# Music by Genre > Celtic, U.K., Nordic, Quebecois, European Folk >  Interview with Rory Dowling of Taran on new "Springwell" mandolin

## kmmando

Here is an interview/chat about the first of the Taran "Springwell" mandolins completed by Rory Dowling recently, with three comparison sets of tunes. Hope it is of interest!

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liestman, 

Shelagh Moore, 

Taran Guitars

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## Dave Hanson

excellent interview,and great mandolins from Rory.

Dave H

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kmmando, 

Taran Guitars

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## Jill McAuley

Great stuff, lovely sounding mandolins!

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kmmando, 

Taran Guitars

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## JeffD

Ohhhhh. I can feel the MAS. I slightly prefer the sound of the second one. All three were over the top.

Just wonderful.

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kmmando, 

Taran Guitars

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## John Kelly

What an excellent interview, Kevin.  Rory has such great ideas and it's inspiring to see the use of Scottish woods.  The laminated sides and no kerfing is another interesting concept when applied to mandolins.  Tone and balance of sound across all the instruments are really amazing.

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kmmando, 

Taran Guitars

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## Jill McAuley

While I could see the Sobell similarities I hadn't realized that they'd used Kevin's Sobell as a reference. Makes me want one even more now!

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kmmando, 

Taran Guitars

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## liestman

Totally unbiased of course  :Wink:  but the sycamore sounded the best to me. Great pop for session playing I think and I will confirm it later this week.

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kmmando, 

Mike Anderson, 

Taran Guitars

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## Shelagh Moore

Excellent video and comparison between the three differerent wood models, all wonderful in their own different ways (I have one of the Indian rosewood ones). Many thanks Rory for a great instrument and to Kevin for taking the time to demonstrate the mandolins!

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kmmando, 

Taran Guitars

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## Mike Anderson

> Totally unbiased of course  but the sycamore sounded the best to me. Great pop for session playing I think and I will confirm it later this week.


I love sycamores, we have a lot in my neighbourhood along with several London planes. Really cool to hear it can be made into such fine instruments!

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kmmando, 

Taran Guitars

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## kmmando

Here's the individual mandolins being played for comparison, though it is hard to separate them, in truth.
These had only just been strung up, and never played, so it was a real thrill to play them all from fresh, all utterly superb!

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Jill McAuley, 

Nick Gellie, 

Shelagh Moore, 

Taran Guitars

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## kmmando

http://www.taranguitars.co.uk/news/springwells-away

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Jill McAuley, 

Shelagh Moore

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## Teejay

Fantastic stuff.

Ruth and I are just back from the "original" Springwell in Polbain and I've just been catching up with this video - really delighted to hear and see how well the mandolins have turned out.

Huge congratulations to Rory for all the hard work, care and dedication he's brought to this project - and to Kevin for his energy, enthusiasm and encouragement.

Also - congratulations to the new owners - you're going to enjoy yourselves.

Tim

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## kmmando

A very special day for me collecting my Taran Guitars Springwell mandolin no. 14 from master luthier and complete gent Rory Dowling. Swiss spruce with the most beautiful tight grain, glorious figured Mexican cocobolo, with reclaimed Scottish lime as the inner laminated sides, salvaged from an old bar in Anstruther! And beachcombed paua shell from NZ, by Rory himself as fretmarkers and the t. But what a stunning sounding instrument, tight, punchy, warm and ringing, balanced and loud. And the most beautiful classy skills evident in the woodwork. And brillianty set up, plays itself!
Rory has created a distinctive and unique mandolin in the family of mandolins pioneered by Stefan Sobell, with Rory's superb take on this. I cannot wait to play it out and about. Delighted beyond words with the whole spontaneous collaborative project. Ever upwards Mr Dowling!
Video will follow in good time ....

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bruce.b, 

Denman John, 

Jill McAuley

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## liestman

Congrats Kevin! You will love it. I am sure it is ALMOST as good as mine!   :-)     (Which you are largely responsible for me getting in the first place, so thanks for that!)

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kmmando

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## Dagger Gordon

Looking forward to seeing it.  Certainly curious as to how it compares with your Sobell and Gibson.

You certainly look happy enough. Cheers for Rory.

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kmmando

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## Jill McAuley

Lovely looking mandolin - I'm sure it sounds even lovelier!

