Post a photo of your flat-top mandolin!

**fatt-dad** · Mar-16-2014, 9:24am

I'll go first. My '84 Flatiron 1N. Yesterday on my grandpa's hammock.

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f-d

**Steve Zawacki** · Mar-16-2014, 2:00pm

First, only and recent addition (am the third owner) is this 2009 RedLine Traveler GoldTop. This mandolin was highlighted with it's own thread during its build and still as sweet as ever.

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**JeffD** · Mar-16-2014, 2:36pm

Weber Aspen II 2006. Looks great. Plays even better.

Custom art applied after market.

**Bill Snyder** · Mar-16-2014, 3:01pm

Still play it. First mandolin I designed and built. It is ten years old and hasn't started falling apart yet.

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**Bob Clark** · Mar-16-2014, 4:05pm

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Here's my Crystal Forest. Great sounding, beautiful to look at, fun to play. And if that's not enough, my cats approve of it as well!

**Charles E.** · Mar-16-2014, 5:56pm

Here is a Lyon and Healy inspired flat top I built for myself in 2010, it rings like a bell.

**James Rankine** · Mar-16-2014, 6:50pm

Here is the sound hole on my Ozark 2240e. I understand they use a laser to cut out this design. The grain lines up with the top showing it has been cut out from the top wood, not cut from a separate piece.

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**rgray** · Mar-16-2014, 7:01pm

My Davy Stuart.

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**pheffernan** · Mar-16-2014, 7:04pm

Originally Posted by fatt-dad

I'll go first.

I feel compelled to ask: which flattop?

**fatt-dad** · Mar-16-2014, 7:58pm

Originally Posted by pheffernan

I feel compelled to ask: which flattop?

You must start somewhere!

f-d

**Jim Adwell** · Mar-16-2014, 8:50pm

This is a Swedish Levin flat-top mandolin. The serial number stamped on the end of the peghead indicates it was made in 1938. The mandolin has had a tough life. When I got it, the top had a number of cracks inexpertly repaired with some kind of brown glue, the finish had been completely stripped off but the dark brown dye apparently used was still in the wood, and most of the top braces were loose. The label looks like someone dropped silver paint on part of it, but it's still recognizable as a Levin label. I pulled the top off (instead of the back because it was loose anyway), reglued the braces, and fixed yet another crack that had developed after the previous "repairs", and slapped some oil varnish on it just to seal the bare wood. The neck is slightly bowed (no truss rod), but still playable, although I had to lower the bridge to make it so. I levelled and dressed the frets and put extra-light gauge strings on it, and it sounds pretty good; not much bass butit has clear bright treble and midrange, a nice melody mandolin even though it looks like it's been run over by a truck. I suspect someone put heavy gauge strings on it at some point in its life which caused the problems previously noted. No idea why the finish was stripped off, though. It came with a nice old case in pretty good shape, too.

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**Al Bergstein** · Mar-17-2014, 12:51am

bandolim.

**Randi Gormley** · Mar-17-2014, 10:01am

My two bandolims.

**Rosemary Philips** · Mar-17-2014, 11:34am

Big Muddy M-1 Special Edition with Cedar Top and Curly Mahogany back and sides. Awesome to look at and play!

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(sorry it's sideways...)

**fatt-dad** · Mar-17-2014, 11:51am

my Romanian-made, "Montana." This was my original beach/fly-about mandolin, but the fretboard finally decided it couldn't remain flat any longer. Just a wall-hanger today.

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**Jim Garber** · Mar-17-2014, 11:57am

I don't mean to steal your thunder but this thread, Flatbacks of Note, has been going for awhile in the Classical section as a companion to Bowlbacks of Note.

**Jim M.** · Mar-17-2014, 12:03pm

Here's mine from Chris Baird (Arches Mandolin). This is early Arches, and was impressive enough that I got him to build me an F-4 also.

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**brunello97** · Mar-17-2014, 12:57pm

Originally Posted by Jim Garber

I don't mean to steal your thunder but this thread, Flatbacks of Note, has been going for awhile in the Classical section as a companion to Bowlbacks of Note.

Is FD talking about proper Flat-Tops here as a separate category from the Canted-Tops that usually wind up in the FBoN thread? I realize they probably aren't dead flat....

I've got a flat-top from Michoacán which is my 'prop up the axle when fixing a flat' mandolin. Intonation is perfect and 17 hippies sanding--randomly or not--couldn't get through that finish.

Nice photo, FD. I didn't know the Shenandoah Mountains got so craggy.

Mick

**fatt-dad** · Mar-17-2014, 1:04pm

Originally Posted by brunello97

Nice photo, FD. I didn't know the Shenandoah Mountains got so craggy.

Every once and awhile I go out west to see some real mountains. Maybe you'll notice Half-Dome in the background?

Regarding the earlier flat-backs of note thread. . . I know nothing about that! Oh well, I don't much play classical music and don't frequent that forum. My bad. I just love my flat-top Flatiron and wanted to share my photo and was thinking others may want to play too. I'm still looking for my KM-11 photo. I'll find it. . .

I think some of the flat-top mandolins that are in this thread are quite cool too!

f-d

**brunello97** · Mar-17-2014, 1:19pm

I've got a KM11 which is around my workstation at home that gets a lot of play. The neck is just great. I don't really think of it as a flat top, though. More of a Dish-Top or Bowl-Top. I have a bridge from a pal of mine's Big Muddy on it. With a shim or two added for good measure.

I don't play much classical either, pero masticamos la grasa allí tambien. I mean in a metaphorical sense, FD....

Mick

**Jim Garber** · Mar-17-2014, 1:37pm

I honestly don't know if there is such a thing as a true flattop mandolin. Don't all of them have some sort of induced arch to them or wouldn't they just cave in?

Here is my bandolim by Manoel Andrade. Most bandolims are flattops.

**Jim Garber** · Mar-17-2014, 1:40pm

The French makers like flattops as well. This is a Euterpe I believe made by JTL workshop mostly known for violins.

**Jim Garber** · Mar-17-2014, 1:43pm

This is a Vega Amati mandolin. I have no clue when this was made, say, in relation to the cylinder backs. I have only seen one other of these. It is on my list for restoration. Ah, one of these days. The back, esp., has seen much better days.