# Octaves, Zouks, Citterns, Tenors and Electrics > Four, Five and Eight-String Electrics >  New builder: Don Allain

## mrmando

Not a new luthier, but his first emando:

Built for Andrew Hendryx, solo jazz artist and member of alt-country band Yarn. 

Fanned frets aren't as extreme as what I've seen on some other instruments. Scale differential goes from 14.5" on the C to standard 13.875" on the E.

Don is a longtime guitar builder from New Jersey.

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## Cliff D

Yup, would like to try that. I note the staggered bridge - very logical & allows far more intonation adjustment than the usual linear arrangement: something I have wittered about in other posts for too long now! 

I'm a little surprised the pick up is positioned relatively close to the bridge, still humbuckers will give a more bassy tone. 

Verrrrrrrrry nice.

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## Daniel Nestlerode

Interesting...  Kind of a half fan to those frets.  I'm thinking that's because of the shortness of the scale.  But I really have no idea.

Great looking instrument!

Daniel

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## mrmando

We've discussed fanned frets a lot ... 

You may be used to seeing the Novax fretboards, where the 12th fret is the horizon and the other frets fan out in both directions from it. In this case, the horizon is at the nut.

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## thistle3585

Actually, it isn't a fanned board. Usually, a fret is chosen somewhere in the middle of the board, not the scale, to be perpendicular to the center line which in turn makes the frets splay out in a fan on either side of the perpendicular fret. It appears that he chose the nut to be the perpendicular point so they are simply angled opposed to being fanned.  The difference in the scale size of the outer most strings determines the angle.   Since there is a 5/8" difference between the outer most string scales then that would be the difference in the distance between the saddles of the C and E strings.  

I thought the idea behind the fanned system was to take the natural fan of your fingers into account, but here he is extending the reach.  I'd be very interested in hearing the intent for it as well as how well it plays.  It is a very nicely designed instrument and I like the look of the angled frets but wonder how functional it is.

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## Christian McKee

I really like Andrew's playing, he was one of the first single string electric players that made me think the direction I wanted to explore was open to me.  Yarn is a good country band, but the Andrew Hendryx Ensemble is my preference, I'd probably see them regularly if I lived in NYC.  

That's a pretty durn cool mandolin, I'm really curious how it plays, though Andrew's standards seem to be fairly high.  

Christian

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## gtrmaker

Hello,

Thanks for your kind words on the new emando. 
The concept behind the fretboard was:
1) To balance out the tension of the strings. A low C string doesn't have enough tension on a standard 13 7/8" scale length to play or sound good so most 5 strings are made with a longer scale length often 14 1/2". Unfortunately, when you lengthen the scale then you also increase the tension on the E - G strings making them too stiff for my liking. So, I worked out a hybrid fretboard based on fanned fret principles where the E string is on a 13 7/8" scale length and the low C is on a 14 1/2" scale length with the A, D & G strings each on their own scale length somewhere in between the two.
2) The other goal for the fret system is to improve the ergonomics behind fretting and especially chording by opening up the fingerings as your hand progresses up the neck which is where a normal necks frets get closer making fingering and chording more stressful on the wrist and forearm.

I never liked the other radical fanned fret instruments out there because any frets behind the perpendicular fret are useless for anything other than single note fingering because you cannot rotate your wrist any futher in that direction. Try chording in the first position on a standard mandolin and then try to rotate your hand further in a counter-clockwise direction as viewed from your wrist. They look cool though!

In addition to the mini humbucker pickup, Andrews AH-5 mando also has a piezo bridge system and is wired to provide splitting the output from the 2 pickups using a stereo chord. This allows you to send the signal from the piezo saddles out as a dry signal and the humbucking pickup signal out through an effects chain if desired. A mono chord allows selection of either pickup individually or a blend of the two pickups. And each pickup has it's own volume and tone controls.

Thanks,
Don

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## gtrmaker

Hello again,

A few additional photos!

Don

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## mrmando

I have added a page at emando.com with the full specs sent to me by Don.