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kmmando

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## Teejay

Hugely enjoyed my visit to see Rory with Kevin yesterday.  I had been very interested in hearing and seeing more about the cedar topped Springwell he had produced as I have an older Sobell with a cedar top that I've much enjoyed.  
Suffice to say we left with 2 mandolins - and I'm just bowled over by the quality of the instrument and its musicality - look out for Kevin's videos as there's some wonderful work coming out of Rory's workshop - and I'm very pleased to have been able to move on from being an admirer of his work to join the growing group of Taran Springwell owners.

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Jill McAuley, 

kmmando

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## kmmando



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Jill McAuley

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## kmmando

Luthier Rory Dowling of Taran Guitars studying his Springwell mandolin, in Mexican cocobolo and spruce alongside the 1983 Sobell mandolin owned by Ke,vin Macleod, that inspired his mandolin range.

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Jill McAuley

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## kmmando



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JH Murray, 

Jill McAuley

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## JH Murray

It is quite a difference in tone between spruce and cedar top models. How would you describe the tone since you got to play them? Beautiful instruments both!

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kmmando

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## Teejay

Kevin shot a video of the 2 instruments when we were at Rory Dowling's workshop - 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADKm...ature=youtu.be 
This gives you an idea of how the 2 instruments sound - the spruce is punchier - the cedar more mellow - both are fine instruments and it would be wrong to say one is better than the other - but they are different and suited to different styles.
I'm hugely happy with the cedar topped one and 2 weeks in I'm really pleased I bought it.

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kmmando

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## JH Murray

Thanks! I got that sense from the video, but in real life you do have a fuller experience of the difference in tone and resonance.  I own a Sobell style copy made by an Ottawa luthier with a cedar top and the mellow warmth is quite apparent.

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kmmando

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## kmmando

They were not hugely different, given that all the rest of the components of theses two instruments were identical, but my opinion, and I haven't played cedar topped mandolins is that the spruce is brighter, slightly more punchy and marginally more responsive when driven harder with the pick. And that the cedar shimmers more. Perhaps when our instruments - Tim Jones is my brother in law - have settled and matured a wee bit, I will do another AB comparison. Hope that helps, but the best person to describe this would be Rory Dowling himself, perhaps. Cheers, Kevin

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JH Murray

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## kmmando



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## kmmando



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Jill McAuley

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## Teejay

I've recorded a set of reels and a set of jigs on the new Taran Springwell - with a cedar top - that I bought at the same time as Kevin was picking up his instrument from Rory Dowling.  I know some of you were interested in how they sounded.  
My playing is not at the same level as Kevin's - and the tunes are different - but I hope this helps.  Hopefully we'll get a chance to get together in a few weeks and can do a more direct comparison.
https://vimeo.com/263303610
https://vimeo.com/263318395

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kmmando, 

Mike Floorstand

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## kmmando



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## JH Murray

Very fine playing, and a tone that is smooth as honey.

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kmmando, 

Teejay

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## John Kelly

Great sound, Tim, and very fine playing too.

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kmmando, 

Teejay

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## Teejay

Thanks John

Still some way to go - but good fun - especially on the fine instrument Rory has made.

I particularly like that I seem to have rendered Kevin speechless in his last post!!

All the best 

Tim

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kmmando

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## John Kelly

I thought that too, Tim, but then it seemed that the Adobe Flash player was being blocked by my system, and when I allowed it the two videos popped up, rendering Kevin speechful again!  Clearly your playing astounded him as well.  :Mandosmiley:

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kmmando

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## kmmando

Steady chaps, at least I can use the site's functions properly!

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## kmmando

https://www.taranguitars.co.uk/kevin-macleod

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Jill McAuley

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## John Kelly

Great stuff, Kevin, and a super website.  Rory is a true craftsman (as are you, my good fellow!)  :Smile:

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kmmando

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## kmmando

Just noticed that Rory has re-opened his order book again, if anyone fancies a Springwell ....

https://www.taranguitars.co.uk/blogp...-open-for-2019

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## garryireland

I'd love one of his guzoukis. Amazing looking instrument

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kmmando

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## kmmando



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## John Kelly

Kevin, I have a blank screen coming up in your posting where the video should be.  I accessed the Vimeo video via the link I got from my e-mail telling me you had posted a new video of the instrument.  Great sound and very fine playing.  It is a lovely instrument

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kmmando

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## Jess L.

> Kevin, I have a *blank screen* coming up in your posting where the video should be. ...


Same here. 

