Woody's Koa Oval A

[Jim Garber]

Woody:
It looks like you used the "image" button to upload your photo. That button is for files that are already online. You need to use the "browse" (or "Choose File" on a Mac) button and upload the actual file from your hard drive. I am lloking fwd to seeing this koa mandolin. I love koa.

Jim

[Pete Braccio]

Hi Woody,

Click the "Add Reply" button on the lower left hand side of the thread. This will open a new page in your browser. Add your text in the large text field of the new page.

Below that there is a button labeled "Choose File". Click that and then use the pop up window to select the file that you want to include in your post. Drag and drop doesn't look to be a good option for attaching images.

Pete

[Pete Braccio]

Sorry, looks like my instructions were redundant. I should finish reading before I post.

Pete

[PhilGE]

For Woody

[PhilGE]

Another

[PhilGE]

Last. Folks, there was something amiss in the code for the JPEG images Woody was trying to upload. He sent them to me, I tried and got the same error messages. I exported the images from Preview on my Mac and that apparently did the trick. So, I believe he was following proper posting procedures.

-Phil

[mandoryan]

Very nice Woody. Can we see some shots of the full front? Great work there!

[neal]

Woody, that's simply beautiful. BTW, Phil's pics show, yours, alas, do not.

[Bill Snyder]

Woody that is a nice looking mando. Since you deleted your first post how about reposting the details of the instrument.

[PhilGE]

For Woody:

[PhilGE]

Headstock

[PhilGE]

Back of Headstock

[PhilGE]

Here's another view of the back. This larger image is hosted off-line.

[PhilGE]

last one

[WoodyMcKenzie]

Thanks again Phil for helping me out with posting the photos!

Details for this mandolin:

Englemann top, the rest is koa that I bought off ebay from a dealer who recycles furniture.

X braced, two carbon fiber rods in the neck, mortise/tenon neck joint with a bolt going through the neck block into the neck and into a barrel nut. The heel isn't conventionally shaped, instead the neck joint is cut deeper into the neck block-- over an inch.

Finish is a mixture of button lac and seed lac. Several hand wiped on coats, rubbed in between. It still needs to be finally rubbed out. The neck was also finished but then was rubbed out with fine steel wool, so it is essentially sealed with shellac.

Grover deluxe tuners and Rigel tailpiece.

The blue tape on the strings is just to keep them from overringing.

I am heading down to a mandolin gathering in NC this afternoon and will take her along to get several to try her out. She has fine tone and is pretty even, though seems to have a bit more resonance on the low A note instead of the open G string like a lot of oval holed mandolins I hear. I am pleased with the treble response, but really need to compare side by side with some other "benchmark" oval hole mandolins.

Woody

[berkeleymando]

Being especially fond of Koa, I just wanted to tell you I really like your mandolin. It seems to have an interesting headstock and neck/body design. Bravo!

[WoodyMcKenzie]

berkeleymando--

Thanks for your kind remarks!

I was able to have several folks at the SE Comando Gathering last weekend try out my koa mandolin and received favorable reviews. Most wondered why I made the headstock longer than normal and thought the neck needed to be thinned down a bit, but thought the playablility was fine. I actually cut the neck out just by eyeballing it #and left it long so that I can have plenty of space to inlay on it. It isn't even exactly symmetrical. This was my fourth mandolin and since I am just a hobbyist, I'm not pressured to build instruments that meet the standards for the market. #I am currently building a mandola and rebuilding another Strad-o-lin, but after that, I have a large and beautiful piece of lacewood that I hope to build a mandolin/mandola pair out of. When you wet that board, it looks holographic! I think that if I had to try to be an immaculate copyist and build replicas of F5s, I would lose interest. #

Woody

[Stephanie Reiser]

very creative and very lovely, Woody. I have never been a fan of A models but this one is different. Makes me reconsider.
Steph

[WoodyMcKenzie]

Steph--
Well, I take that as a huge compliment, judging from the #work that I have seen you post! #It's a good thing that you can't hold the mandolin in your hands and inspect it-- my attention to detail is not up to par with professionals. It's interesting how standards get set. Do you prefer F models because that's the standard that you have been exposed to, or is it that you have heard so much lore (pun intended), or are they really just more beautiful to you? I saw the koa wood listed on ebay and it just looked like an A model mandolin to me, with the grain curving around on the back. And besides, carving a scroll and points and that busy headstock is too time-consuming for me. #My mentor studies violins and I have a friend who builds them and the comparison between F5s as the epitome of mandolins just like the Cremonese violins are to the violin world tends to keep people from offering up different aesthetics. A style mandolins are beautiful in their simple symmetry to me and just easier to build!

Woody

[Doug Ottestad]

Gorgeous instrument, Woody! #How about making me a mandola?