News

I will try to keep this reasonably up to date, but it will depend on how much work (and news) I have at the time.

24th February 2026
Just over one week until Port Fairy Folk Festival and i have been working hard to finish some mandolins.  This time I will have a good selection of instruments on display.  6 mandolins, an OM and a 4 string OM.  After Port Fairy comes the National Folk Festival in Canberra and hopefully this time I will have an OM guitar available, and maybe a new style of tenor guitar.  The OM guitar is a cancelled order and will be the first time in a while I will have a guitar available.  People just keep buying them and I can't keep up.  The tenor guitar will be an implementation of the concepts incorporated into the 4th generation of flattop mandolins so will have a floating bridge.  Not sure how it will turn out but will certainly be interesting and I have great hopes for it.  After all this I will start work on a classical guitar, first one in a while (is a special order).

The last few months I have been working on developing the 5th generation of flattop mandolins, which will then later be implemented in mandolas and Octave Mandolins and maybe tenor guitars.  A full implementaion of a 5th generation mandolin is going to take some time, but the most recent mandolins are half way there already (4th generation +).  The concepts need to be proven that they work first, and from the latest developments it looks like they do, which is quite exciting.  However, one (or two) mandolin does not mean much, it needs to be repeatable, and there is at least one more step to go.  The latest Classical Flattop mandolin has Black Heart Sassafras back and sides and until now I have not been able to get sassafras to work as well as the denser woods in my flattop mandolins.  Howeer, this one looks stunning and sounds exceptionally nice, so I have managed to crack the secret on getting it to work.
 
31st December 2025
Christmas is over and the new year starts tomorrow.  Sadly my Chrismas was awful.  Two days before Christmas day I had to say goodby to Poppy, my 18yo toy poodle.  She collapsed a week before Christmas day and I rushed her to the vet.  The vet diagnosed a nuronal issue, probably a stroke.  She stayed at the vet overnight and came home on the Friday.  Over the next 2 days she improved slowly, but on the Monday went downhill.  There is a lot of history with Poppy, many good memories, so it was tough saying goodbye at the vet on the Tuesday.  I still have Poppy's daughter and 2 other toy poodles.

Busy in the workshop.   I am trying to finish a batch of instruments now so that there is not the usual mad rush before Port Fariy and the National folk festivals.  Two have just been completed, a Classical Junior and a Pancake mandolin.  The Classical Junior is a very fine sounding beautiful mandolin.  It demonstrates what is possible with King Billy Pine and Blackwood, nothing else can match it.  Together with a 4 string OM, there is now a good selection of instruments with King Billy Pine tops.  Still to be completed are a Classical Flattop with Jarrah, an OM from highly figured Sapele, and a special order short scale Classical Junior.  Looking foreward to hearing what they sound like.  Hopefully I will have an OM guitar available for the National this time.

24th October 2025
I am not very good at keeping the news section up to date.  6 months since the last post, oh dear.

Anyway, the guitars are finished and with their new owners.  The 2 point asymmetric A5 mandolin has also been finished and it is a gem.  Lovely sweet sounding mandolin that sounds gorgeous when played light, but can also push out the volume when hit hard.  I love it, and have been seriously tempted to keep it.  It is made from Engelmann Spruce and Blackwood, one of my favourite wood combinations.  A couple of Octave Mandolins have also been finished, both are the new ocatave mandola model.  This new small OM has turned out so nice it will be my default OM from now on.  Other longer scale OMs will be special order only.  Have just finished one with Red Spruce and Black Walnut.  Sold before it was finished.  Turned out very nicely.

Thinking what I might do in the future.  I am thinking about making a tenor guitar with the 4th generation flat top construction and with a floating bridge.  Tenor guitars don't always have a pin bridge, they can be made with a floating bridge, and the 4th generation construction should work extremely well.  I have just completed a small 4 string OM/Tenor as a special order, and that does sound rather nice, although somewhat softer than an OM with the usual 8 strings.  So, a floating bridge with the fan bracing of the 4th generation would be very interesting, not just for a Tenor guitar, but also with the smaller guitars.  Watch this space.

16th April 2025
This year I attended the Port Fairy Folk festival.  Port Fairy was great, but the trip was longer than usual caused by a flat tyre in the middle of nowhere, and a massive traffic jam in Melbourne.  However, I made it ok and it was great to catch up with the other instrument makers.

Currently I am in Canberra preparing for the National Folk Festival with quite a good selection of mandolins for sale and some guitars.  The guitars can be tried out but they not for sale.  Guitars have been sold out so it is special orders only.  Latest mandolins have been a 2 point symmetric Classical and an asmmetric 2 point Classical flattop.  The Classical mandolin is rather special, bright, clear and delicate sounding, especially well suited for classical music.  Works especially well with a light touch.  Beautiful instrument, but they are a heck of a lot of work to make.

In the workshop are an asymmetric 2 point Classical mandolin and a 2 point assymetric A5 mandolin (this is a new model of A5).  After Easter I am hoping to finally start work again on some guitars.

12th November 2024
Hacked again.  Last time was around 7 years ago which was a major pain.  This time it has taken a while to work out what happened, but thankfully was not a web site vulnerability, but an issue with a password, so not difficult to fix.  Apologies, the web site has been not been available for a few weeks while we tried to work out what happened.

In the workshop is a Goldfinch mandolin, a couple of pancake mandolins, and a new model of octave mandolin.  The new OM is a small body, very short scale length (17 3/4 inches) flattop.  I made a flattop mandola that I lked very much and thought about how to make an octave mandolin with similar characteristics.  One of my customers has a mandola that he installed Thomastic OM strings and tuned to GDAE like an octave mandolin.  The sound was quite aceptable, but I thought I could do better with a deeper body and longer scale length, and it should work quite well on a 4th generation flattop.  The Thomastic srrings are designed for an OM with 17 3/4 scale length so that is the scale length.  In Europe these sorts of OMs are called a mandola or octave mandola and the American style of mandola tuned to CGDA is called a tenor mandola.  It gets confusing.  One constraint was it had to fit into an existing case, so it uses a mandola body, just deeper siddes.  So this is the first and I am looking foreward to putting the strings on which should be quite soon, in about a week or two.  Woods are Engelmann Spruce and Blackwood, a tried and proven combination.