Just out of curiosity, I right-clicked the page (in Chrome) and selected "Inspect". Then I clicked in the blank area where the video should be, and Chrome highlighted the relevant code: 



I copied the part that looked like it might be a proper URL (https://player.vimeo.com/video/130901563) and I pasted it into a new browser tab and hit the "Enter" key, sure enough, there's a video. Cool! Nice playing there.  :Mandosmiley:  Let me see if I can try to embed it here:  


_(or direct link)_ 

That works here, at least. 

But some of the other videos in this thread are also just a blank. I'm too lazy to do detective work on more than one video per thread,  :Smile:  so I have no idea what those other videos are about. Not sure what the deal is with the other videos, as to why they don't show up. It's odd that it worked for me when I tried posting the video above - maybe earlier forum misbehavior or something. 

Also not sure what the deal is with the Vimeo "Staff Picks" at the end of the video, the title of one of them that was presented to me look NSFW but I didn't bother clicking on it to see if the content matched the name (probably something artsy, I wouldn't have appreciated it anyway). I don't know if Vimeo "Staff Picks" are anything like YouTube AutoPlay - on YouTube, anything and everything can show up in the AutoPlay, video owners don't get to choose what type of content appears there.

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Daniel Vance, 

Jill McAuley, 

kmmando, 

seankeegan

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## kmmando



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Jill McAuley

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## kmmando



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Jill McAuley

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## John Kelly

Lovely instruments, great sound and fine playing, boys.  Hope you have a licence for those legs!  :Whistling:

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kmmando, 

Teejay

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## kmmando

Licenced to thrill, like all Scotsmen in the sunshine!

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## Teejay

Great to share tunes with Kevin at the weekend and compare progress with our two Taran mandolins.  

I'm so enjoying my cedar topped Springwell - it doesn't have the "attack" of the spruce top and doesn't cut through in the same way when played alongside other instruments - but as a solo instrument - or just getting enjoyment from playing on my own - it's warm, clear and balanced - and a real favourite.  

Glad you enjoyed the knees John - enticed out of hibernation by a fabulous spell of weather on the west coast.

Tim

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kmmando

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## kmmando

Bedding in the Taran Guitar's Springwell mandolin in a live set at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with guitarist George Duff.

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Jill McAuley

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## John Kelly

What a fine set, both of you.  The mandolin cuts through well, Kevin.

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kmmando

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## kmmando

Thanks John, it's a fine mandolin and a wee bit different from my Sobell.

Here's one more....

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Jill McAuley

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## kmmando

The Taran Springwell sound continues to evolve, so here's a comparison of my Taran and my Sobell, for interest.

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Jill McAuley, 

John Kelly

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## Dagger Gordon

They sound pretty similar.

Do you still have your Gibson F4? It would be interesting to do a blindfold/audio only comparison of them all (and indeed maybe some other ones).

What pick are you using these days by the way? I have been chopping and changing a bit lately and I find that the choice of pick can make quite a difference to the sound.

Nice to see you the other day.

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## kmmando

Yes, very similar, but the 35 years age difference certainly tells. Doubt I'll be around in 35 years time to comment on the Taran though!

Yup, still have the 1922 F4 Gibson, lovely for recording purposes, quite different from the Sobell. and a beautiful vintage antique instrument. 

Stuck with the orange tortex all these years, but, yes, of course it affects the sound the player hears and also anyone listening too. I'd just restrung the Sobell with the usual D'Addario J74s, so it was in its optimum state, and the Taran had been restrung recently too, and both a treat to play, wonderfully playable fretboards and action. Rory is a superb luthier, creating waves as his guitars reach players, and astonishingly fine craftsmanship. 


Yes, sorry we had to dash, but the Ry Cooder gig was fantastic!

best

Kevin

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## kmmando

> Yes, very similar, but the 35 years age difference certainly tells. Doubt I'll be around in 35 years time to comment on the Taran though!
> 
> Yup, still have the 1922 F4 Gibson, lovely for recording purposes, quite different from the Sobell. and a beautiful vintage antique instrument. 
> 
> Stuck with the orange tortex all these years, but, yes, of course it affects the sound the player hears and also anyone listening too. I'd just restrung the Sobell with the usual D'Addario J74s, so it was in its optimum state, and the Taran had been restrung recently too, and both a treat to play, wonderfully playable fretboards and action. Rory is a superb luthier, creating waves as his guitars reach players, and astonishingly fine craftsmanship. 
> 
> 
> Yes, sorry we had to dash, but the Ry Cooder gig was fantastic!
> 
> ...

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## kmmando



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Jill McAuley, 

John Kelly, 

seankeegan

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