Available Instruments & New Work
This is a reproduction of a mandolin made around 1930 by the Vega company of Boston. The shape and design elements have been copied as much as possible from images of the original, though I can’t be sure of some of the construction techniques used. The back is four panels beveled at 16° angles and they have to match the angles of and varying width of the sides. The purfling and fretboard inlays were custom made to match the original. The soundboard is spruce arched over bracing copied from the original. The back and sides are from a piece of figured maple with ebony inserts and binding. The neck is dovetailed to the body and made from French walnut, painted black to match the original. It is fitted with Gotoh tuners, a modern cloud tailpiece and finished in a satin lacquer. A unique instrument and available for A$5000 plus shipping
This is the third in an occasional series of art-deco style mandolins inspired by the work of Jimmy D’Aquisto, the highly respected arch-top guitar maker from New York. In the book The Master’s Bench, published by the National Music Museum in South Dakota, is a sketch of a mandolin which was never built. This sketch was the start of this design. This one is made from bearclaw Sitka spruce and quilted Big-Leaf maple with an ebony fingerboard and burl walnut head overlay. The binding is tortoise celluloid with Gotoh tuners and an Allen cast bronze tailpiece. This one is sold but there is another on the way
Above is a recent King Billy pine and Huon pine oval hole mandolins Both timbers only grow on the southern Australian island of Tasmania. The King Billy is related to North American Western Red cedar and makes a excellent soundboard. Huon is a relatively heavy conifer, wonderfully fragrant and combines with the King Billy to make a light and responsive mandolin. The neck is Australian Red cedar (a hardwood similar to mahogany) with a carbonfiber bar reinforcement. The fretboard is Madagascan rosewood using a zero fret with a Ziricote head overlay. Rubner tuners, an Allen cast bronze tailpiece and tortoise celluloid binding. The filler strip at the tail is a piece of Australian mulga.