13th July 2024
The 2 point Classical Flattop mandolin sold on the first day of the National, and it was demonstrated by Dave O'Neil at the instrument makers concert.  Davre was so impressed he ordered one, and he has just received it.  I was so blown away by the sound of the first one that I decided to make another 3.  All sound remarkably similar, so this is now a new model of mandolin for me.  Feedback has been that they are very well suited to playing classical music, but I think they work just as well for celtic and other styles of music.  They will come with Thomastic strings installed and will only be available in a Spruce/Maple combination.  I have bought some stunning Birdseye Maple for this model of mandolin, so most will have a Birdseye Maple back and Red Spruce top which is the woods used in the original Lyon and Healy mandolins.  Here is a picture of the 3 that were finished after the National.  The center one is European Spruce/European Maple, the others are Red Spruce/Birdseye Maple.





19th March 2024
Port Fairy folkj festival has been and gone.  I was not able to attend this year because of the uncertainty associated with Judith's illness, but with the temperature reaching 41deg on the Saturday I was almost glad I did not attend!  However, I did miss not being there and do intend to attend next year if possible,

Things have been moving along geting ready for the National Folk Festival.  I shoulkd have a good choice of Classicak Flattop mnadolins and an Octave Mandolin on display.  Most have already been listed here on the for sale page.  There will be a brand new mandolin that is a first for me, a 2 point asymmetrical Classical Flattop in the style of a Lyon and Healy.  It turned out exccedingly nice, I am very pleased with it and will be interested in what others think about it at the National.

13th November 2023
Guilty as charged.  I have not been updating this news page, but I have a good excuse.  My wife Judith has been vey ill and I have been her full time carer.  Sadly on 3rd Novembver she passed away.  There has been a ton of paperwork associated with this, plus needing to re-home some of her dogs, so not much time to attend to the web site.  Any way, now most of the paperwork has been done, and there is a new Classical Flattop mandolin available for sale right now.  Two others are in the works, plus an octave mandolin has been sitting in the case waiting for the bridge to arrive.  The bridge is now in the post, so won't be much more time before that is available for sale.  Because of the uncertainty associated with Judith, I cancelled my usual trip to the Port Fairy folk festival nect year.  However, I am hoping to attend the National Folk Festival 2024 and exhibit there again.  The problems with the drum sander and car have been resolved.  I bought new ones.

20th April 2023
Port Fairy folk festival and also the National Folk festival are now over.  The National was great, with 3 mandolins sold, and much fun attending sessions in the session bar.  However, Port Fairy was somewhat eventful and disappointing, and expensive.  Nothing sold at the festival and on the way home, the transmission of the car failed.  The diagnosis from the Subaru dealer was a failed central front diff, and the quote for the repair was ridulous, more than the car was worth.  That pretty much madated a tow home.  So I came home with the car on the back of a truck and the caravan  towed by the truck, but I was stuck in Bairnsdale for 9 days I waiting for a tow truck to become available for the tow.  That is not something I don't want to repeat, the caravan park is not far from the main road and is quite noisy so sleep was difficult.  Not only that, but what to do for 9 days with a car out of action for anything bar short trips.  Many walks later I got to know Bairnsdale quite well.  The walk around the river was quite nice, but 2 times was enough.  Any way, I did get home and the car was dropped off at the mechanic next door to our property at Kalaru.  Thank god for the NRMA.  Next followed a wait for a new transmission to arrive, which was another drama.  TNT stuffed up and it went somewhere we don't know where, then it got stuck in Bega for 2 days and a weekend.  In the meantime time was marching on and departure date for the National was fast approaching.  Eventually the part arrived just in the nick of time and I just made it to the National, car now working nicely, and it got me and the van back home with no problems.  However, it is geting old and probably due to be replaced.  Too much longer and something else is likely to fail.  I hate replacing cars, way to much money involved, and I hate taking out loans.  They need to be paid back!

After the National, two more mandolins have been sold, so the stock of immediately available instruments is getting low so I got to work on the next order which is a guitar and tenor guitar.  Then the drum sander died.  Now waiting on a part to arrive that should get it going again, but a dead drum sander means just about everything stops.  So, has been nice doing a bit of gardening and walking on Tathra beach, but I have already had a break from the workshop in Bairnsdale!  If you are waiting for an instrument, sorry, the delays are out of my control.

28th February 2023
Has been a while since the last update.   Have been very busy, with the OM guitar now finished and sold, and more 3rd generation mandolins have been made.  Also a mandola and octave mandolin 3rd generation plus 2 pancake mandolins 3rd generation.  The 3rd generation technique certainly works, the octave mandolin is so loud and wth great tone, and the mandola was the best sounding mandola I have made so far.  After a few sleepless nights I have come up with what I hope is an improvemet on the 3rd generation flattop instruments.  Yes, now a 4th generation and the first prototrype mandolin has been finished.  This time it has a Blackwood back and sides becasue I wanted something different to display at the Port Fairy Folk festival and the National.  The 4th generation has an even lighter top, implemented by using balsa wood and carbon fiber for the braces.  That comes from lattice bracing of classical guitars pioneered by Greg Smallman, although the prototype is not lattice braced, it is still fan braced.  The top is also thinner so the overall weight of the top is about 30% lighter than an X braced top.  The result is a mandolin that is quite a lot louder, but still retains the good tone.  Is early days yet, only 4 days old, but sounds very promising. 

The Classical Flattop Special model of mandolin will be dropped.  All Classical Flattops will now have Schaller GrandTune tuners and the new tailpiece and headstock design.

The new workshop toy has been put to good use with a new headstock design and new tailpiee for the flattop mandolins.  What is the new toy?  It is a Stepcraft M700 CNC router.  I have been using it to do things that are very difficult or impossible to do by hand.  For example it is virtually impossible to make perfect oval soundholes and rosettes by hand.  With the CNC it is a piece of cake, perfect every time.  It really is just another tool to do things better.

