Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

This mandolin is the end result of a project I have been working on and off for around a year. The aim was to design a completely new arch top mandolin, based on my two point Lyon and Healy reproduction, but simpler and easier to make and cheaper for the customer. It is a bit like a modernised Lyon and Healy style C, but is quite different from the original vintage instruments. I have always breathed a sigh of relief after making one of the reproductions because they are very fiddly and rather a lot of work. However the sound is devine, and I always change my mind and say it was all worth it in the end. So the main structural aspects remain because that is what determines the sound, but since it no longer needs to look like a Lyon and Healy mandolin, that frees me up to try all sorts of things such as different woods. This one is Aussie timbers only except for the Ebony fingerboard and headstock overlay. The principle is to make the mandolin as light as possible, but to do that the mandolin needs a few changes from what I normally do. The arch is higher, and the neck angle is lower so the bridge is around 5mm lower. I wanted an adjustable bridge, but at a height of 15mm rather than the usual 20mm that was to be a challenge. In the end Vern Brekke designed and made a brand new Brekke bridge for me, thank you Vern. The tailpiece is the same as what I used on the Lyon and Healy reproduction because people seem to like it and it works extremely well. The top is X braced with Oregon (i.e. Douglas Fir) bracing. Oregon is stiffer than Spruce, but a bit heavier. The extra weight is not significant because the bracing is less then 5% of the total weight of the top. The pickguard caused a few sleepless nights because I wanted to improve the way it was mounted. The vintage mandolins have a screw through the pickguard and a pin that fit into the fingerboard, but it is not very firm and the pickguard does tend to flap around a bit. The screw is a steel screw that has rusts in many of the vintage mandolins which makes it almost impossible to remove the pickguard. I ended up using two M2.5 stainless steel screws that self thread into the fingerboard, Very tricky to implement because there is not a lot of wood to screw into and the pickguard needs to be mounted at the correct angle. Thankfully I managed to get it all lined up properly. The neck attachment is a dovetail as usual, but there is a riser block (missing on the vintage mandolins) to make the top binding easier. Neck has a carbon fibre rod for reinforcement.

The first mandolin I decided to use King Billy Pine and Blackwood because that combination has produced many lovely sweet and clear sounding mandolins for me, and I had a hunch it might produce something quite special. So top is KBP, B&S and neck is Blackwood, bindings are ivorywood, pickguard blackheart sassafras, fingerboard Macassar ebony. Something very special this mandolin certainly is. So special it is going to redefine how I make most of my mandolins. Blew away one of the best Gibson style of mandolins I have made to date. Beautiful sweet clear tone and so loud and responsive. So lively the whole instrument seems to vibrate in your hands, and massive ring and sustain that seems to go on forever. Huge dynamic range. Plays beautifully picked very softly, but you can really crank up the volume. I can't put this thing down. It pops out of the case every time I walk past it. Wow! Very exciting.

I think I can call this new model of mandolin a rip roaring success, and hopefully many more like it shall be made.

It looks lovely Peter ,
I agree that King Billy and Blackwood get along beautifully together , good news for the maker as they're both pretty mild to work with .
It's great to hear your work taking that sort of leap . I've heart mandolin player mates talk with that sort of passion for a good mandolin. They're such a dynamic little power pack of a thing .
If you run low on kb I've just got some huge flitches in recently that are very old pattern makers stock . Perfect quarter sawn . Maybe you want to swap one of those new model beauties for your next timber stash .......
All the best
Pete

Good to know some kbp is still around. I bought a whole kbp tree about 20 years ago and had it cut on the quarter (mostly), and shared the cost and some of the wood with other local luthiers. That was before it was illegal to cut a living kbp tree down and I could see the end of the line for commercial kbp coming so better do something. Still have about 2/3 left so I am not short of kbp and not likely to be for a very long time. It is all 50mm thick, 3-4m long and some sticks are 280mm wide. When we moved to Bega it went into the removalist truck, much to the amusement of the driver! That mandolin has wood from the tree. I was very lucky with that tree, the wood is mostly knot free and light weight so makes fantastic soundboards. A lot of kbp is full of hidden knots and not so light weight. Some of my best mandolins have come from that tree, and Gillian Alcock has made many hammered dulcimers from it. When it arrived from Tasmania I was on my own and had to unload the pack by hand and carry it around to the back of the house. It was green wood and I could barely lift the bigger pieces, but had a big smile on my face. Fun times. Problem now is it is not very accessible at the bottom of the pile because they are by far the biggest planks I have.