Posted by Huntz Meyer on February 3, 2011 at 7:32pm
CBG #110120 is a sweetheart of a mandolin, thanks to the La Flor Domincana Reserva Especial box. The thin wood top makes for great tone and volume. The box is 10-5/8x8-1/8x2 and the top is one of the thinnest I've seen at 3/32" but the Pi pattern tone bars provide ample support and great resonance. The lyre soundholes are positioned to compliment the graphics. It features a French polish garnet shellac on the hard maple neck stained Golden Pecan. The fretboard is cherry, bound with ebony, with an 11" radius for playability and is polished with 1500 grit sandpaper and tung oil. The fretmarkers are gold mother of pearl, while the nut is bone, and the bridge is maple and ebony. The bolt-on neck plate is brass. The box has a thin coat of shellac and an internal piezo pickup provides the ability to play amplified.
Read more…
Thanks for the detailed explanation. I guess necessity really is the mother of all invention. I have an octave mandolin on the back burner and I was thinking of going with X bracing to accentuate the bass end – that seems only fitting since it’s supposed to sound lower than a standard mando. At least that’s my thinking at the moment.
Once I figured out why it wouldn't tune up (Oh shoot - look at that lid sag!), I researched mando bracing. Read about parallel tone bars, X- bars, modified X-bars. Due to the soundholes, none quite worked well so I swagged it and did what fit. More like an inverted pi \/ One crosswise under the bridge, the open end of the V straddling the neck. Marketing dictates I give it a name that sounds like I know what I'm doing. ;)
Comments
HM,
Thanks for the detailed explanation. I guess necessity really is the mother of all invention. I have an octave mandolin on the back burner and I was thinking of going with X bracing to accentuate the bass end – that seems only fitting since it’s supposed to sound lower than a standard mando. At least that’s my thinking at the moment.
JD
Johnny,
Once I figured out why it wouldn't tune up (Oh shoot - look at that lid sag!), I researched mando bracing. Read about parallel tone bars, X- bars, modified X-bars. Due to the soundholes, none quite worked well so I swagged it and did what fit. More like an inverted pi \/ One crosswise under the bridge, the open end of the V straddling the neck. Marketing dictates I give it a name that sounds like I know what I'm doing. ;)
Really nice mando. "Pi pattern?" Are the tone bars laid out something like "/ \", or does that refer to some kind of mathmatical wizz-kid algorithm?