Currently I am preparing for the Port Fairy folk festival.  Shoild have a good colletion of mandolins to display and offer for sale this year.  No guitars, the last guitar has been sold and there is a waiting list for guitars. 

21st July 2022
In the workshop has been some fairly big repair jobs, so some things have had to be put aside for a while.  That includes the new toy, so more on that later. Also the new OM guitar has had to be delayed.  However, one Goldfinch mandolin has been finished and is with the new owner, and the birdseye maple Custom model mandolin has also been finished.  Both turned out very nicely indeed, I am very pleased with the sound of both of them.  The birdseye maple in particular has an exceptionally clean and clear sound. The exciting thing has been the very first one of the 3rd generation of Classical Flattop mandolins has been finished.  The dufference from the 2nd generation is I have changed the bracing on the top.  The idea was to use more carbon fiber to make the top lighter and stiffer, and to chnage the bracing so the distribution of the stiffness is more like an arch top mandolin.  It has jarrah back and sides and neck so is similar to a couple of Classical Flattop mandolin I have in stock.  I am happy to say that it worked better than expected.  This brand new mandolin is louder and the sound is cleaner than any other flattop mandolin I have made to date.  I have had 2 mandoln players in to play it and we all preferred it to any other oval hole mandolin I have here at the moment, and that includes two Custom model mandolins.  It sounds quite different from the Custom model mandolins (they are archtops) but just seems to have something extra, and is louder.  Quite remarkable and very exciting.    It is also remarkably stable.  After putting strings on, all mandolins will go flat for a few days afterwards until they settle down.  Not his one.  24hrs after the strings went on it was still in tune.  So, no more 2nd generation flattop mandolins are likley to be made.  This mandolin uses some Jarrah from the batch I purchased from WA earlier this year, and is a fine looking mandolin as well.  Not for sale as yet, I want to keep it for a while to see how it develops.  That is aboyt it for now.  The weather has been miserably cold and cloudy so the solar panels on the workshop have not been generating much electricity this year.  Normally we get sunny days and cold nights in winter in Bega. 

June 2022
Port Fairy and the Natoional Folk Festivals have come and gone.  Was great to catch up and talk shop with my colleagues  The tenor guitars have been finished and are with their new owners.  Currently working on a couple of Goldfinch mandolins and a Birdseye Custom model mandolin, and the OM guitar.  After that comes a Clarpo Walnut A5 and  the first L00 guitar.  In addition to that, the workshop is about to get a new toy that is likely to keep me busy for a while.  More on that later.  

25th February 2022
Port Fairy folk festival is going ahead and I will be there this year.  Mandolins only though, I have sold out of guitars.  The latest development is a couple of Classical Flattop mandolins made with Jarrah back and sides.  Jarrah works just as well as red gum, just a bit different sounding.  I was so happy with these mandolins, I contaced a sawmill in WA and ordered a batch of figured Jarrah, enough to keep me going for a long time.  The second generation of Classical Flattop mandolins has been such a success I am working on a 3rd generation.  Now whether the ideas going into the 3rd generation actually work remains to be seen.  In the meantime in the workshop are 2 tenor guitars, another Jarrah Classical Flattop, a Jarrah flattop mandola and an OM guitar with tiger myrtle back and sides.

25th September 2021
Another red gum classical flattop mandolin has been finished and it sounds similar to the first one.  So, the first one was not a fluke, there is something about red gum that makes exceptionally nice sounding flat top mandolins.  A Goldfinch mandola has also been finished, and it is a stunning instrument, best sounding mandola so far.  The case is a Cedar Creek custom made case and it is a beautiful case, fits the mandola perfectly, but the cost of these cases is into the ridiculous.  Is a great pity Presto cases closed down.  There goes the only reasonably priced mandola case into oblivion.  The bill for the Cedar Creek case was far more than anticipated so the price of the mandola will have to increase to cover this.  Lots of other things are in the pipeline in the workshop.  An A5 mandolin special order, a Queensland Walnut classical flattop, plus a couple of carved top mandolins (Goldfinch and Custom model) to get ready of the Port Fairy Folk festival.  That is assuming we will be able to get to the festival.  Who knows what will happen in the next 6 months.

25th June 2021
The classical flattop mandolins are now finished, and one is on it's way off to the USA.  The other will take it's place in the Canberra Mandolin orchestra.  The one off the USA has river red gum back and sides and is just gorgeous.  Gorgeous looking and gorgeous sounding.  A big surprise since red gun is not usually used as a tonewood, but it certainly worked well in this mandolin.  The octave mandolin is also finished.  It is a new design, assymetric 2 point in the Lyon and Healy style, although Lyon and Healy never made any OMs to my knowledge.  It is a flattop made from King Billy Pine and Blackwood and looks beautiful and sounds great.  Best sounding OM I have played to date.  The should be off to the new owner next week.

In the workshop are a flattop mandola, a classical flattop short scale, and I have just started work on a Goldfinch mandola and mandolin pair.  The case nightmare continues.  I can no longer get the nice carbon fiber cases from Hong Kong, or at least they are unavailable until further notice which is very disappointing.  However, I now have some cases from TKL in the USA that fit my classical flattop mandoins quite nicely, so at least that problem is solved, but at an increased cost.  TKL's Vectra case is lightweight and exceptionally nice and fits the classical flattop mandolin like a glove, but it is not a flight case.   I have come to the conclusion that the only advantage Chinese made cases have is price.  I need something that is reasonable quality, reliable in measurements, and reliable in supply.  The Chinese cases have none of that, but TKL quality is consistent and supply should be reliable.  Pity about the cost.  So, costs will increase once I run out of the current stock of mandolin cases.  Custom case costs are now ridiculous, but there is no alternative for mandolas.

