View Full Version : Tasmanian myrtle two pointer
Graham McDonald
Sep-17-2009, 2:42am
Here are a couple of pics of a two point, L&H style mandolin of Sitka and Tasmanian myrtle that is heading to Europe with me next week. I am experimenting with bridges a bit. the maple one in the pic is significantly louder and brighter than the original ebony one. I will try another of rosewood over the weekend and see how that sounds.
First bound fingerboard I have done for years as well.
And I have just got a flash that bounces the flash off the ceiling. Makes all the difference taking pics. Soft light with no hard shadows. I am sure proper photographers know all about such things, but I had never got round to getting one. Should have done it years ago.
cheers
graham
Skip Kelley
Sep-17-2009, 6:21am
Graham, very nice mandolin! I love the Myrtle wood, it looks awesome!!
JEStanek
Sep-17-2009, 7:20am
Lovely, Graham! Beautiful lines.
Jamie
Jake Wildwood
Sep-17-2009, 8:38am
Very pretty. I like maple bridges myself... I have a stockpile of maple for making banjo bridges when I need to and I've done it for some old flatbacks... I too noticed a pretty good sound out of them.
A lot of old guitars c.1890/1900 used dyed maple bridges and they sound just dandy, too.
Oliver R
Sep-17-2009, 9:14am
Is the top carved or sort of an induced arch Graham?
Spectacular by the way!
Graham McDonald
Sep-17-2009, 4:34pm
Fully carved, back and front, to fairly standard graduations. X braced soundboard.
cheers
D.E.Williams
Sep-17-2009, 5:08pm
Very pretty instrument.
Oliver R
Sep-18-2009, 5:03am
Your book is awesome by the way.
I am going to have a crack at mandolin No2 when I can 'ever' find some time.
How would you describe the kind of sound of this instrument? old martin perhaps?
Cheers Oliver
Very nice instrument, I really like the look.
Fliss
Randi Gormley
Sep-18-2009, 3:26pm
beautiful instrument!
Nice design Grahm, Very sleek. On the topic of Maple bridges have you checked out Red's site?
http://www.murphymethod.com/maplebridge.html
He's done a lot of experimenting with solid wood bridges and recommends American Maple for oval holes and European Maple for F hole mandolins. He's also spent a lot of time tweeking the bridge base and relief hole configuration to optimize his maple bridges.
Jan Ellefsen
Sep-18-2009, 5:11pm
How does the myrtle sound compared to maple.
To me it looks very similar to rosewood and very pretty
Graham McDonald
Sep-18-2009, 5:23pm
The maple bridges is very much in the style of Red's ideas. If anything it was too bright, so I have drilled out some of the ebony from the bottom up and that seems to provide a good balance. There is lots of experimental work to be done with bridges to properly explain how different materials, shapes etc will change the instrument's response.
As to Oliver's question about the sound, it is a well balanced, open sound which I think works well. It is not that dark old Gibson A model sound (which is where Red's bridge really help). Thank you for the kind words about the book. It gets re-launched on 1 October with distribution through IPG, so any book store in the US and Canada can stock it. It will also be cheaper, as I have had a larger print run done, and it is even cheaper on Amazon. Because I have bought a few instrument books from Amazon, they send me emails about other ones, and yesterday I got one advertising The Mandolin Project. All very exciting. Just have to sell some now and get the money back...
cheers
graham