Project Phoenix: acoustic 6 string archtop to semi- acoustic bass

Here’s one of my more unusual projects. At the back end of 2024, I decided to re-invent the archtop guitar which I made whilst a second-year student at The London College of Furniture in 1977. The full story is told here in this series of YouTube videos.

Nava Standard Mandolins

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.

Figured Sapele & Adirondack

Figured maple & Adirondack

Adirondack top. English Walnut, back, sides and neck. Bog Oak fretboard and bridge.

Adirondack top. Indian rosewood, 3 piece back, sides, fretboard and bridge.

Adirondack top. Indian rosewood, back, sides

Rosewood and Adirondack with custom extras

Electric Mandolins (emandos)

I've always enjoyed making the occasional solid bodied instrument; I like the sculptural process of shaping a large solid piece of wood by hand. So, it's only natural that I find myself building e-mandos. An electric, solid body mandolin offers a robust alternative to an acoustic instrument for the gigging musician or an interesting variation for the player who wants a different voice.

There are many possible designs and here you can see some of mine, including 4 and 8 string octave mandolin variants.

Ash/Cocobolo/Maple

humbucker & piezo pick-ups with stereo output

Maple/Rosewood

humbucker & piezo pick-ups with stereo output

Black walnut left handed version 

humbucker & piezo pick-ups with stereo output

Ash/Maple

 Twin humbucker & piezo pick-ups with stereo output

Left-handed Figured Sapele/ash/maple

 Twin humbucker & piezo pick-ups with stereo output

Octave E-mando  

Wenge/Mahogany/ebony

4 string Octave E-mando  

Wenge/Mahogany/ebony

Sycamore and cocobolo, single humbucker, adjustable bridge

Chambered body electric mandolin #1:

Carved spruce top with Koa back & sides

The chambered body is designed to enhance the natural resonance of the emando and you can see its internal construction (and other details of how I built this emando) in a series of YouTube videos.

Solid body, Tasmanian Blackwood with Bird’s eye maple neck.

Twin humbuckers

Chambered body electric mandolin #2:

Carved spruce top with English walnut back & sides

The chambered body is designed to enhance the natural resonance of the emando and you can see its internal construction (and other details of how I built this emando) in a series of videos

Chambered Body Electric mandolin #3

English walnut back & sides, Sitka spruce top