2nd March 2021
In a normal year, today would be the day we would be heading off for the Port Fairy Folk Festival.  Instead, our caravan is now at Tathra, only 20mins away, but right on the coast, but I am stuck at home looking after the dogs.  In the workshop is a custom order octave mandolin, and two experimental Classical Flatttop mandolins.  Experimental because they have backs made from native woods I have never used before.  I have decided to make some rather special Classical Flattop mandolins with difficult to get and expensive woods for the back and sides.  This is now the Classical Flattop Special model, and the first 3 have Macassar Ebony back and sides.  There is something special about the sound of Red Spruce and Macassar Ebony.  The 3rd Classical Flattop Special mandolin is now finished and available for purchase.  I love these mandolins, the second one I made is now my personal mandolin, and the first one has been sold to a close friend who was so impressed with the sound he had to have one.  I am able to make quite a few of these mandolins, but eventually the wood will run out, and there ain't no more where it came from, so the numbers will be limited.

1st January 2021
Happy new year to everyone.  Many will be glad 2020 is now over!  We were smoked out with bushfires this time last year, but were lucky and came through relatively unscathed.  Fortunately we had more than double the rainfall we got in 2019, so the country is now green and slowly recovering from the fires.

The waiting list is getting longer so most of 2021 will be spent working on special orders, with some work on classical flattop mandolins happening in the background in order to keep some mandolins available.  However, if you want an archtop mandolin or mandola (Standard, Goldfinch, Custom), or guitar then you will need to get on the waiting list.  Demand for my instruments has been higher than normal throughout 2020.

Due to increasing costs of materials I need to order from the USA or Europe, some prices have been raised for anything ordered after 1/1/2021.

9th November 2020
I have been working hard to try and get some mandolins available before Christmas.  Finished one classical flattop, but that has already had a deposit paid, but two more are not that far from being finished.  After a break of 2 years I finally got around to making another OM guitar.  For this one I wanted to use some Honduras Mahogany that I got from a supplier who purchased it from a deceased estate, and is around 40 years old.  It is lovely Mahogany, the stuff that was common years ago but not available nowadays.  Good colour and rings like a bell when tapped, but has no figure.  The guitar turned out extremely well, in my opinion the best guitar I have made, and might just be the very best guitar I have ever played.  It has the works, warm and sweet and loud, and as my American friends would say, it kicks butt.  It has easily outclassed my reference guitar and that has never happened before.

The puppies have gone to their new homes so things have calmed down until the next litter that is expected around March mext year.  However, I am busy back restoring an old wooden speed boat.  Hopefully that will be finished before Christmas.


6th September 2020
Ok, well not kept reasonably up to date.  My excuse is I have been extremely busy this year.  A lot has happened, bushfires followed by Covid-19.  The bushfires were horrendous, but we escaped with just our main water supply contaminated with ash.  With some rain and another 7 months that has resolved itself, so all ok now.

So what has been happening?  No more successful hacks, thank goodness!  Several guitars and quite a few mandolins have come from the workshop.  Only two archtop mandolins and they were sold quickly.  We did get to the Port Fairy Folk Festival, and one of the headline acts demonstrated one of my octave mandolins and a classsical flattop mandolin.  Sadly the National Folk Festival was cancelled this year, and there will be no Port Fairy Folk Festival next year.  However, sales have been good so I have survived so far.  Is anyone's guess what will happen next year, sooner or later the state of the economy will sink in and music instrument sales are likely to go pear shaped.  Fortunately I have some special orders to fulfill so should be ok at least until Easter.  Don't know if there will be a National Folk Festival next year yet, but won't be surprised if that is cancelled as well.

I have mostly been concentrating on my classical flattop mandolin which has always been the best sounding flat top mandolin.  They have all sold quickly so I must have got something right.  I like them, they are lovely mandolins to play, light and responsive, and are sounding really great.  The latest classical flattop is made with an Ebony back and sides.  It was an experiment, I had no idea if it wouild work, but it worked so well I lik the sound so much I decided to keep it for myself.  Also made a big hole in the bank account and bought some more Ebony so I could make more just like it.  The Ebony looks stunning and the sound matches the looks.

The other thing I have been working on is to try and resolve the mandolin case nightmare after Presto Cases closed down.  I now have found a Hong Kong based company that makes carbon fiber and fiber glass cases that are excellent, so the problem has mostly been solved.  However, there is a long lead time which has blown out even more due to Covid-19 caused delays.  In the mean time I have found a case that is locally available that is acceptable, but nothing like the quality of the case from Hong Kong.  There is still the problem of Tenor guitar cases.  Presto used to make a first class case for my tenor guitars, but that is now no longer available.  The Hong Kong company makes a small guitar case, but the cost of postage for guitar cases has blown out to ridiculous so I have not been able to get one to try out yet.  Just need to wait for things to get back to some sort of normality, but that is likely to be a long wait.  In the mean time I have found a case that is available locally that fits with a bit of extra padding.

On the home front we have a new litter of toy poodle puppies.  One boy, one girl, both black.  There is a Covid-19 induced severe shortage of puppies at the monent, so no problems finding homes for them.

22nd November 2019
Hacked!   The website has been down for 3 weeks due to being targeted by hackers.  Has been a massive waste of time getting access to my account back and cleaning up the site, and getting some security scanning in place.  Hopefully everything is now working again.  Still no guarantee it won't happen again, but is less likely.  All the new technology makes it more vulnerable than the old dinosaur web site.  Has been interesting trawling through the server logs.  Hacking probe after hacking probe all day every day.  I hate them with a passion.

A few more instruments finished since July.  Three classical flattop mandolins and a Sassafras octave mandolin.  The Sassafras octave is a bit warmer sounding than the Mytle, but has a bit less clarity in the treble.  The new method of constructing flattop mandolins really does work.  This batch of classical flattop mandolins almost sound like archtop mandolins.  The D, A and E strings are no different from an archtop, very clean sounding with excellent clarity,  just the G strings sound a little different.  Currently working on a Maple classical junior and a tiger myrtle classical flattop.

