I built the two mandola in this picture about a year apart. The one on the left a year ago, the one on the right just finished. The have the same scale length and the same string gauges. But that is where the similarities end. Throne on the left is walnut with a butternut top. It is X braced teardrop shaped. The one on the right is sycamore with a spruce top and Selmer style ladder braced. I expected a big difference in the sound. They sound very similar. My wife and a friend both feel the teardrop one is just a little brighter and the guitar shaped one is just a tiny bit more bassy. But overall more alike than I expected.
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