulder to see who had walked up with a cherry lifesaver in his/her mouth.

[Big Joe]

We did a Cherry Master Model and finished it in natural. It did not sound like Maple at all. It is beautiful. First Quality has it and you may contact them concerning their thoughts on it. Appearance is stunning. The sound was very sweet, but not Maple sounding. If you like the traditional Loar sound it may not be for you, but it was very nice. It is the only one we have done. It was an experiment and worked out very nice. It should be quite a collectors piece.

[boboshoes]

Hey Joe, I played that one at FQMS and it was pretty cool. It thought it must have been a real bugger building knowing how brittle cherry can be!