14th July 2019
Have finished a new flat top octave mandolin from Red Spruce and Myrtle.  Turned out rather nice, at least as good or better than the first OM.  Consistency is good so that is very pleasing.  The octave mandolin is now part of my standard offerings.  This insturment incorporates some new technology I have developed in the Pancake mandolins that make them sound a lot better.  Sure has worked in this OM, it sounds really great.  Have schredded my fingers playing it.

I have decided to start moving away from using shell inlays and start using other materials.  At first this will happen in the flat top mandolins and gradually move to the other instruments.  This will make it a lot easier for my American customers.  They won't need to get an import permit and lodge the US F&W paperwork.  Fingerboard dots have not been an issue, but headstock logo and inlays is another matter.  Still working on that.

Currently in the workshop are a Goldfinch mandolin destined for the USA, a Black Heart Sassafras OM, a flattop classical mandolin and a Maple Pancake mandolin.  Both mandolins will not have any shell inlay.

18th May 2019

Finally, here is a video of the performance of Dave O'Neil and Peter Logue at the National Folk Festival 2019, instrument makers concert.

24th April 2019

Have arrived home from the National Folk Festival.  Was a great festival this year with 4 instruments sold.  Arrived home exhausted, 6 nights in the session bar and age caught up with me.  The octave mandolin was finished in time and it turned out really great.  Loud and very resonant, with a beautiful rich tone and it seems to sustain forever.  It was by far the most popular instrument and sold on the first day.  I am now adding it to my standard offering and will be making more like it.  The classical guitar was played by quite a few classical guitar players and the feedback was excellent, although I still have it for sale.  A professional classical player played it and we all stood and watched with our mouths open, he was an incredible player and got a really nice sound from the guitar.  Sold out of arch top oval hole mandolins, but still have a ripper sounding A5 mandolin.  I am tempted to keep the A5 for myself it is that good.  Have been in the workshop starting work on another octave mandolin, and start work again on the outstanding orders.

13th March 2019

Port Fairy folk festival is now over and we are on our way home, with a few days stop over at Apollo Bay.  I did manage to finish the classical guitar and the custom mandolin.  The classical guitar turned out very nice, I really like it and the nylon string guitar players at Port Fairy liked it too.  It certainly measured up to the best of the classical guitars at the festival.  Not bad at all for the first one.  The custom mandolin is a ripper mandolin.  Sweet and crystal clear sounding, and is very pretty as well.  Very pleasing.  Not many people played it at the festival, there are not many mandolin players looking for a high end mandolin at Port Fairy, so not unexpected.  I did sell a pancake mandolin with the new technology, and it sold early so the new technology has been a success.   As usual, the weather was unpredicable - miserably cold and showery.  We have now had stinking hot, beautiful, and miserably cold weather at the festival over the years.

Once we get back home there is a Goldfinch Custom model and a flat top octave mandolin to be finished ready for the National in Canberra.  The octave mandolin is something new, so we don't know how it is likely to sound, but the soundbox is extremely resonant, so is very promising.  I would like to add an octave mandolin to my standard offerings, but it will all depend on how this one turns out.

31st January 2019

The tenor guitar is now finished.  Lovely pretty instrument that sounds like one of my tenor guitars, maybe a bit sweeter than the Spruce topped tenors, but not having one to compare it with, is difficult to say.  The short scale classical mandolin is alos finished, and it is a real gem.  The sweetest, richest and most gorgeous mandolin I have made.  Looks beautiful too.  These are very time consuming and quite challenging things to make, but the end result is worth it.  Still working on the classical guitar.  It is the first, so into uncharted territory, but so far so good.  I have sold out of arch top mandolins so have started work on a custom mandolin made from Red Spruce and European Maple.  Hopefully that should be ready before we leave for the Port Fairy Folk Festival.
  
12th January 2019

The new web site is now installed and I need a break from sitting in front of the computer.  It has been a huge effort to get it up and running and it is still not completely finished, but that will have to wait.

In the workshop at the moment is a near finished Tenor guitar I am dedicating to the memory of Gillian Alcock, a long time friend and colleague who pased away in November last year.  Also have the first short scale assymmetric classical mandolin that is being varnished.  Has been quite a bit of repair work recently, so building new instruments has had to slow down a bit.  The most exciting thing has been a big break through in how I make my flat top mandolins and mandolas.  Basically they are now made using some of the guitar building principles as outlined in Gore and Gilet's book.  The exciting thing is the improvement in sound this has made.  I have made 2 pancake mandolins and the flat top mandola using these principles and all 3 instruments show the same improvements, and it is not a small improvement.

27th December 2018

Obviously I did not make the Christmas deadline for the new web page.  There have been a few hurdles to get over such as part of the template does not work as expected, and parts of the site I had forgotten about.  Anyway, not far off now.

Both mandolas have been finished.  The Goldfinch is a lovely sweet sounding mandola, and the flattop mandola is remarkably good for a flattop.  Blindfolded you would never pick it was a flattop.  Very pleased, and on that basis have decided to make a flattop octave mandolin using the same principles of construction.

Unfortunately prices will be increasing after 1st January.  Anything completed in 2019 will have the new price.  I have no choice since with the demise of Presto cases and AP cases, case costs have escalated and I need to cover these increased costs.  In addition to that, anything imported, and that includes bridges, tuners and tailpieces, is costing more because of the exchange rate and GST.

1st December 2018

Very busy at the moment preparing for Port Fairy folk festival and the National.  Have just about finished a Goldfinch mandola, a flattop mandola, and am working on my first classical guitar.  The case nightmare has gotten far worse.  Presto cases have stopped making cases due to illness and it could be many months before they resume production.  So I can't get any Presto cases at the moment, and no prospect of getting any in the foreseeable future.  Added to that is the distributor of AP cases has closed down.  These are the cases I have been using for my pancake, flattop and custom mandolins.  No solution at the moment since none of the other distributors are taking up these quite nice cases.  Sourcing cases for my mandolas and tenor guitars is now a big problem because no commercial case fits.  Someone should take up case making in Australia, the market for quality cases is wide open.  Importing custom made cases from the USA is now exorbitantly expensive because of the exchange rate and postage costs.

