New Octave Mandolin incoming

A conversation at last year’s Ceol Aneas Irish traditional music festival in Nelson ended up with a bit of a challenge for me. I was talking to an excellent local musician and tutor, who loved the mandolin i was playing but wondered if I could make an octave mandolin. I said I’d give it a shot.

Due to the complications of life and work and covid it’s taken me nearly a year to get it to the stage where I’m spraying lacquer on it, but I’m pretty excited with the results so far. As well as being my first octave mandolin, it’s the first instrument I’ve built with the two-point design, the first to have carbon fibre neck reinforcement, and the most complex stain job.

The instrument was built with a 575mm (22.6 inch) scale length, and has been designed to work with a quickdraw sliding capo. It’s made from phenomenal flamed tawhai, with a cedar top. I strung it up in the white last week and played it at my local session and it was such a lot of fun!

Here’s a few photos from the build. You should totally get one!