Mandoleletar
So I left a parlor guitar, a mandolin, and a baritone ukulele in the shop for a few days. When I came back to check on them, the mandoleletar had been born.
A while back, I saw a Tim Pierce video that featured the work of Frank Rodriguez of Villela guitars. Frank designs modern versions of traditional South American instruments. The video featured a “soprano guitar” which was based on a charango - an Andean version of a mandolin. There were many things that caught my attention - one of the primary things being the width of the neck.
I have always loved the mandolin, but the neck of a traditional mandolin is too small for my sausage fingers. Frank’s design has a much wider neck, so that got me thinking… Long story short, I used the body design for my baritone ukulele, the upper neck width of a classical guitar, the six string layout of a steel string guitar but with the doubled strings of a mandolin. And thus is born the mandoleletar.
Since this was all experimental, I used cut-offs and scraps that I had in the shop. The top is sitka spruce that has a little bear claw in it. The back and sides are Nogal or Peruvian Walnut. The Neck is mahogany and maple.
The headstock is ridiculous - almost the same size as the body! I used a set D’addario electric guitar strings on it (.009-.042). It is tuned a 5th up from standard guitar tuning: B E A D F# B.
The whole thing came together in a couple of weeks. For a quick frankentar build, it turned out turned out nice. The thing is very loud - which was surprising. You can hear a sample below.