Taran Springwell Mandolin

[Taran Guitars]

Hi All,

I'm new to the forum but wanted to let you know about a project that I've been working on for a while.

I've been making guitars and bouzoukis for 10 years now however until now I haven't made a mandolin. I have a very good friend named Kevin Macleod (kmmando) who lives in Edinburgh. He and I have been discussing mandolins for some years with a view to make one. This collaboration has been a wonderful process and Kevin visited this week to try the first one and do some videos. Kevin plays a 1983 Sobell which we used as a start point in the design. I use the Portuguese or Sobell style neck joint on my bouzoukis and was thus familiar with the building process. In terms of sound I was aware that the mandolin needed to have full bright trebles with a good amount of sustain and a strong bass with great balance across the range. We are both very happy with the result of the first one. I will post some videos when I get them.
The name Springwell is the name of Kevin's first album, we that it fitting to use it for my first mandolin.
I hope that this is of interest.
All the very best,

Rory

www.taranguitars.co.uk
www.thewoodshop.scot
132264
132265
132266

[billhay4]

Nice looking instrument. I'd like to hear it.
Bill

[kmmando]

https://vimeo.com/123505249


https://vimeo.com/123505248

[kmmando]

https://vimeo.com/123505247

[Bill Snyder]

Nice looking and sounding instrument. Nice playing as well.

[kmmando]

Thanks Bill, it was the first time it had been strung up and played!

[John Kelly]

Great instrument and great sound and balance. It really suits the music Kevin is playing on the videos here.

[BBarton]

Sweet!! 'Looking forward to seeing more "Springwell" details on Rory's website in future.

[Teejay]

Hi Rory

Happy Days! - I've really enjoyed watching Kevin's videos of your new mandolin - sounds absolutely great and I can see it becoming a "must have" for traditional music players. Do keep the news coming of developments and production.

Kevin - thanks for the videos and the fine playing.

All the very best

Tim

[billhay4]

Lovely, great sounding instrument, Rory. Good playing, too! Shows off the instrument nicely.
Bill

[kmmando]

It really was a joy to play, loud and a delight to hear, well worth the bucks, really good!

[Taran Guitars]

Many thanks to Kevin for all of his help with this new project and his fantastic playing! Thank you all for your kind words.

I've had a few emails regarding cost and build time on the Springwell Mandolin. Thought I'd put a wee bit of information up for those who are interested.

I will be making 5 a year as my guitar orders won't allow more sadly. This years will be ready in 4/6months and have a base price of £1399. If you would like more information on the options available please email me on rorydowling@taranguitars.co.uk for a price list.

Many thanks again.

All the very best,

Rory

www.taranguitars.co.uk
www.thewoodshop.scot

[Taran Guitars]

Hi all,
I spent some time today organising some wood for Springwell orders. This Scottish Rippled Sycamore which was cut in 2000. The logs came from Haddington in East Lothian. I've been saving this particular log for Mandolins and now the sets are cut ready for work to start later this year. Exciting times! 132767

[David Houchens]

Nice sounding mandolin. Nice clean shop too!

[Dagger Gordon]

Good stuff. Can I ask why you are using sycamore rather than rosewood as in the instrument in the video?
I'm not criticising - rather wondering what differences you might expect. I assume you would still use European spruce for the top?

[Taran Guitars]

Hi Dagger,
Sorry for my delay, we had the first Wood Shop gig on Friday night, last week was a little busy getting ready.
I'm building 2 Indian rosewood, 2 Scottish sycamore and 1 Macassar Ebony Springwells later in the year. They are all orders, the Macassar is something I don't offer on the price list but the client is very keen to use it. Tonally the Sycamore is similar to Maple but a little more mellow but with that punch and woody tone you would expect. The Macassar has a more focused tone and a strong bottom end. All of the Mandolins will have a European spruce top.
I hope that this helps.
All the very best,
Rory
www.taranguitars.co.uk
www.thewoodshop.scot

[Shelagh Moore]

Hi Rory,

As I seem to have missed the boat for this year's production through tardiness, I'll be looking out for your next batch of Springwells!