The new web page is still coming.  The construction section has been a major hold up because of the sheer number of pictures, almost 500 have to be copied across to the new template one by one.  Hopefully it will all be ready before Christmas.

Just finished a Sassafras mandola.  I have not made any mandolas for a while and none from Sassafras, so was interesting.  Very nice indeed.  Got the mandola bug and am now making another mandola, this time will be a Goldfinch mandola.  Have started work on an assymetric Classical with short scale length, first one.

9th October 2018

Just finished a Sassafras mandola.  I have not made any mandolas for a while and none from Sassafras, so was interesting.  Very nice indeed.  Got the mandola bug and am now making another mandola, this time will be a Goldfinch mandola.  Have started work on an assymetric Classical with short scale length, first one.

Ok, OK OK !!!  I get the message from the web site design company harassers, they are driving me crazy.  This web site is a dinosaur, and it is getting unwieldy to maintain,  I know, I know.  Very old design and not mobile friendly, but it was originally built around 1998 so that is not surprising.  Is time to do something about it, so I am currently building a new website which will replace this one.  Unfortunately this site is now so big it is a big job to re-build the new one.  This is going to take some time, and probably will have some of the old site mixed in with the new while I do the conversion.  Not ready yet to release, but I am working on it.  Now I know why so many websites are still not mobile friendly.  It is very time consuming to convert an old site that has been around for a while and has grown, and if you get someone else to do it can be very expensive.  So to the website design/build companies - please leave me alone!

6th September 2018

I have been busy making more Gibson Army Navy style of mandolins.  Great fun instruments to make, and the sound has been improving.  They are now on the web site offered as a Pancake mandolin.  The latest has a Gidgee back and sides.  Gidgee is very hard and heavy and at one time while working on this mandolin I said I would never use Gidgee again, it is just too hard and brittle.  Anyway, had to change my mind when it was strung up.  It sounded different, but I thought it was the best of the lot.  Sold very quickly, so I must have been right.

11th June 2018

After the National there has been a flood of repair work.  One was a restoration of an old Gibson Army Navy mandolin, often referred to as a pancake mandolin because of the body shape.  They were made by Gibson from 1918-1922 and were offered to US servicemen at a discount.  It came as a bit of a wreck, with a sunken top and large split almost the full length of the soundboard.  This is fairly typical of these mandolins, all the ones I have seen have some degree of sinkage in the top.  Unfortunately someone had been there before me and had sprayed it with a thick coat of black lacquer so that had to come off to restore it to original condition so the restoration got quite involved.  Not very often do I get to take the back off a vintage instrument, so I made some detailed measurements and made a copy mandolin just for fun.  I have seen 3 Gibson Army Navy mandolins and one Flatiron pancake mandolin and have not been impressed with the sound so was not expecting much.  None of them sounded clean to me and this one once restored was ok but fairly typical and I would have been disappointed in the sound had I made it.  The copy I made from Red Spruce and Myrtle has been a big surprise.  It is in another dimension from the Gibson as far as sound is concerned.  Very clean and sweet sounding, with excellent clarity in the mids and treble, big ring and sustain, and much louder than the Gibson.  I love it!  It would make a superb celtic mandolin, and quite a nice classical mandolin.  It is currently my go to mandolin.  So after all that, there are 3 more in the works, and a pancake mandolin will be added to my standard offerings.  With sound like that, they will be incredible value for money (around $1200).

Here is a picture of the restored Gibson on the left, and my mandolin on the right.

5th April 2018

Back from the National.  Delivered Tony Hunter's tenor guitar and as usual had a great time and was sad to leave.  Especially sad to leave this time because Doug and Dale have announced they are not attending any more.  After 25 years they have had enough.  Doug is 80 this year and is finding it hard to travel all the way down from Queensland.  I have been exhibiting for 24 years now, only one year less than Doug and Dale, and always look forward to our annual meeting.  Don't know when we will see them again, it is an even longer drive for us to get up to Brisbane.  Martin Reese played the new Myrtle Custom model mandolin at the instrument makers concert and the sound was fantastic.  So sweet and clear, he can really get the best sound from my mandolins, but then he has had one for 18 years.  Together with Christain playing my Sassafras guitar, I was over the moon about the sound.  I had a number of people complement me afterwards about how good they sounded.  Also many good comments about the guitars.  All good, but with some repairs going back home I came home with more instruments that what I left with.  Not really what I was hoping for, but all the instrument makers thought this year was a quiet year.  Now back in the workshop, need to finish the repairs and get started on another Sassafras guitar, and I must get that lovely Myrtle Custom model listed on the for sale page.  Also must finish the Tenor guitar that just missed the National and an A5 that is about 1/3 finished.  Just my luck that lots of people at the National asked about a tenor guitar when I did not have one.

The Goldfinch mandolin mentioned below has been sold.

28th March 2018

Just arrived at the National Folk Festival.  Have a good selection of mandolins, the Sassafras OM guitar, and a new small Sassafras guitar this year.  Managed to just in time finish another Custom model mandolin with Myrtle back.  It sounds brighter than the Sassafras mandolin and has really great clarity in the treble.  When mature it is going to be a powerful but sweet sounding mandolin.  I think I like it more than the Sassafras, even though I thought the Sassafras Custom model was one of the best I have made.  Difficult to pick, they are both great, just different.  Because of the great clarity, the Myrtle mandolin does exactly what I intended for the Custom model, it penetrates in a jam, so I am very pleased with it.

Just in - should have a second hand Goldfinch mandolin available at the National.  Is in pristine condition so will be a good buy for someone.

30th January 2018

A few changes to the website, so a few things might not work in the next few days or weeks until I fix them.  Have expanded the classical junior and classical flattop so they have their own sections with more pictues.  More changes coming.

