Old Wave #470, Cedar, Ironwood, and Mesquite

[man dough nollij]

Here are some pictures of my new Old Wave, which is waiting for me in New Mexico. It has a cedar top, mesquite back, desert ironwood fingerboard and peghead veneer, and paua abalone rosette and headstock inlay. I went with a paddlehead instead of his more common snakehead. I'm still 8000 miles south of it-- I can't wait to get to play it. Bill has been great to work with. He sent pictures of his thermometer when it was over a hundred degrees there, when it was probably forty below here. I wanted old-Gibby-oval like colors. Wine on the back, pumpkin on the top. I originally wanted white wood (sycamore?) binding, but I learned that would have wicked up stain, so I went with ivoroid and matching ivoroid tuning buttons. I'll be doing some road trippin' when I get back to the states in March; I hope I get a chance to show it off to some Cafe members.

[sgarrity]

That looks cool!!

[fatt-dad]

Way cool!

f-d

[JEStanek]

Fantastic. Love your overlays. Lee, if you want, I'll be happy to play it in for awhile until you get back. I'll make an exception just for you. ;) Congratulations.

Jamie

[BlueMt.]

Beautiful! I bet it sounds as good as it looks.

[hank]

Looks great Lee, Bill nailed the old Gibson look. I really like the shorter neck and choice of woods. Congratulations and safe passage on your traveling and return home.

[Rob Gerety]

Gorgeous. That is just about exactly what I would spec if I ever had one built. I really like the paddle head and the short neck. Great job. Can't wait to hear it. You must be dying! Guess big brown doesn't deliver down near the bottom, eh?

[man dough nollij]

The choice of materials has some meaning for me. I lived in Arizona for a long time, where I was around a lot of mesquite trees, and smelled a lot of cedar and cedar-like trees being burned. Nothing in the world smells better than shagbark or alligator juniper wood burning. Mesquite is pretty amazing to burn, too. It's the heaviest, densest wood I've ever seen, and it burns forever. Smells good, too. The paua abalone represents the many times I've been New Zealand, where that colorful variety of shell is native. I didn't really plan it that way, it just sort of turned out that way. Kind of cool to have a little bit of story behind the different materials, and the combo should have made good tonewood, too. :mandosmiley:

[Jill McAuley]

Absolutely lovely looking! Bet it sounds the business as well!

Cheers,
Jill

[pjlama]

Awesome Lee, congrats! You know I could run down and pick it up for you;) Seriously, I've owned a pile of mandos but only one OM, my Old Wave. Bill builds something special into his instruments. Maybe it's the weird woods, the location or the nutty builder but I suspect it's a guy doing exactly what he loves and somehow you can feel it in his work. Welcome to the OW family, I'll be insulted if we don't share a pint while you're in NM.

[guitharsis]

Congrats! Great choice. You're going to love it.

[Tripp Johnson]

That's really nice. Great looking and no doubt great sounding.

[Ted Eschliman]

That headstock looks simply delicious!

[Anglocelt]

I feel a mighty hunger coming on........

I have an Old Wave C# with f-holes so I see what people mean by Old Waves having something special. Mind you it's a bit too bluegrass for me so I would like to get one of his oval holes.

But why cedar instead of the industry standard spruce for the top?

Kevin

[Oggy]

That headstock looks simply delicious!

I agree... very nice headstock shape! A really cool version of the ol' paddlehead.

[acruzn]

Lee,

those photos show a mando that has a "je ne sais quoi" quality about it. the mix of woods is most western and tasteful. enjoy :mandosmiley::mandosmiley::mandosmiley:

[Don Grieser]

Congratulations, Lee. Let me know if you'd like me to go down to southern NM and give it some light distressing. ;) And I agree about alligator juniper--plain old cedar isn't too bad either. I bet that mandolin will really sing.

[brunello97]

The choice of materials has some meaning for me. I lived in Arizona for a long time, where I was around a lot of mesquite trees, and smelled a lot of cedar and cedar-like trees being burned. Nothing in the world smells better than shagbark or alligator juniper wood burning. Mesquite is pretty amazing to burn, too. It's the heaviest, densest wood I've ever seen, and it burns forever. Smells good, too. The paua abalone represents the many times I've been New Zealand, where that colorful variety of shell is native. I didn't really plan it that way, it just sort of turned out that way. Kind of cool to have a little bit of story behind the different materials, and the combo should have made good tonewood, too. :mandosmiley:

Lee, very sentimental wood choices for me as well. The smell of mesquite and cedar means 'home' as much as anything-particularly this time of year when I am icebound in the north. The 'desert ironwood' was less familiar to me so I took the liberty:

http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/desert_ironwood.htm

Bravo to you and Bill....

Mick

[Ben Milne]

that is a gorgeous mandolin and a very nice compliment of timber. awesome package andi must say the headstock looks great.

New Old Wave by name and nature.:whistling:

[Skip Kelley]

Lee, That mandolin looks great! I love the ironwood on the peghead!

[Chris Biorkman]

Cool! Knowing it was completed and being so far away would be torture. Stay strong.

[Randy Smith]

That's beautiful looking, Lee. I love the paddlehead. Let's us know when your exhibition tour is so we can see the mando!

Randy

[Tom C]

Great looking mando. It would probably smell good too if you needed to burn it to stay warm. :)

[sebastiaan56]

Too beautiful!

[Eddie Sheehy]

Oh, that is soooo hot... I mean cooooool...

[Jim Kirkland]

If I see Bill playing your new mando at the farmers market in Las Cruces this weekend, I promise I will not tell. Super mando as always.

[Jake Wildwood]

SO pretty. Love it!