Best wishes,

Richard

[Dagger Gordon]

Hi Dagger,
Sorry for my delay, we had the first Wood Shop gig on Friday night, last week was a little busy getting ready.
I'm building 2 Indian rosewood, 2 Scottish sycamore and 1 Macassar Ebony Springwells later in the year. They are all orders, the Macassar is something I don't offer on the price list but the client is very keen to use it. Tonally the Sycamore is similar to Maple but a little more mellow but with that punch and woody tone you would expect. The Macassar has a more focused tone and a strong bottom end. All of the Mandolins will have a European spruce top.
I hope that this helps.
All the very best,
Rory
www.taranguitars.co.uk
www.thewoodshop.scot

Thanks for that good clear answer. Glad to hear about the Wood Shop gig.
I must come down and see you sometime.

Regards

Dagger

[JeffD]

Great instrument and great sound and balance. It really suits the music Kevin is playing on the videos here.

Yes. I am taken by bow bright the high notes are, without getting brassy or tinny. Very impressive.

Kevin and the instrument are a matched set - the mandolin design seems to take advantage of how Keven plays, and Kevin is using the tool in all of its aspects.

I like it. A little different from the sound I expect when someone says "Celtic mandolin". Tighter maybe? (What does that even mean. I am trying anyway.) I love it.

[kmmando]

Thanks Rory - I look forward to seeing the other Springwells when completed - it would be good to perhaps do a short comparison video of all 3 different configurations. The sycamore looks beautiful, and an interesting sound. All very fascinating, and, with your ultra high standards of build and finish, the recipients should be thrilled, lucky fellows!

Catch up soon!

best
Kevin

[theCOOP]

Beautiful instrument! Too bad the videos don't show up on my phone so that I can play them through my stereo :(

[Taran Guitars]

Hi All,

Just a wee update on this years Springwells...

I've had an amazing amount of interest in the mandolin and I'm pleased/afraid that this years places are all sold out. I am taking orders for next years places now for those who are interested.

Many thanks to everyone who has been in touch. I hope to do a wee build thread of the next ones....

All the very best,


Rory


Taran Guitars

www.taranguitars.co.uk
www.thewoodshop.scot

[Dagger Gordon]

Are your orders mainly in Scotland?

[Taran Guitars]

Hi Dagger,

A few from Scotland but Germany and USA as well.

All the best,

Rory

[dulcillini]

Mr. Gordon: I am one of those that ordered the sycamore. An American builder, Rolf Gerhard of Phoenix Mandolins, has used sycamore on one of his models in the past. I also heard other positive comments about this wood a few years ago (don't remember where). I am really looking forward to this instrument. I have to confess that I am one who likes to try new things, so I ordered the sycamore. I was also wanting a native wood of Scotland in at least part of the build. No other reasons. I was very smitten by the sound on the clip. I was thinking about ordering an oval hole here in the USA, similar to the old Gibson A-4, which are very popular for Celtic, traditional, and classical play here. There are many excellent builders over here, but I kept going back to the Springwell clip, and placed my order. It was really a wonderful sound. It got in my head and I just couldn't get it out !!LOL

[Dagger Gordon]

I'm sure it will sound fantastic.

I did once try a Phoenix Neoclassical mandolin in TAMCO in Brighton (where there is a huge selection of high end mandolins) and thought it was really great and might well have bought it, so I have every faith in both Rolf Gerhard and Rory Dowling's judgements of wood.

