This is an ongoing project; an archive of the many instruments that I have built over the years.
If you have a photo, video clip or sound recording of your “Nava” and would like to have it included here, please let me know.
Thanks for looking and be sure to come back- there’s bound to be something else to see!
Cheers Gary
My
“Standard” mandolins were first introduced in 2011. The intention being, to focus
on the features that influence its sound and playability. It has a simple,
elegance which depends only on the instrument’s form and its materials rather
than any unnecessary decoration: everything you see is pure mandolin. The
Japanese word Shibui best describes my approach to its design.
Below
are all the “Standards” that I have made. One thing that I didn’t anticipate
was, that players who commissioned one, would ask for custom upgrades, this led
to the evolution of my “Standard Plus”.
So
here they are in chronological order; from July 2011 to now……
Scroll
to the end to see my new version. It now has a 360mm scale length and
individual Gotoh mini tuners.
Standard
I
Standard
II
This
mandolin had the first prototype of my own design of tailpiece
Standard
III
Standard
IV
Standard
V
One
thing that I didn’t anticipate was that players would pre-order a “Standard”
and ask for custom upgrades…..
Standard
VI
with herringbone
rosette and back strip upgrade.
Standard
VII
with tailpiece and head inlay upgrades
Standard VIII
(with cocobolo, abalone rosette and head inlay, and transducer up-grades)
Standard IX (residing in Finland)
Standard X
(with handmade tailpiece and Headway transducer up-grades)
Standard XI
English walnut and Sitka (now residing in Portugal)
Standard XII
Mahogany and Sitka (with herringbone upgrade)
2022 New version: 360mm scale length and individual Gotoh
mini tuners.
My Twin-Point mandolin has subtly evolved over the years and here you can see all for them from the first maple one built in 2007 to the present. The head shape, bridge design and my own handmade tailpiece are the obvious changes and quite a few have custom features too! I‘ve just limited myself to a couple of selected photos per instrument (in most cases!)
The first.....
"The Red Mandolin"
Quilted Maple
English walnut with cast Dean tailpiece
Richard supplied the cast Brian Dean tailpiece for his mandolin, which got me thinking about the development of my own design. You can hear Richard playing his mandolin here. The accompanying guitar is also Richard, playing a Nava Model Two guitar. Many thanks!
English walnut
Cocobolo and Adirondack, "F" style head
At Brendan's request, this was the first of the F style heads