Looks like a rich, luscious chocolate. Makes me hungry. Love it.
Looks like a rich, luscious chocolate. Makes me hungry. Love it.
What really jumps out at me (after the luscious color/finish) is the tailpiece and the tuners. From a design standpoint, that tailpiece represents (to my eye) a visual AND a functional improvement to the old 2-piece (Gibson-style) stamped tailpiece. I like it better every time I see it (and I see one every time I open my case).
Did you make the ebony buttons and that center cover piece for the tuners? Ebony and brass and old steel are just so RIGHT together. And the binding - is ebony more difficult to work with for binding than other woods? That thing is really easy on the eyes.
Clark Beavans
Just stunning.
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1920 Lyon & Healy bowlback
1923 Gibson A-1 snakehead
1952 Strad-o-lin
1983 Giannini ABSM1 bandolim
2009 Giannini GBSM3 bandolim
2011 Eastman MD305
Beautiful. Just don't sit on it.
Gorgeous. I'll echo the comment that it really looks playable, it has a very inviting aesthetic; "Just lift me out of this chair I'm lounging in and pick a tune or two, you wont regret you did."
John, that is as beautiful as it gets! Nicely done!!!
Clark, the Alessi tuners came just like they look there, with the little ebony caps on the gears, the nicely smoothed and polished ebony buttons, and the smooth, wonderfully machined gears and attachments. These are easily the best tuners I've ever installed on a mandolin family instrument.
The ebony bindings aren't too difficult when the bends aren't too tight, like the body of this mandola. The only real challenge was the heel "button", which took a little creativity. It wasn't the first time I've worked with ebony for bindings so I knew it would work fine.
After a day or so of looking at the instrument, with it's general understatedness (new word?), the tailpiece looked like too much "bling". It drew my eye to it and, I thought, distracted from the more subtle look of the rest of the mandola. I've thought all along that the center of my tailpiece lent itself to subtle embellishment or decoration but I had never put anything there until now. I put a polished ebony veneer in the center of the tailpiece, and I think that subtle addition helped the look of the instrument as a whole.
I wish I could play mandola so I could hear what this thing really sounds like. I think it sounds good, with a good balance and plenty of strength in the C course. The 17" scale seems to give it a little more of a "jangle" than the 16" scale standard to the old Gibson f-hole mandolas, with a component of the sound that somewhat reminds me of the sound that Tim O'Brien gets from his Zouk.
John Hamlett
www.hamlettinstruments.com
That's a beauty ...awesome stuff and nice pics, John!
i likey de tailpiece and tuners. You mention the tailpiece being maybe too bling without the ebony, which looks great, btw --- BD has an interesting electro process for aged (look) hardware (pls see pic), i can't help but think of the cool factor when i see that dark and delicious beast. Happy playing!
Last edited by mtucker; Mar-29-2011 at 12:47pm. Reason: added text
Great pictures! The mandola looks so elagant and when played...out of this world, I am sure......
I think that ebony veneer must be why my eye went right to the tailpiece, John - only what I was seeing was the lovely centerline of the strings going down through it, especially the 1st photo in front of the book case. I never realized that you had added the veneer (duh!), but man does it work. Brilliant!
Can you post a closeup?
Last edited by tree; Mar-29-2011 at 2:55pm. Reason: wrong photo
Clark Beavans
Beautiful work John.
There are three kinds of people: those of us that are good at math and those that are not.
John Hamlett
www.hamlettinstruments.com
Thanks, John. Has me thinking about doing that to mine, I've got some nice dark walnut that would probably go with the dark burst on my F5G. I'll have a closer look at it the next time I change strings. Glued in? Epoxy?
Clark Beavans
Double-stick tape, quick, easy and secure. It could be removed, but it might not be easy.
John Hamlett
www.hamlettinstruments.com
I took over stewardship of this mandola last night and had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Hamlett. His workmanship and attention to detail on this instrument are outanding and the oil varnish finish is the nicest I have ever encountered. I was able to play it for only an hour late last night after the long drive to fetch it. My initial impression is favorable. The tone is pleasing and even, there is plenty of volume, and it feels natural to get around on. I am amazed by how much sustain this instrument has and how lightly it is built. Seems to be no excessive materials structurally. I plan to post some sound clips or video in the near future as time allows. John really executed this joint vision perfectly and was a pleasure to work with. One of his acquaintances told me that John's instruments are worth the wait. It was.
Congratulations John!
Enjoy your new Hamlett!
Looking forward to hearing clips.
c.1965 Harmony Monterey H410 Mandolin
"What a long, strange trip it's been..." - Robert Hunter
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Congrats John and John. I can't wait to hear this beauty at camp!
Forgive any muffed notes, I've only been playing the mandola for 3 days now.
sorry I missed this post. Beautiful 'dola, John! The color is fantastic.
John
Can you tell me what brand and color dye you used on the mandola? That looks nice.
It is Feibings leather dye and it was chosen and supplied by the customer; a portion poured into a container for shipping, so there was no Feibings label and I don't know what the color name is. Perhaps John (Gardinsky) will see this and fill us in on the color.
John Hamlett
www.hamlettinstruments.com
What a lovely looking, understated instrument- pure class!
Cheers Gary
Gary Nava UK luthier
Website; http://www.navaguitars.co.uk/mandolins.html
A Luthier's Blog; http://guitar-maker.blogspot.co.uk/
Instrument Archive; http://nava-instruments.blogspot.co.uk/
If Gardinsky doesn't reply....I have an old Ethan Allen leather armchair of the same shade that I got some Feibings leather dye to use for touch up. I believe the color is called "Oxblood". Feibings has some color charts. Add...I went and checked the bottle...is not Oxblood is Mahoganny.
That is a beautiful instrument!!
Bernie
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Due to current budgetary restrictions the light at the end of the tunnel has been turned off -- sorry about the inconvenience.
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