One piec back as compared to a book matched one

[Willie Poole]

Id there any difference to the sound of a mandolin with a one piece back compared to a book matched one? Or is there a reason for not doing a one piece back except for having to find a larger piece of wood to allow a person to make one?

Willie

[Bill McCall]

I can't see a mechanical reason for a sonic difference between a 1 or 2 piece back. Aestheticly for striped maple I prefer a good book match to 1 piece, but for Birdseye maple I have no preference. Ymmv

I would suspect in manufacturing the cost of wider material is a significant difference.

[Spruce]

I would suspect in manufacturing the cost of wider material is a significant difference.

...a tad higher, but I wouldn't say "significant"...

[V70416]

I have a one-piece on my old(#61) Red Diamond as per my request. It is rather plainer looking than many two-piecers I have seen.

The two-piece back on my F5 Gibson is not "book-matched" but quite asymmetrical;again,as per my request.

Guess I just got tired of seeing the killer striped maple backs;wanted to be different. No sonic reasoning on my part;nor
do my old tin ears detect any difference in tone that I can relate to one vs. two-piece backs.

[Hendrik Ahrend]

The main reason for two piece backs (book matched, slip matched or not really matched at all) is that narrow pieces of maple are more frequent and thus cheaper to come by. Now that it's an old tradition, most of us love two piece backs. A well executed glue seam could never make a difference, I believe, much less an audible one, or one for the better or worse.

[sblock]

The broad consensus of opinion among players and luthiers is that there is no difference in the tone associated with a one- or two-piece mandolin back. You may find a few who disagree, but they are decidedly in the minority.

Folks are split, however, about which one looks better. Some love seeing the book-matching. Some love seeing the contiguous piece of maple.

[fscotte]

I don't see a reason why there'd be a tonal difference. I mainly use one pice backs to avoid the extra work of gluing the back wedges together. I also happen to like the look, and my lumber store has pallets of curly hard maple from Michigan of which I can choose my own.

[mtucker]

one-piece, two-piece...they all look delicious to me! What's for supper!

purloined from the Gilchrist website 'current builds'. http://www.gilchristmandolins.com/current/

[fox]

Everybody deserves to own at least one of each!

[dan in va]

i asked Chris Stanley what his experience was about this issue some 5 years ago when planning an A5. What i got from the conversation was the cost difference was significant and no real difference in sound. He also said his mandolins that had that little extra something seemed to have 2 piece backs. There was an F5 with both one piece top and back that didn't suit him at all. #62 is my only mandolin now, and some other good custom numbers have come and gone (late '80's KM 1000, '25 snakehead, Smart A5, CE Ward A5), and i've played some really good high end stuff, but this one just seems to suit me best. The Stanley just gets better every year and it's become less particular about strings and picks, too.

[Spruce]

i asked Chris Stanley what his experience was about this issue some 5 years ago when planning an A5. What i got from the conversation was the cost difference was significant...

Man, folks need to question their choice of tonewood dealers...

I said it wasn't significant before, but in reality it's the same cost per board foot, especially if you are buying lumber...
10" wide boards are not all that uncommon in figured Eastern maple piles, but keep in mind that we're talking slab-sawn material, which is all you are going to find in Eastern...

What is rare--and should be surcharged for--are one-piece backs cut on the quarter, regardless of species...
Now that's a hard piece of wood to come by, for a variety of reasons...

[dan in va]

Well, i 'spose i should've clarified that Chris and i were talking in the context of quarter sawn wood. i didn't even consider that when posting. Thanks for making the point, Spruce.

[CES]

I like the one piece back on my Silverangel Econo, but I can't say i prefer one or the other consistently. It really depends on the mandolin. Intentionally unbookmatched two pieced backs seem to be more polarizing for me. I tend to either really like them, or really not care for them. That said, if I found one that had the tone and feel, I'd buy it...don't really ever have to look at the back anyway, unless you just want to

[fscotte]

There is no cost difference in one piece or two piece maple- at least where I buy from. What costs more is the best figure vs good figure. Now you may run into some significant cost increase if you're looking at woods that are rare to get wide enough for a one piece back.