This will serve as a continuation of this thread ... http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/sh...-advice-sought
For those of you just tuning in, I wanted to get Lawrence Nyberg to build us an Octave Mandolin as a family instrument and approached him earlier this month. Both my kids play mandolin and guitar and this will give us a different voice in the house. We went over to his place on Hornby Island, BC a couple of times now and have discussed ideas. I met up with Lawrence again last week and he was very gracious and lent me his personal bouzouki (24 inch scale length), and a Koa/Sitka mandola to play over the holidays. I'll be meeting him again this coming weekend and will try to nail down a few more details.
What a great way to help decide on what you want by having one of his instruments in your hands to start with. I guess one of the best ways to describe this instrument is that I don't want to stop playing it. It's that good and I've gotten lost with it for hours. Time just seems to be on a different level. Lots of new things coming out of me and I really like the voice. Lot's of sustain compared to a f style mandolin.
I've had these 2 instruments for a week now and they are still blowing me away. I find myself playing the bouzouki most of the time capo'd at the 2nd fret. Lawrence has the best finish (gunstock oil) on his necks that I have come across. Smooth as silk and fast. These should be the industry standard as varnish and nitro seem sticky in comparison. I'm thinking 22.5" scale length should be just right.
Some details that I have considered:
22.5" scale length
turquoise fret markers
Engelmann spruce for the top
Hand carved top
Silver Waverly tuners with ebony knobs
back and sides: ?
Binding: Something dark with contrasting purfling
Laminated neck ~ mahogany/maple/rosewood/maple/mahogany at this point
Soundport: ?
Inlay?
I really like way he uses maple, but I'm thinking of leaning towards a rosewood. The sound clips on his website are great to get an idea of the different characteristics each tone wood brings to the instrument. In the end, they all sound wonderful with a different flavour. I don't generally like maple guitars as they can sound cold, but this bouzouki sounds wonderful. Some things to think about this week.
Here is what I'm talking about with having turquoise fret markers. I saw this on a previous build that he did and we all fell in love with it.
Lawrence asked me if I wanted an inlay and I never really considered one ... that was until I saw this one he did ...
If you go to Lawrence's Facebook page, there are nice photographs of some of his beautiful instruments to look at. Great attention to detail. The harp guitar he built is way cool!
Here is a shot to show the size differences
I'll try and post a video later this week of one of us playing. Time to get out and chop some wood before it rains. Hope you are all having a great and festive holiday season.
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