14th January 2018

Have just finished another new custom model oval hole mandolin.  This is only the second arch top mandolin I have made with Tasmanian Black Heart Sassafras.  Looks great and the sound is similar to the Sassafras Classical Junior, just a bit deeper tone and it feels more solid to play. In other words a wonderful sounding mandolin, and I actually prefer it over the classical junior I made for Judith, but it is a close call.  I love Sassafras.  It has a warm bass and really clear mids and treble, all the Sassafras mandolins have sounded like this, and they are all really LOUD.  The Sassafras OM is the best sounding guitar I have made, and the small Sassafras guitars all sound sweet.  Really great tonewood that has been discovered by the Taylor guitar company.  They use it in some of their special edition guitars.  It is a great pity I avoided it after an article was published years ago by a Tasmanian violin maker where he recommended Sassafras be avoided because it was "spongy".  Well it certainly can be very spongy if the black heart spalting progresses too far into rot.  Maybe it doesn't work in violins, but it sure does work well in mandolins and guitars, and it looks stunning.  He also recommended Huon Pine be avoided because it was too oily, but since then Huon Pine has been used successfully by some Australian guitar makers.

6th January 2018

The year started off dramatically for us.  One of our dogs got bitten by a snake.  We rushed her off to the vet and luckily she survived and is now back home with us and back to normal.  Phew.

Have been madly working on tenor guitars and just put the strings on a new Classical Junior mandolin I made for Judith with Black Heart Sassafras back and sides.  Holy heck, this new Classical Junior is one heck of a mandolin.  Extremely loud and responsive, easily the loudest archtop oval hole mandolin I have made, but beautiful tone, and seems to ring on forever.  I made it for my partner Judith so felt free to try a few different things.  It is made from a very lightweight piece of Red Spruce and the back and sides are Black Heart Sassafras.  Has worked far beyond expectations.  Black Heart Sassafras really is an exceptional tonewood for mandolins and guitars.

16th December 2017

The Goldfinch is now finished as well as a classical flattop and a small bodied oval hole mandolin.  The Goldfinch has a rich luscious tone, one of the best I have made.  The classical flattop is an astonishingly good flattop mandolin, it sounds better than most archtop mandolins.  Very pleasing, but it probably means less flattop and more classical flattop mandolins will be made in the future!  The small bodied oval hole mandolin will be my new "Custom" model.  This one is Douglas Fir top and Myrtle back and sides.  The Douglas Fir was an accident.  It was lurking in the Red Spruce pile and I did not realise it was not Red Spruce until I started carving it and the smell was wrong for Red Spruce.  Any way, it sounds great.  Everyone who has seen it has given good feedback on the sound.

We sent to puppies off to Sydney last week.  Both really pretty puppies, we are pleased with the quality of the puppies we are getting now with Charlie our 2yo stud dog.  However, we were happy to see them go.  Puppies are a lot of work.

2nd November 2017

Very busy.  4 mandolins and a tenor guitar on the go at the moment, plus an almost finished Goldfinch.  Finished the second classical junior mandolin around 2 weeks ago and it sold just before I finished it.  Lovely sweet sounding instrument, I was sad to see it go, but it is in good hands.  That mandolin was supposed to be for the National Folk Festival, so the pressure is on to make another one.  Also had an electronic harp in the workshop for repair.  Something different, and I know next to nothing about harps, but did manage to get it working again and the owner was one very happy camper.

2nd October 2017

The Red Spruce/Myrtle A5 has been completed and I like it.  Warmer sound than Maple but with good clarity, although not as much clarity as Maple.

Have finally managed to get a couple of sets of Schaller GrandTune mandolin tuners, and one set has been installed on a Goldfinch mandolin.  I am impressed.  These are a massive improvement on the old Schaller tuners.  The machining is superb, virtually no slop and they are much smoother.  They also come in a wide variety of options, unlike the old Schallers.  These tuners are not far behind the Waverley tuners in quality.  Not quite as smooth as Waverley, but at around 1/3rd the price it is a no brainer.  From now on Schaller GrandTune tuners are my standard tuners for all the archtop mandolins, and can be installed on the flattop mandolins for an additional $100.  They are more expensive, so I have had to increase prices to cover the difference.

23rd June 2017

Curently working on a Red Spruce/Tiger Myrtle A5.  Have not made one with Myrtle for a while so will be interesting how it turns out.  Should find out very soon.  Finished a new oval hole mandolin a few weeks ago that is quite remarkable.  It is a complete redesign of the oval hole mandolin, some Gibson, lots of Lyon and Healy a bit of Gilchrist, and a few of my own ideas all rolled into one.   It has a smaller body, which raises the main air mode of the body around 1/2 semitone, so the sound is more even across the strings, so no boomy G string.  The top and back are carved thinner than my standard model and the bridge is also a bit lower than normal.  Neck angle is 4deg instead of 4.5deg.  The Red Spruce was chosen to give it more dynamic range, and the back and sides are Birdseye Maple, same as what was used in many of the vintage Lyon and Healy mandolins.  The sound is really open and clear, and capable of going extremely loud if you dig deep.  Clarity in mids and treble are the best I have ever heard in an oval hole mandolin.   What I really like about it is it sounds beautiful if played very softly, but dig deep and it really pushes out some serious volume without any tone distortion.  I love playing it, it is such a pleasure to play.  So far only two other people have played it and both have been astounded.  I might be onto something here.  There is less decoration and a simple case, so price will be around $3300 which hopefully will make it very tempting.

We will be travelling north up to Brisbane along the coast road on the 11th July to attend the Sound Builders exhibition, organised by our good friends Dale and Doug.  Have never been to northern NSW, so should be an interesting trip with the caravan.

19th April 2017

Have just returned from the 2017 National Folk Festival in Canberra.  After a big rush to get 2 guitars finished, I had 10 instruments displayed at my stall.  The first classical junior mandolin was sold first, followed by a tenor guitar and the small bodied short scale guitar.  The classical junior mandolin was a great hit amongst the mandolin players, particularly the celtic players so it did not last long.  This time a lot of guitar players tried my guitars and comments were very positive even from the guitar virtuosos so I must be doing most things right.  Was good to see the other instrument makers again and chat about various guitar and mandolin making matters.  No pictures this year, my old camera died, but I have managed to repair it and get it going again once I got back home.  Picked up some repair work on a couple of vintage Gibson mandolins so has been interesting to examine a couple of old Gibson oval hole mandolins again and make a few comparisons with my redwood mandolin.  My redwood oval hole mandolin does sound a lot cleaner than those old workhorses.

