Hey guys!
I have a Jade mandolin, had it for a couple of years now and very pleased with it. Quite a while ago I noticed that it had a very strangely curved top (see picture below). I didn’t really think about it too much, but now finally decided to ask, just out of curiosity.
So as you can see, the top is sort of S-shaped, with a kind of belly towards the tailpiece and a hollow towards the start of the neck. As a result, the bridge is not really perpendicular to the strings.
Do you have any idea why this might be? I kind of doubt this happened after the mandolin was build, because it would surely affect the bracing underneath the top (I’m not an expert and also not a native speaker so forgive me if I mess up the terminology here), so the curving must have been made while the mandolin was being built, right? If that’s the case, was it a mistake of some sort or was it all intentional? As I understand it, these mandolins were made by Bob McRee, who’s no longer with us, so I’m left to wonder about all this.
The mandolin itself has quite a mid-rich tone, not as high-inclined as other F-style mandolins, as I understand (Living in Russia, I don’t really have a lot of these around).
Here's a link to a video recording, if you're interested. It's also possible that the non-perpendicular angle of the bridge affects the volume somehow, but again, I cannot really compare it to anything here.
Would love to hear what you guys think!
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