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View Full Version : How Much Do Carved Archtop Mandolin Weigh?



Brent Hutto
Aug-13-2010, 8:42am
OK, clueless newbie question here.

I've seen and perhaps handled a couple of conventional archtop mandolins but never played one or had it on a strap over my shoulder. My little flat-top Redline Traveler seems really, really light to me. But I'm only comparing it to guitars.

What's the typical weight range for something like a classic Loar style mandolin? Are they usually upwards of two pounds? Maybe even three?

I think my pancake mandolin is around 1 pound, 10 or 11 ounces (0.75kg) with no strap. It hardly even makes the strap fully drape over the curve of my shoulder. I'll bet the neck and fingerboard alone on my guitar weigh more than that!

Mandophyte
Aug-13-2010, 9:32am
My Eastman 604 weighs about 1kg

Schlegel
Aug-13-2010, 10:22am
I think my pancake mandolin is around 1 pound, 10 or 11 ounces (0.75kg) with no strap. It hardly even makes the strap fully drape over the curve of my shoulder. I'll bet the neck and fingerboard alone on my guitar weigh more than that!

If comparing to an F, remember the points and scroll up the weight. A pancake is going to be as light as a mando gets. Although I bet a carbon fiber pancake could get pretty light!

Brent Hutto
Aug-13-2010, 10:28am
So if an A-style Eastman weighs about a kilogram, some F-styles are probably even more than that. I think my general impression was that the F5 types I had seen were twice as heavy as my Traveler. That may well be true.

billhay4
Aug-13-2010, 10:29am
Roger Siminoff's book has a list of weights for the instrument in the book. He weighed each component and also the finished instrument.
Bill

Tim2723
Aug-13-2010, 11:25am
They weigh less than banjos.

JeffD
Aug-13-2010, 12:47pm
They weigh less than banjos.

So does my tackle box. Just barely.

journeybear
Aug-13-2010, 12:53pm
Long enough to reach the ground. Oh wait, that's how long Abe Lincoln said a man's legs should be. :whistling:

Um, OK, about the same as a henway. So you ask, what's a henway? Oh, about a couple of pounds. :))

Wait, wait, I've got more!

Then again, according to that episode of "Memphis Beat" (http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/showthread.php?64139), a 1937 F-5 is heavy enough to kill a man. :disbelief: Keep in mind, as Ani DiFranco once pointed out in a song, "Any tool is a weapon if you hold it right." ;)

Lefty Luthier
Aug-13-2010, 1:19pm
There is likely a greater weight spread for F5 style mandolins than A style. My F5s weigh between 2.0 and 2.5 pounds and A styles from 1.4 to 2.0 pounds depending on rim materials, hardware components and fretboard materials.

Ed Goist
Aug-13-2010, 1:29pm
"...The average weight of a Weber mandolin is 32 oz (http://www.soundtoearth.com/faq.php?cat=30)..." (this is 2 Lbs. or 0.91 Kg)