[kmmando]

Here's a description of the gentle genesis of the Taran "Springwell" mandolin from my point of view.

http://www.kevinmacleod.co.uk/taran-guitars-new-springwell-mandolin

[kmmando]

I met luthier Rory Dowling at a music session in The Reverie in Edinburgh sometime around 2010. That evening, he was passing a guitar over in the pub to the talented Scottish guitarist Matheu Watson. It was a very beautiful looking instrument, gleaming white spruce and gorgeous curves, so I went and introduced myself to these guys to find out more about the guitar. I was suitably amazed to discover that one of these fellows was the actual maker of that stunning instrument, as there are not many luthiers in Scotland at all. We quickly struck up a friendship, and when Rory learnt of my small collection of instruments, including a Stefan Sobell mandolin and octave mandolin, I invited him round to take a look at them, as he was very interested in the Sobell style of instrument making, and had received a lot of support and encouragement from the man himself. We had a fascinating evening going over all my bouzoukis, resonators, mandolins and oddities like a 19th Century small Portuguese guitarra. It was clear to me that Rory really knew his stuff, and I learnt a lot of new details about my instruments that evening. Clearly, Rory was going places, and his move to a spectacular custom designed workshop in the East Neuk of Fife was a major statement of further developments.

Rory was particularily impressed with my small bodied 1983 four course Sobell mandolin, built in European spruce, Indian rosewood and a mahogany neck. At that stage he was making a lot of guitars, but in our many conversations, he was obviously keen to make a range of other instruments, and a fine Irish style bouzouki was completed, which eventually went to Matheu Watson about 4 years ago. I believe he made a couple of other ones too at that time. So he seemed keen to add to the guitar range, and to an extent return to instrument types that he had started on before his guitars took off. As things transpired, I left my Sobell mandolin with him in the Comie Law farm workshop last year for the fitting of a K&K pickup system, and I told him to keep it until he had got all the subtleties and details he might want from it. Later, Rory began his first mandolin prototype based on my mandolin, which gradually surfaced in 2014.

So, I was very excited to get a message early in 2015 to say the prototype was virtually complete, and could I try it out? The new instrument was very beautiful to look at, the wood being very fine, and the attention to detail and finish being very sharp, accurate and attractive. It, too, was of the same wood combination, but was also clearly a Taran instrument, which I liked a lot. It is not a Sobell copy, more of a homage to that approach. I was extremely taken with the powerful, balanced bell like sound, and ease of playability. We also discussed a few tiny tweaks, which should add to its cailbre. Rory and I created some short videos to demonstrate the instrument, and I took the opportunity to do a short, spontaneous interview Rory about the mandolin project. In conversation, I asked if he had a name for the range, and we decided then and there to christen it the "Springwell" mandolin after the title of my first solo mandolin album, which is named for my family crofthouse in Polbain in the far NW Highlands of Scotland in Coigach. Rory's other instruments have names from parts of The Island of Harris in the Outer Hebrides, where Rory too has Highland connections, so it seemed doubly appropriate. I am very flattered that Rory chose to do this.

To date, the response to Rory's new mandolin has been wonderful, with, I gather, a series of orders coming in, and I look forward to seeing the first batch of 5 mandolins appear. It would be good to do a comparison of the various wood types Rory is proposing to utilise, including Scottish scamore. I am certain that the new "Springwell" will give the new owners many years worth of fine music and pleasure in the way that my 32 year old Sobell has done. There is also a Taran tenor guitar and a guitar-bouzouki in progress, so I hope we can do a similar exercise to let the world see how very fine the workmanship of Rory Dowling is.

You can catch up with Rory at his website http://www.taranguitars.co.uk/

©2015 Kevin Macleod | Website by Shed

[kmmando]

Here's another new build from Rory Dowling of Taran Guitars


https://vimeo.com/130908483


https://vimeo.com/130908482


https://vimeo.com/130901563

[John Kelly]

Great instrument -looks and sound! You certainly bring out the best in the videos here, Kevin; an excellent demonstration of what can be achieved on the longer-scaled instruments.

[kmmando]

Here's one that might be more up your street John!


https://vimeo.com/130908481

[John Kelly]

Now you're talking! Great blend of the melody with the bass drones/ornaments. You had me getting the bouzouki out and having a go at those tunes again.
The instrument seems beautifully balanced between trebles and bass notes.

[kmmando]

Here's a fine performance on the Taran guitars "Ulladale" model guitar, by Jamie McMennemy.


https://vimeo.com/148416881

[kmmando]

That should be Jamie McClennan, sorry....