Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

This is my latest mandolin. It is what I call my Goldfinch model, made from Australian native timbers. All Australian native woods except for a small amount of Ebony on the headstock, endpin and pickguard clamp and pickguard binding. Top is King Billy Pine, back, sides and neck are figured Australian Blackwood, bindings are Gidgee, tuning knobs are NSW Ironwood, and fingerboard is Lancewood. This combination of King Billy Pine and Blackwood is a combination made in heaven as far as sound is concerned. The better ones can blow away any Spruce topped mandolin in the sound department. Here are a couple of sound clips recorded when it was only a week old. A couple of months of solid playing and it will sound richer and warmer.

http://petercoombe.com/for_sale/Mandoli ... hiquin.mp3
http://petercoombe.com/for_sale/Mandoli ... rnpipe.mp3

Beautiful sound there Peter,

Stu

No disputing the sound of KBP, with those clips.

it looks really nice as well.

The all australian mandolin.



Cheers,

Paul.

Very nice indeed. sounds and looks beautiful.

Hi Peter
Looks and sounds fantastic
Regards Steve

Peter you have done it again that top back and side combination is as you say. It sounds fantastic and looks fantastic.

I have always shied away from ebony as I have been told that it can be very unstable and moves considerably I do use ebony bridge pins in my guitars but worry that over time they could crack the bridge I would be interested in your thoughts on this. cheers mate

Also did you make those tuning knobs yourself ?

Spectacular Peter

As far as Ebony is concerned I have used it for headstock overlays, bridges, bindings, pickguard clamps, endpins and fingerboards. Ebony is the wood of choice for mandolin bridges. It does move with changes in humidity and is brittle to bend. Endpins can come loose, and fret ends can stick out in low humidity. These sorts of problems are less in mandolins than guitars because of the smaller dimensions. Look after your instrument, and there won't be any problems. Leave it in low humidity and Ebony will shrink, as also will other woods to a greater or lesser extent.

I most certainly do make the tuning knobs myself. The process is outlined here -
http://petercoombe.com/Tuners.htm

Peter

Thanks for your thoughts Peter Appreciated.

Man, that really does look awesome, i'm very jealous.

Col