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## Larry S Sherman

I love the concept, design, and execution. A beautiful emando!

Larry

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## thistle3585

Thanks for the info Don. Its a great looking instrument.  Are you using the Graphtech Ghost system for your piezo setup?

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## crazymandolinist

That's one of the nicest instruments I've ever seen! Not the prettiest, but the nicest! I only say that because I like lots of color, but the shape, concept, and userfriendlyness is brilliant! Very clean work, a bunch of awesome ideas. Love it!

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## delsbrother

Nice! Definitely has a Charlie Hunter vibe going for it...

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## gtrmaker

Thanks Larry, Andrew & crazymandolinist!

Andrew: Yes I'm using the Ghost system. The only downside is that the wires to the saddles are quite delicate and the system is not cheap. But, I prefer it over the other systems currently available.

Crazymandolinist: I like color also, but Andrew hasn't settled on how he wants it finished. It also does not have the inlay work yet either. I'm working on the second one which will have a similar finish to the attached PRS photo. Not everyone's cup of tea, but I think it's cool. My goal is to see if I can figure out how to do it in a 60's tie-dye look.

Don

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## gtrmaker

Go Charlie!!!

Don

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## mandroid

battery on off not by unplugging the cord, since there are + signals in 2 of 3 contacts?
usually R S is the power path, closed when plug is in , open when cord is pulled.

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## gtrmaker

Hi Mandroid,

Good question, but the battery power switching is done through the circuitry on the preamp board. How, I can't tell you because I didn't design the circuitry. I can only tell you what I was told by the manfacturer. I'll certainly check it out the next time Andrew brings it by for a checkup.

Don

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## mandroid

I did a retrofit of RMC  bridge piezos,  they stay divided and use RMCs 'poly drive 2'

a black box with a set of sliders for  tone and 2 volumes  1 the piezo direct, thru the tone sliders, 
 and the 2nd  the synth  feed gain.

1/4" out is still a switching T, RS for the internal battery ,
 13 pin cable to Roland GK synth modules will  also power the PD2 preamp thru the cable.

cable between instrument and Box is an 8 pin  it is used on their Acoustic Gold  acoustic guitar set .
#7 is the magnetic pickup thru the cable , another common TR jacj added to the case to run a guitar amp, a pass thru, V&T on the body of the instrument are the controls there.

instrument out on the Roland module is another signal path to play multi-effect pedals thru..  

others probably don't  amuse them selves with steel drum  sounding mandolins , but it is fun to have those other 'voices' ..

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## gtrmaker

Here are some new photos of Andrew's mandolin that I took yesterday before delivering it to their show in Teaneck NJ:







Don

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## MandoNicity

Very nice!  I love the bear inlay on the head stock!

JR

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## Dfyngravity

Wow! I want one, real bad!!!!

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## gtrmaker

> Very nice!  I love the bear inlay on the head stock!
> 
> JR


Thanks, engraving the hair was quite a challenge!

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## gtrmaker

> Wow! I want one, real bad!!!!


Thanks Ben!

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## rico mando

looks absolutely great but i have to ask. does it intonate properly on every string every fret ?  how does string bending feel/sound?

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## gtrmaker

> looks absolutely great but i have to ask. does it intonate properly on every string every fret ?  how does string bending feel/sound?


Yes it does intonate properly or Andrew certainly wouldn't be playing it and wouldn't be commissioning a second. String bending feel/sound are better than a normal non-fanned fret instrument as described in one of my earlier posts above because of a better balance of string tension. I highly recommend anyone interested go see the NYC band Yarn at one of their shows or contact Andrew direct. It was used in recording their newest CD "Come On In".

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## gtrmaker

Andrew with Bear:

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## gtrmaker

Sam Bush with the emando:

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## eadg145

> I'm working on the second one which will have a similar finish to the attached PRS photo. Not everyone's cup of tea, but I think it's cool. My goal is to see if I can figure out how to do it in a 60's tie-dye look.


Uh-oh.  I think I'll start putting aside some cash right away...

cheers,

David

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