A new om from alex willis

[southcoastsounds]

I ordered my new octave mandolin in January and have just picked it up this weekend. #It was made by luthier Alex Willis (http://www.willisguitars.co.uk/index.html) of Sussex, England.

A set of photos can be #found here (http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/southcoastsounds/20080712)

The body, back, head-board and neck are sycamore, the soundboard is European Spruce and the fretboard is African Ebony. #The tail-piece is Monteleano and the tuners are Gotoh 510s. #

I'm very pleased with it - it has a very bright sound with lots of sustain. I'll post a video on YT before long.

[jacky]

Tom,

That looks splendid. Not unlike Richard Osborne's style, especially the triangular shaped sound hole. I'm looking forward to hearing it.

[steve V. johnson]

Beautiful, congratulations to you and kudos to Mr. Willis!

What's the scale length, the nut width, and how wide and deep is the body?

Thanks,

stv

[Uncle Choppy]

What a great looking OM!

I'm in the UK and had never heard of Alex Willis before - his website seems to only feature his guitars (which also look rather special).

I hope that you enjoy it and I look forward to the YouTube video.

Thanks for sharing.

[southcoastsounds]

Thanks everybody for your comments. #

I met Alex at an exhibition of the Guild of Sussex Craft where I tried three or four of his guitars and was very impressed with them. #Later I met people who had commissioned him to make guitars and one in particular is a very fine player who I respected and he spoke highly of Alex's instrument. #

I wanted an instrument made to my specifications with a full "renaissance" sound, rather than the rather thin sound many OM's seemed to have and decided to talk to Alex about it. #He had never made a mandolin before but was keen to try. #He and I researched various options and Alex then came up with a design which I liked which he made up into a prototype for me to examine. #After further discussion and research he embarked on the instrument I own now. #Alex gives all his instrument individual names and writes them on the label - mine is called "Ouiseau Bleu", I think because I have a banner picture of white cliffs on my website. #

I would highly recommend Alex to anyone in Britain who wants a quality instrument built by an expert.

The instrument has a much thicker body than most OMs, while being very lightly constructed, providing a bright sound with a very wide dynamic range all the way up the fingerboard. #The basses are really strong, but the trebles are too, even up to frets 9-12. #

The length from fret zero to 12 is 270mm (10.6 inches)
Width at nut is 35mm and at fret 12, 45mm #(1.4, 1.8 inches)
Body depth 950mm at thickest and 750mm at narrowest (3.7, 3.0 inches). #

To get the exact shape for the triangular sound hole Alex had a perspex template made from a computerised moulding system - this means he can replicate the soundhole on future instruments.

[Jim MacDaniel]

Very nice -- congrats Tom!

[steve V. johnson]

Thanks for the dimensions, etc.!

stv

[Fliss]

That looks lovely, congratulations! I see that Alex Willis is listed as one of the exhibitors at the Cheltenham Guitar Show in September, I shall have to check out his stand!

Fliss

[southcoastsounds]

Here's a video of the instrument in action. Bach's Cello Suite Prelude.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sb-XUbV30ek

Thanks for the interest, Tom

[Pete Braccio]

Man! No fair!

A new OM AND a kitten? http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[southcoastsounds]

Ah, the kitten was just visiting - he belongs to my daughter. The mandolin is enough for me!

Tom