Peter Coombe Mandolins and Guitars
Specifications
All instruments
Note that all instruments come with a case, but the
actual case supplied will depend on availability.
Presto cases has closed down, so a high quality flight case
for a reasonable price is difficult to source, but I am working on finding an
alternative that will probably be made from carbon fiber.
Cases have always been a problem, most of the Chinese made
plywood cases are way too big. There may be some price
adjustments from time to time to take into account the cost
of the case.
Update - I now have the first carbon
fiber case and it is a high quality case, well worth the
extra cost. It fits my A5 mandolin perfectly, and with
a small modification will fit the custom and classical
flattop models. The manufactuurer also makes
fiberglass cases and I have ordered 2. Problem is the
lead time is rather long, and made longer by Covid-19 caused
manufacturing and transport delays. In the meantime I
have sourced some plywood cases that are a reasonable fit
and are available locally.
Made from native or imported solid wood
You
choose what woods you want on custom made instruments, but I
can advise you on what i think best suits requirements.
Wooden bindings.
Radiused fingerboards.
Bone nut.
Paua Abalone shell inlays.
Varnish finish. I
believe varnish gives a slightly looser and warmer sound
that I prefer over nitro lacquer finishes.
Hard shell
case is included at no additional cost. The higher end instruments come with
custom made cases from
Presto (if
available), Cedar
Creek or
Hiscox cases.
All instruments are tuned using Chladni plate tuning
techniques to get the best and most consistent sound.
These techniques were developed by Peter Coombe for
mandolins and the guitar tuning techniques were developed by
Alan Carruth. Thank you Alan.
Mandolins and Mandola
Carbon fibre neck reinforcement.
Dovetail neck joint.
Fingerboards radiused to 12".
Crosspiece at the 12th fret
for the oval hole mandolins, at the 15th fret for the A5
mandolin.
Fingerboards are Ebony
(usually quarter sawn Macassar Ebony) except for the
Goldfinch models which may have an Australian native hardwood
fingerboard.
Modified Ebony Brekke bridge (the saddle is
modified), except for the Classical model which has a one
piece Ebony bridge.
Engraved gold James tailpiece. The
classical models have a custom made tailpiece and the
Pancake mandolins have a nickel cloud tailpiece
High
quality Schaller GrandTune tuners with Ebony knobs for all
new mandolins.
Nut width 30mm,
except for the Pancake mandolin which is 29mm, and the
mandola which is 32mm. I can do 28mm nut width on any
custom mandolin if required.
Wooden pickguards, except for the Pancake
mandolin which has a clear mylar pickguard.
Pickups are
not included. Pickups can be installed as extra, but
some mandolins cannot have a pickup internally installed once the box
is closed (e.g. Classical). I install McIntyre feather
pickups, but for best sound recommend Schertler. Note
that McIntyre feather pickups require a preamp.
Schertler are less convenient and more expensive, but in my
opinion have the best sound on the market. Note that
the Schertler can be used on mandolins that cannot have the
McIntyre pickup installed.
My main influences for the
mandolin family have been Gibson, Lyon and Healy, Lynn
Dudenbostle, Carleen Hutchins, and the great Australian
luthier Stephen Gilchrist among others.
Octave mandolin
Flat top X braced with carbon fibre bracing.Top and back with 15" radius.
Body depth 65mm.
21 inch scale length.
34mm wide nut.
Two way truss rod in the neck.
Dovetail neck joint.
Custom made Ebony Brekke bridge.
Schertler GrandTune tuners.
Nickel plated fan tailpiece.
Clear Mylar pickguard.
Pickup is not included, but can be installed as an extra.
Guitars
Two way truss rod in the neck.
44mm nut width in the
guitars, 32mm nut width for the tenor guitars.
Bolt on
neck joint (greatly simplifies neck resets).
Mahogany neck, either African or Honduras mahogany.
Queensland Maple is another option.
Quarter sawn Macassar
Ebony fingerboards radiused to 16".
Top radiused to 25",
back radiused to 15".
Steel string guitars the top is X braced, but bracing is
symmetrical similar (but different) to Larrivee. The
classical guitar is traditionally fan braced similar to the
Houser guitars
Wooden
rosette.
A frame brace in the upper bout to stop movement
of the neck block (reduces need for neck resets).
Tuning
of the top is adjusted with side weights if necessary as per
Trevor Gore.
Tasmanian Blackwood bridge (lighter than
Ebony or Roosewood bridges), Ebony bridge
pins, and bone saddle.
Superb quality (Swiss made, very
smooth and accurate)
Schertler tuners with Ebony knobs for the OM guitars,
Schaller GrandTune tuners for the small guitar, and gold
Gotoh tuners on the Tenor guitars.
McIntyre Feather
pickup is installed as standard on all guitars. Note
that this pickup does require a preamp. I do not
install active electronics in my guitars. Over the
long life of a guitar, any active electronics are very
likely to fail and cannot be repaired because of changing
technology. The McIntyre feather can be easily removed
if it ever needs to be replaced (unlikely because it is a
passive device).
I have pretty much
settled on Adirondack Spruce (i.e. Red Spruce) for the top
wood of my guitars, although I can use other species of
Spruce, Redwood or King Billy Pine on request. Most customers like
the bigger headroom of Adirondack, and I am getting
excellent results with it. After all, it is the same
topwood that Martin used in their pre war guitars that are
so highly regarded.
My main influences have been
Martin (of course), Gibson, Jean Larrivee, Alan Carruth, Jim
Williams, Trevor Gore and others. I also do repairs which
has given me a good idea on what can go wrong over the life
of a guitar and how to avoid most of the problems.
I
make guitars that will sound great for many years into the
future, not guitars that sound great when brand new but
then later develop structural issues or the bass starts to
sound flabby. That creates a marketing problem in that my
guitars do tend to feel and sound a bit "stiff" when new, and that
can put uninformed customers off. Adirondack Spruce is
the stiffest of all the Spruce species so brand new
instruments do tend to feel stiffer than with other Spruce
species. However, don't believe the rubbish
you can read on the Internet about how Adirondack Spruce
takes 20 or 50 years to "open up". If it takes that long
then the guitar is too heavily built. My guitars will "open
up" in as little as 6-12 months of solid playing and will
improve for around 5 years afterwards and continue to give
many years of enjoyment.