Dark burst C# mandolin

[Dave Cohen]

Attached are some photos of a dark burst C# mandolin, now with its' owner. Photos are of the front, back, a closeup of the scroll side and the body binding, and a closeup of the back plate. Top plate is redwood. Back/sides/neck are bigleaf maple, quilt figure. The fretboard, headplate, bridge, and other trim is all Macassar ebony. Binding is curly maple and bocote, with curly maple outermost. The dark burst is necessary on the redwood, shading from natural to red to dark mission brown at the edge. I used a mixture of amber and golden brown dyes in the center of the back plate, shading to red, then dark mission brown at the edge.

[Bill McCall]

Lovely, and I'm sure sounds as good as it looks.

[Clinton Johnson]

Gorgeous!!

[Eric Hanson]

Beautiful stuff, to be sure!!

[Tavy]

Got to love that back... oh and the top's not bad either !

[Tom Haywood]

Really beautiful work!

[Steve-o]

Beautiful wood, nice bursts, and I've always loved those bindings Dave.

[fscotte]

Dave I can't recall, but does the C# denote tuning the air chamber to 278 hz or does it signify something else? I know Gilchrist tunes some of his to c#.

[Dave Cohen]

"C#" is a musical joke. C# is halfway between A and F on the western musical scale, so a C# mandolin should be halfway between an "A" mandolin and an "F" mandolin, or so it goes. Maybe I should'a called it a "D#", or ??, but since that design is clearly not an "A" or an "F", I had to pick something other than "A" or "F" to call it.

[fatt-dad]

Nice work, Doc!

f-d

[Dave Cohen]

Rather than start another thread, I'll just piggyback on the thread I already started. The following photos are of a mandolin I shipped last Monday (2/27/17). In my rush to get it shipped to its' new owner, I forgot to take any photos. The owner kindly took some photos and e-mailed them to me. This mandolin is a two-point in Engelmann spruce and curly maple. Dunno the species of maple, but Spruce might know. Scale length is 13.88", with a 9.5" radius fretboard. All trim, including pick guard, is W. African ebony. Finish is clear nitro over a super blonde shellac sealer. These may be the first photos of one of my strap sleeves with an actual strap in it.

[fscotte]

"C#" is a musical joke. C# is halfway between A and F on the western musical scale, so a C# mandolin should be halfway between an "A" mandolin and an "F" mandolin, or so it goes. Maybe I should'a called it a "D#", or ??, but since that design is clearly not an "A" or an "F", I had to pick something other than "A" or "F" to call it.

Ah memory sucks here. Thanks for clearing it up.

[Dave Cohen]

And another. This one is a "classical A" with a 13.09" scale length, Engelmann spruce top, and black limba back/sides/neck. Binding is bocote outermost, and trim woods are W. African ebony. The owner wanted an unusual wood for back/sides/neck, and we settled on black limba (d_____ spellcheck keeps trying to change that to "limbs"). I just finished rubbing out and buffing this one this morning. It will be ready to ship after a little refinement of the setup.

[Dave Cohen]

Fscotte, that term did not originate w/ me. If my memory serves (no guarantee there) Mike Kemnitzer and Bill Bussman (possibly others?) used that designation long before I did.

[John Soper]

I think C# is a Bussman-ism.

Dang, I didn't know you could get a strap holder on a 2-point or A! Guess that quells the lust after a scroll? We'll have to see...

[jefflester]

I think C# is a Bussman-ism.

Bill calls his asymmetric 2-pointer a C#.

[pops1]

One of the reasons I have an A model is because of the lower point. I like to put the mandolin where I want it, not where the point demands. I like the C# for that, would love to have one.

[Larry Mossman]

thanks for posting the photos Dave.

Just lovely work.

Don't think I have ever seen the strap sleeve idea before.


anyway, still loving my Cohen A as we approach 1 year together..!


Larry

[fatt-dad]

They all turned out great!

f-d

[LKinser]

that is beautiful wood!!!

[Dave Cohen]

Last instrument in this batch. This is a 10-string/five course liuto, aka five-course mandocello (CGDAE) with a multi-scale fretboard. The E-course length is 23.9", and the C-course scale length is ~25.5". Photos are of the front, a closeup of the upper bout treble-side point & rosette, the headstock & inlay, and the back plate. Sorry for the glare on the headstock photo. The customer wanted a lion rampant inlay. I looked around for a pre-made one, couldn't find any, so I had to do it myself. It came out OK. I broke four of the fretsaw blades in the process of making all the direction reversals in cutting that thing out. Top plate is redwood, and back/sides/neck wood is curly maple. Trim is macassar ebony. A K&K mandolin twin internal with extra long leads to the piezos is installed.

[fatt-dad]

that's cool, Doc!

f-d

[billhay4]

Couple of questions if you don't mind. What tuners did you use? Is that a hole for a strap just below the fretboard?
Thanks,
Bill

[Dave Cohen]

Tuners are two sets of Rubners, cannibalized to make five-on-a-side. See photos in post #11, above.

[mandobrendo]

Lovely, and I'm sure sounds as good as it looks.

As the lucky owner, I can say that it absolutely does. Could not be more pleased with everything about the process and the end result.