Mandolin and Mandola Manufacturers and Makers
www.labraid.ca
Brian Dean Mandolins are superbly made instruments of the very top notch.
This dedicated luthier has embodied all of the finest techniques of great
musical instrument construction and technology for a tonal value that
can rarely, if ever, be surpassed.
He has built instruments for all sorts of players including
Appalachian, Bluegrass, Celtic, Quebecois, folk, and jazz musicians.
Brian's instruments are a joy to handle and own with a tone to die
for
Labraid Stringed Instruments
Brian Dean
po box 283
Magnetawan, Ontario
P0A-1P0
Canada
phone (705)-387-3065
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www.eoni.com/~emi
Evergreen Mountain Instruments, owned and operated by luthier and repairman,
Jerry Nolte, has been producing hand crafted stringed instruments since
1971.
Jerry specializes in customizing his hand-built instruments to fit individual
musical preferences and playing styles at affordable prices. Guitar selections
include six string, twelve string, tenor and bass. Mandolins are all
'A' style. Traditional in many design considerations, EMI guitars and
mandolins have the look and feel of individually crafted instruments.
Clients participate in standard option selections such as wood, body
size, string spacing, action, and decorative appointments used. Wood
choices include many that are native to the Pacific Northwest. They are
resawn from selected stock, air dried and graded at EMI in Cove, Oregon.
Jerry's preferred finish is a hand rubbed violin varnish.
Each instrument comes with a guarantee for customer satisfaction, sound
and workmanship. Custom hardshell cases are available for all instruments.
Jerry Nolte
Evergreen Mtn Instr
1608 Jasper
Cove, Oregon 97824
Phone: (541)568-4687
email: emi@eoni.com
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www.oakwoodinstruments.co.uk
Here is
a company making a range of beautiful, hand-crafted instruments designed
with players in mind. They make the whole range - Guitars, Banjos, Mandolins
- even harps and hammered dulcimers.
Always a warm and friendly welcome in their Aladdins Cave of top class
musical instruments. If you visit the shop be sure and allow enough time
to view their extensive range. (a note of warning - take along a handkerchief
- their quality and craftsmanship of their musical instruments will make
you weep with joy)
Oakwood Instruments
8 Ladywood Road,
Leeds
LS8 2QF.
phone 0113 2658585
fax 0113 2933011
email:workshop@oakwoodinstruments.co.uk
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www.earnestinstruments.com
EARNEST INSTRUMENTS are created for musicians who require functional,
distinctive, high quality tools for making music. These are not your
garden variety music store axes, but uncommon musical instruments designed
to meet the needs of innovative players looking for something a little
different. Rather than build reproductions of standard manufactured items,
EARNEST combines time-tested styles and designs to create unique, original
instruments with a classic appearance.
Every
effort is made to build the finest sounding and playing instruments.
Their expense results from the quality of the materials and workmanship
rather than unnecessary detail or excessive ornamentation. Materials
are chosen for utility, tone, and appearance. Domestic and lesser known
exotic tonewoods are favored over rare, overpriced, and often endangered
species. Natural and manufactured materials are combined with appropriate
adhesives and fasteners, at optimum humidity, to insure the stability
and durability of the instruments. Earnest Instruments are built for
a lifetime of music making!
Joel Eckhaus, Luthier
12 Fairlawn Ave.
S. Portland, ME 04106
Phone: 207 799-9788
email: joel@earnestinstruments.com
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www.smart-instruments.com
Here is a luthier of the finest quality. Here's what his website says:
"All instruments are carefully crafted with the finest materials available.
The building process begins with the selection and harvest of Engelmann
spruce in the forests surrounding McCall, Idaho, and continues with uncompromised
craftsmanship and attention to detail. These custom instruments sound
and feel as good as they look, and great care is given in every step,
from design, to matching of woods, to finish and set-up".
Smart Musical Instruments
A. Lawrence Smart, Luthier
P.O. Box 604
McCall, Idaho 83638
phone:(208) 634-2469
email: smart@ctcweb.net
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www.pwcrumpco.com
The P. W. Crump Co. shop is located in Humboldt County, in the heart
of California's Redwood Empire. A large number of artists and craftspeople
have settled here, drawn by the area's incomparable natural beauty and
reasonably paced, small town atmosphere. Several established instrument
builders are located in and around Arcata including Wildwood Banjos,
Moonstone Guitars, Ken Lawrence Basses, and Marimba One.
