Re: Doug Unger Mandolin??
Way back in the Plasticine Era, 1979 when I was a young fella, I spent five weeks in Elkins WV taking a luthiery course at Augusta, taught mainly by Paul Reisler. In that length of time our group of neophytes each completed, from raw lumber, a hammered dulcimer and an open-back banjo. No shortcuts. That was a get-it-done (right) course. When our banjos we’re about done, Paul explained to us one day: “my friend Doug is going to show you techniques for inlay and engraving. Also, he’s going to educate you about taste and aesthetics. I know you all think you have excellent taste, but actually you all don’t.” Tough love in that course. So Doug Unger literally rolls in. He’s driving a little sports car, maybe an MGB, you know the luggage racks on the trunk? He’s got his custom travelling toolbox mounted on that rack—this guy is the professor who is too cool for school! He spent a couple of days showing us how to decorate our banjos and talking aesthetics. I don’t remember too many specifics but in discussing the artistic merits of mandolins I asked him to comment about F4s. He expressed his opinion that a 3/4 view (whatever that is) of a classic F4 is the most aesthetically pleasing sight of a human made artifact in the known universe. And yeah, he showed us how to do nice, simple engraving and inlay on our fretboards and pegheads. And told some bad jokes. The whole experience was kinda surreal. I wish I still had that banjo. It hung on my wall for 25 years, I never did really get a feel for 5-strings.
I'm not surprised he still has a “cult following”, I would dearly love to try a few of his instruments.
2009 Eastman 505
2011 Collings MTO GT
2008 Toyota Sienna
2018 Sawchyn mandola
Mandoline or Mandolin: Similar to the lute, but much less artistically valuable....for people who wish to play simple music without much trouble —The Oxford Companion to Music
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