Andrew Tatnell, Handmade Mandolin (WORLD 2021)

Country

Australia

I have made 17 mandolins in the last five years. This one, number 17, is what I have been aiming for. It has the aesthetic quality that I aspire to, and it sounds very loud and full of overtones. It is has a Western Red Cedar soundboard, Tasmanian Blackwood back, sides and neck, and Gidgee fretboard. The soundboard and back are hand carved from solid 20mm thick timber and shaped to specific thicknesses across the body by hand. The mandolin took one month to construct. I have French polished it with numerous layers of pure de-waxed shellac over a 5 day period. I still use a set of Pfeil carving tools I bought when I was 17—a few years ago. I use use a Laguna drum sander for thicknessing, a Laguna bandsaw for cutting curves, and a Felder Hammer bandsaw for resawing.

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