These really are gutsy mandolins full of tone and sweetness. Real players
instruments tailored for specific needs. Great stuff.
Phil Crump
ARCATA,
CALIFORNIA
phone:
(707) 826-1164
email: crumpco@humboldt1.com
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www.highdesertmandolins.com
Jason Chinchen at High Desert Mandolins makes truly remarkable mandolins.
Their tone is fast becoming legendary. Here's what the website says:
At High Desert Mandolins I use premium bigleaf maple and Oregon myrtlewood
to construct my mandolins. Every top is completely hand carved by me
from well-aged sitka spruce or other tonewood including Redwood, Adirondack
spruce, Englemann spruce, or Port Orford cedar.
The tops, backs, and necks are carved with exacting care using well
established, tried and true dimensions as a starting point. Small homemade
planes and chisels aid me in the process of bringing each piece of wood
to within its optimum thickness . Each set of tonewood has its own properties
and should be treated as unique when crafting a sensitive musical tool.
Therefore, I take great care in balancing the strength and tonal characteristics
of each individual set of wood. Tone bars are counter-scalloped and voiced.
email: jason@highdesertmandolins.com
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www.pomeroyinstruments.com
Pomeroy Instruments is a small company dedicated to building individually
handcrafted F-style and A-style mandolins. These mandolins are truly
amongst the greatest that money can buy - and he is a nice guy too.
Heres a snippet from his website: "Sixty mandolins later I'm still carving
away, feeling very fortunate to have this opportunity in my life. Now
I am doing it full time. I have completely dedicated myself to mastering
the carved-top mandolin and am a firm believer that if a person puts
his mind and heart to a task it can be accomplished" - need I say more?
Pomeroy Instruments
917 Colorado Avenue
Glenwood Springs,
Colorado
(CO) 81601
Phone/Fax: (970) 945-0350
E-Mail: justuspaines@sopris.net
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www.davidsoninstruments.com
Come take a look at the little beauties that are made over at
Davidson instruments at Wick near Bath. These truly are some outstanding
instruments. Here's what the website says:
Nine models of Mandolin are offered, beginning with a Flat-Top which
is superior in tone, volume and sustain to anything within its price
range. Carved Mandolins in A, A5, A50, F4 and F5, top quality Tonewoods
as standard. Five models each of Tenor Mandola, Octave Mandola, Bouzouki,
Mandocello, Cittern, and Piccolo Mandolin.
Options include: Birdseye or Quilted Maple, Lacewood plus all standard
Tonewoods.
email: phil@davidsoninstruments.com
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www.jamesjonesinstruments.com
James Jones makes a whole range of wonderful and competitively priced
instruments from Bowed Psalteries, Slit Drums, 2 Octave Zithers, Folk
Harps, Appalachian
Dulcimers, Guitars, Hammer Dulcimers, Tsimbls, Thumb Pianos and Irish
Bouzoukis
and Mandolins. Here's a little more from his website:
"I have been building fine custom musical instruments since 1978 in
rural Bedford, Virginia. Working alone in a wood shop I designed and
built, I have developed designs for ten different acoustic instruments.
I am constantly working on research and development, sometimes alone,
sometimes in collaboration with customers and professional musicians.
I am always striving to build better quality instruments and am never
content with the status quo. No assembly lines, just a lot of individual
attention from start to finish. I can work with you to individualize
your instrument or provide you with one I have created. I try to keep
my prices affordable so music can be a part of the lives of more people."
James Jones Instruments
1384 Coltons Mill Rd.,
Bedford, VA
24523 - 5259
Phone: 540 586-6319
email: james@jamesjonesinstruments.com
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www.petersenstringshop.com
These really are some beautiful instruments lovingly hand crafted in
his workshop. These are in limited supply. See the info below from the
website:
"I specialize in Irish style bouzoukis, octave mandolins, citterns,
and mandolas. Custom work includes guitars, banjos, and one-of-a-kind
instruments.
All instruments are hand crafted using solid wood.
