I came across an interesting illustration from a book published in 1805. A young woman is seated playing a Bescian mandolin.
There are several things that intrigued me about this illustration: The long neck suggests it is a mandola rather than a mandolin. The body has an elongated teardrop shape. The tuning pegs are grouped in pairs, rather than equally spaced.
I've decided to build a replica.
Assuming the body is about 11 inches long, that would suggest a scale of 15 or 16 inches, and a body width of around 7 inches.
I have a nice set of Queensland maple and a one-piece top of huon pine that I intend to use. This Brescian mandola will have an Australian groove!
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