Back to work in the workshop now.  A couple of classical juniors, an A5 and a couple of Goldfinch mandolins to work on.

10th February 2017

Well I have finally got the strings on the new model of mandolin that was mentioned here on the 8th July last year.  Very exciting time to finally find out if all the head scratching worked out.  I have decided to call it the Classical Junior model.  Looks a bit like a Lyon and Healy model C, but modernised and modified to make it easier to make and hence keep the price reasonable and more enjoyable to make.  Very lightly built, high arch, and with an extra low bridge so the top won't collapse, and same tailpiece as the classical model.  Tricky to make because there is no room for error when carving the plates.  It is made from King Billy Pine and Blackwood, so has the Goldfinch combination of woods.  The King Billy is from the tree I bought with Gillian Alcock nearly 20 years ago.  It also has a brand new Brekke bridge, specially designed by Vern Brekke for me for this model of mandolin.  First impression - WOW!!  This is the most incredible sounding mandolin I have ever made.  It is the loudest, most responsive and most open sounding carved top oval hole mandolin I have ever made.  Gorgeous sound, very responsive and loud, and the ring and sustain is bigger than anything I have ever made.  Double wow, I can barely believe it, and it will only get better from here as it settles.  Incredible.  This is a big step forward in my mandolin making.  I will certainly be building on this and making a lot more mandolins like this one.  Very exciting.  No pictures or sound clips yet, too busy playing it!

26th December 2016

Two new guitars finished with Black Heart Sassafras back and sides.  One is a small bodied short scale guitar (an experimental guitar), the other is a tenor guitar.  I am very impressed with Sassafras.  All the mandolins and guitars I have made with Sassafras back the sides have been outstanding.  The small guitar was a big surprise.  I was not expecting much from a small guitar with a sort scale length, but this guitar is astonishingly good.  The sound blew me away so much it is now part of my standard guitar offerings.  The first person who played it bought it.  Another one is on the way, together with a Black Heart Sassafras OM guitar.

Indian Rosewood, as well as all other rosewood species is going onto CITES Appendix II on 1/1/2017.  I expect to still be able to get Indian Rosewood, but won't be able to export any mandolins or guitars with Indian rosewood back and sides or bindings.  Owners of guitars with Indian Rosewood can still travel with their guitars or mandolins, but won't be able to sell their instruments internationally without CITES documentation.

 

29th September 2016

The out of stock cases came back in stock and I now have enough to last for some time.  It now has an arched top which greatly increases the strength of the case, so is now quite a nice case.

In the workshop - finished a larger bodied tenor guitar and it has gone off with the new owner.  Was very interesting doing an A/B comparison with the smaller bodied tenor guitar which is made identical apart from the size of the body.  Increasing the body size gains something (bass), but looses presence and a bit of sweeetness.  The bigger body has a sound more like a guitar.  Not sure what I prefer, they both sound very nice, just different.  Also finished my first Redwood topped mandolin.  Back and sides are Blackwood.  Very interesting sound, I like it enough to order another 3 Redwood tops.  The Redwood in this mandolin came from an friend who gave it to me when we were in the USA in 1999, so was about time I used it.  The sound I think is similar to the Goldfinch model, but unfortunately I don't have a Goldfinch mandolin to compare it with right now.  Redwood certainly has a different sound from Spruce.

The classical model has been finished and is with the new owner.  Once again it was phew glad that is finished, but but wow what an incredibly beautiful sound.

14th July

All Cedar Creek cases have been allocated so I have had too increase prices by $200 on the arch top mandolins (except the classical) to cover the escalating cost of custom made cases.  The Chinese made case nightmare continues.  I find a case that fits my flattop mandolin, then it goes out of stock, then no long available.  I did manage to find a nice case that fits the classical flattop beautifully, but you guessed it, now out of stock.

8th July 2016

Currently working on a classical model mandolin. Every time I make one of these it is oh my goodness these are tricky and so much work, but after the strings go on it has always been wow, this sounds so good, the effort was well worth it.  So after much head scratching I have decided to make a new model of the classical mandolin, much simpler and quicker to make and hence will not cost as much, but will have the same sound and playability.  I have started on the first one, but here is still a bit of head scratching to go before things are finalised.  It won't have the points, the binding will be simpler, there will be a riser block, and it will have the new adjustable Brekke bridge modified to fit the arch.  The first one will be in a Goldfinch configuration so should sound soooo sweet.  Still a fair way to go before it will be finished.  Not sure what to call it, maybe the Classical model C after the Lyon and Healy type C from which the inspiration came from.

I have been a bit slow in adding sound clips to the for sale section.  This is because I want the next lot of sound clips to be made using the new mini home studio setup I have.  It is just taking so long to get it set up, there is always something else more urgent that needs to be done.  Currently I am working on some monitor speakers, and who knows when they will be finished.

We have a new set of puppies.  5 this time, 4 boys and a girl.  Judith wants to keep the girl for future breeding.  That means we will then have 7 toy poodles  - eeek!

5th June 2016

A new development -

Vern Brekke has sent me a prototype of an adjustable bridge for flat top mandolins in the latest bridge order.  It is like an original Brekke bridge, but modified so the base of the wedges are horizontal rather than at an angle.  This allows the bridge to be lower than the original Brekke bridge but still be adjustable.  The range of adjustment is small, but any adjustment is far better than none!   I think this new development is rather neat and I will be using these adjustable bridges initially on my classical flattop mandolins and later on all flattop mandolins.  The flattop mandolins have a bridge height around 5 -7mm less than an arch top mandolin and until now it was not possible to use an adjustable bridge at such low bridge heights.  I used the prototype bridge on the latest classical flattop and it is easily the best sounding classical flattop I have made so far.