Because I am a one man shop, output is limited to about 50 instruments
a year in order to allow me to do all designing and building myself."
Phone: (712) 256-1430
email: zouki254@aol.com
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www.kennaquhair.com
As his website states "Kennaquhair String Instruments specializes in
affordable, high quality, fretted stringed instrument for the folk, traditional,
old timey, and celtic musician" Here's a little more from the website
about these gorgeous hand-made instruments:
"I use the highest quality tone woods and hardware, and build each instrument
one at a time, for a unique blend of playability and beauty. The beauty
of each instrument comes from the selection of woods and the sounds it
produces.
Each instrument is hand made, by my self, to the customers specification.
Custom scale length and tunings are available at no extra charge"
Kennaquhair Stringed Instruments
PO Box 252
Burlington,
IN 46915
Phone: 765 566 3474
email: doug@kennaquhair.com
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www.steveparksmusic.com
Apart
from technical skill and craftsmanship, what sets a good instrument apart
from a truly great one is the love of music the maker puts into it, and
this is what Steve Parks does. Not only does he make some truly wonderful
Dulcimers, Octave Mandolins and Tenor Guitars he is also one heck of
a nice guy. Here's a snippet from his website:
" In 1972, at the age of fourteen, I first heard a
mountain dulcimer, and was completely entranced. Two days later I bought
a kit, slapped it together and my life has been ruined ever since. A
few more kits, then a couple from scratch (along with a few piles of
kindling), learning to play the mandolin and some other instruments,
knowing all along that one couldn't hardly get away with doing this for
a living.
For several years, I did as much wood carving, cooking, odd jobs, instrument
making and playing music as a transient hippie can on kitchen tables
and back porches. In 1983 I started work at Colonial Heritage Reproductions
in Hinton, Virginia, building fine custom Queen Anne style furniture,
doing a lot of carving and restoration and the occasional instrument
on and off for ten years.
By my mid-thirties, after trying several professions while playing music
on the side, I realized this was what I should have been doing all along,
so, with lots of support from my long-suffering wife, dove back into
instrument making and performing whenever I wasn't chasing the kids around.
Life is good."
Steve Parks
10001 Rooster Ridge Ln.
Dayton,
VA 22821
Phone: (540) 867-0225
email: swparks@northriver.coop
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www.octavemandolin.com
These are some truly stunning instruments from the stable of Trillium.
Here is what the website says about these gorgeous and remarkable instruments:
"Trillium offers over 20 years of experience in building instruments
of the cittern-bouzouki family. The current design of octave mandolin,
arrived at after considerable experimentation, seems well suited to a
variety of styles and tuning. They have a strong, ringing sustain and
intonation that is accurate and clear up and down the neck."
Robert L. Abrams, Luthier
44 Gile Road
Nottingham, NH 03290
Phone: (603) 679-3469
email: info@octavemandolin.com
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www.mowrystrings.com
Here are some little beauties straight out of the workshop of Mowry
Stringed Instruments in Oregon.
These really are classy instruments, hand-made by Andrew Mowry. Here's
a little snippet from his website:
"I grew up in Vermont, where I gained my love of music, woodworking,
and the outdoors. I started building musical instruments at around age
ten. I built my first mandolin (an A-style archtop) while in high school,
and built my first F-style mandolin after my sophomore year in college.
I have been a student of traditional woodworking since I was very young,
and I still do much of my work with hand tools in the tradition of violinmakers.
In addition to mandolin-family instruments, I have built dulcimers, banjos,
bodhrans, and electric violins. The instruments that I play most are
mandolin, fiddle, and Irish flute and tinwhistle."
Mowry Stringed Instruments
444 NE Clay Ave.
Bend, OR 97701
Phone: 541.617.1203
email: andrew@mowrystrings.com
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www.roadtotheisles.ca
Stan Pope was born in Liverpool, England in 1946. He made his first
musical instrument a little over twenty years ago, it was a Mountain
Dulcimer
it sounded good and from then on he was hooked for life on the fascinating
field of Musical Instrument Making. Some of the instruments he turns
out would "measure up" anywhere in the world. He is without doubt a top
class maker.
Phone: 250 617 8058
email: Stanley@netbistro.com
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